Cantos Cautivos

Chacabuco’s Soul (Alma de Chacabuco)

Music piece by:

Ángel Parra

Testimony by:

Luis Cifuentes Seves

Experience in:

Campamento de Prisioneros Chacabuco, November - December 1973

Tags:

« This is the original version of a composition by Ángel Parra at Chacabuco, as secretly recorded at the prison camp during his farewell concert. The composer’s voice can be heard. »

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« Chacabuco’s Soul (Alma de Chacabuco) »

« While waiting in the grandstands to be interrogated for the first, second or more times, we would sing 'Free' to those who were being lined up to be released. 'Free' was a catharsis, a mixture of joy for those who were going and hope for those of us left behind. Unfortunately, the dictatorship and its civil and military henchmen employed the song for their own propaganda. »

Music piece by:

José Luis Armenteros and Pablo Herrero, popularised by Nino Bravo.

Testimony by:

anonymous

Experience in:

Campamento de Prisioneros, Estadio Nacional, September - November 1973

Tags:

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« This song was performed in the Stadium grandstands by a worker from the Madeco factory: Peineta Vasquez, winner of a Song Festival that was organised at grassroots level, during the times when we were allowed to leave the spaces under the grandstands, inside the stadium, to sunbathe, together with women from various countries, before they got sent off to the pool area. »

Music piece by:

José Luis Armenteros and Pablo Herrero, popularised by Nino Bravo.

Testimony by:

Guillermo Orrego Valdebenito

Experience in:

Campamento de Prisioneros, Estadio Nacional, 1973

Tags:

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« I’m from Chol Chol, part of the Coihue community. I was arrested along with 12 other people and they took us to the Second Police Station of Temuco. »

Music piece by:

José Luis Armenteros and Pablo Herrero, popularised by Nino Bravo.

Testimony by:

Paicavi Painemal

Experience in:

Comisaría de Carabineros N° 2, Temuco, 22 April 1985

Tags:

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« I was taken prisoner on 23 November 1973, at the University of Concepción. In the Regional Stadium of Concepción, we had to sing the National Anthem every day. »

Music piece by:

José Luis Armenteros and Pablo Herrero, popularised by Nino Bravo.

Testimony by:

Marianella Ubilla

Experience in:

Campamento Prisioneros Estadio Regional, Christmas 1973

Tags:

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What Will the Holy Father Say (Qué dirá el Santo Padre)

Music piece by:

Violeta Parra

Testimony by:

María Cecilia Marchant Rubilar

Experience in:

Cárcel de Mujeres Buen Pastor, La Serena, September 1973 - January 1974

Tags:

« We sang songs that were popular at the time. We’d sing 'What will the Holy Father say', especially the part that says 'What will the Holy Father who lives in Rome say ... they are slitting the throat of his dove...' quite often, for example when someone was taken off to Regimiento Arica, which was a torture centre. »

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« when they actually deprive us of it »

« Music was always present in my family. My dad played the violin and my mum the piano. When I was a child, my mum sent us to dance and piano lessons. »

Dona Nobis Pacem

Music piece by:

Text from Agnus Dei (Roman Catholic Mass); music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Testimony by:

Lucía Chirinos

Experience in:

Cárcel de Mujeres Buen Pastor, La Serena, October 1973 - April 1974

Tags:

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« Text from Agnus Dei (Roman Catholic Mass); music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart »

The Paper Boat (El barco de papel)

Music piece by:

Julio Numhauser, popularised by the band Amerindios

Testimony by:

Carlos Muñoz

Experience in:

Campamento de Prisioneros, Tres Álamos, 1975 - 1976

Tags:

« One of the most important songs in the detention centres. Impossible to count how many times we sang it. Every time someone was released from a detention camp or there was credible information that a person would be sent into exile, a gigantic chorus would sing this song, in a powerful unison. No one could possibly forget it. Especially significant at Tres Álamos, as this was the “exit” camp. »

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« and the queen is made of tar. »

Saint Gregory’s Tonada (Tonada San Gregorio)

Music piece by:

Pedro Humire Loredo

Testimony by:

Pedro Humire Loredo

Experience in:

Tenencia de Carabineros Nueva España, Población San Gregorio, September 1973

Tags:

« This tonada recalls the horrible situation I was subjected to in the cells of the police station in the San Gregorio district in southern Santiago. »

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« Sweet dear tree »