11 results where found for «Moments»

Moments (Los momentos)

Author:
Eduardo Gatti
Testimony by:
Scarlett Mathieu
Place & date:
Campamento de Prisioneros, Tres Álamos, 1974
Tags:
« ‘Moments’ was a song sung by the female comrades whose partners were imprisoned on the other side of Tres Álamos, or were fugitives or disappeared. We all sang it, but it was like their anthem. »
[...]
« The moments died yesterday already »
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Melody by Jorge Peña Hen

Author:
Jorge Peña Hen
Testimony by:
María Fedora Peña
Place & date:
Cárcel de la Serena, October 1973
Tags:
« “Look here, Maria Fedora. I’ve brought you a treasure...” - it was the voice of my brother Juan Cristián as he crossed the doorway of our mother’s house one morning in January 1983. Peering over the staircase banister, I saw him raise his right hand with something clenched inside. He was just back from a quick trip to La Serena, and I was spending my holidays in Chile. I had travelled home to show the family my beautiful baby girl, María Paz, my first child born in Caracas. »
[...]
« The knot in my throat tightened again, as I felt the big tears running down my cheeks. The diminutive crotchets, quavers and minims run up and down the stave. It’s a posthumous composition!  In the most bitter moments of his life, he had the nobility to do what he loved doing above all else! »
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Candombe for José (Candombe para José)

Author:
Roberto Ternán
Testimony by:
Sara De Witt
Place & date:
Campamento de Prisioneros, Tres Álamos, September 1976
Tags:
« We were in Tres Álamos barracks in September 1976. I don’t recall how many of us women were imprisoned there. I believe there were close to a hundred of us. »
[...]
« I still remember those intense moments when we sang so many songs. Gazing up at the sky, we sang “Candombe** para José”, which we called “El Negro José”. I understood that song as something new and different from the songs we usually sang. It seemed more contemporary to me and it made me feel in touch with my people outside the camp. The line “en un pueblo olvidado no sé por qué” (“in a God-forsaken town, I don't know why”) seemed connected with how I was feeling at that time. »
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Tacit Song (Canción tácita)

Author:
All the women present at that moment in Chacabuco
Testimony by:
Mónica García Cuadra
Place & date:
Campamento de Prisioneros Chacabuco, Summer of 1974
Tags:
« I am the daughter of a former political prisoner who spent a long time imprisoned at Chacabuco, among other places. I am Monica, a little 9-year-old girl who travelled with a heavy heart full of sadness to visit her father, Gerardo García Salas, held at the Chacabuco concentration camp. I am an only child and in my young life he is my sole reference point and, in essence, my image of masculinity. »
[...]
« From the guard tower, the order was given for the comrades to come, and they appeared behind the bars that separated our lives, but never our purpose and meaning in life. With heartache and streaming tears, several prisoners began to appear, as well as the love and silent solidarity that vibrated and pulsatedthrough those moments waiting for, anticipating the embrace, the looking directly into his eyes, making contact with the loved one’s heart, the touch of skin against skin among equals. »
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Morning Has Broken

Author:
Cat Stevens, based on a traditional Gaelic hymn; lyrics by Eleanor Farjeon
Testimony by:
Luis Cifuentes Seves
Place & date:
Campamento de Prisioneros, Estadio Nacional, September - November 1973
Tags:
« At the time of the coup in 1973, this song was world-famous and frequently played on the radio. As transistor radios were quite small, many people were arrested with one of these in their pockets, and a significant number were not searched and confiscated by the military. This explains why, when we were in the National Stadium, we were able to listen to them, keep track of the news and listen to music. »
[...]
« I was particularly fond of this song and I still am. While I was a political prisoner in the Stadium, I was able to listen to it on more than one occasion on radios people lent me. I must say it brought me brief moments of peace and pleasure among all the horror, at a time when torture and murder were a daily occurrence. This and other songs became little oases of sanity in the midst of the criminal madness that ruled over us. »
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With the Sprouts I Sowed (Y con brotes de mi siembra)

Author:
Andrés Rivanera (lyrics) and Eugenio Moglia (music). Popularized by Los Moros and Jorge Yáñez.
Testimony by:
Guillermo Orrego Valdebenito
Place & date:
Campamento de Prisioneros Chacabuco, 1974
Tags:
« In Chacabuco there were two theatres: one that was very beautiful and was linked to the old saltpetre works, where it is claimed (wrongly as it happens) that Caruso once performed; and another theatre that was inside the concentration camp. At the latter venue, every Sunday night at about 8 o’clock, a show was performed with the sole participation of the political prisoners and in the presence of the camp’s guards, and at the express invitation of the Council of Elders, a body that represented the comrades in captivity. »
[...]
« You can just imagine the answer that came back from the almost thousand prisoners in the audience, full of force and inspiration. The din was such that the performance had to be stopped for a few moments, as the laughter and jokes exceeded everyone’s expectations. The verse "Let’s go then, everyone said" was belted out with all our hearts, and we even offered the meagre cash reserves we still had on us, casting all caution to the wind. »
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The Brief Space Where You Are Absent (El breve espacio en que no estás)

Author:
Pablo Milanés
Testimony by:
Vilma Rojas Toledo
Place & date:
Cárcel de Coronel, 1986 - 1988
Tags:
« I recall that during my time as a political prisoner Pablo Milanés was one of our greatest companions. His songs filled us with life, helped us to keep breathing and living behind the bars imposed by Pinochet’s military dictatorship. Personally, I remember the song “El breve espacio en que no estás” (“The brief space where you are absent”) because it sparked such heated debate among my comrades that you would think we were trying to resolve a vital political issue. »
[...]
« We never reached an agreement, yet we discussed it with all the seriousness that great song deserved. It was one of those beautiful moments of humanity shared with other women, my companions in prison. It made you feel that the songs we listened to on a cassette player contained the wisdom and spirit of rebellion, which I personally needed in order to feel that they had not completely deprived me of my freedom. »
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Captain, our Destiny is a Wandering Island (Capitán, el rumbo es una isla errante)

Author:
Sergio Vesely
Testimony by:
Sergio Vesely
Place & date:
Campamento de Prisioneros Melinka, Puchuncaví, 1975
Tags:
« This song was dedicated to Óscar Castro, who I was lucky enough to meet in 1975, in Puchuncaví. With his experience in theatre – Óscar was already a fairly well-known actor before his arrest – he threw himself into the cultural work we had organised, in what was then called “Camp Melinka” where the prisoners presented a show every Friday. »
[...]
« Our friendship was brief but very intense. Several times, in the middle of a serious conversation he would disconnect and climb aboard an imaginary boat called El Supertricio and he would invite me to sail with him through the kingdom of his imagination. At such moments, I was able to forget that I was in prison. »
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Mid-Afternoon Love (Amor de media tarde)

Author:
Sergio Vesely
Testimony by:
Sergio Vesely
Place & date:
Cárcel de Valparaíso, 1976
Tags:
« This song is dedicated to Graciela Navarro, who managed to made my prisoner's life more beautiful on the days we were allowed to receive visitors. During the week, when the hourly monotony became unbearable, she would use her free moments to deliver roses and brief love letters for me at the prison gate. »
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Prayer So You Don't Forget Me

Author:
Óscar Castro (words) and Ariel Arancibia González (music)
Testimony by:
Rosalía Martínez
Place & date:
Campamento de Prisioneros Cuatro Álamos, November - December 1974
Tags:
« When Katia Chornik contacted me a few years ago asking me to provide my testimony about my musical experience in prison, I thought I didn’t have much to say. I had spent most of my detention held by the DINA secret police, at the house on José Domingo Cañas Street, called the Ollagüe Barracks. Then, I was held in solitary confinement at Cuatro Álamos, and spent just a month in the Tres Álamos concentration camp. »
[...]
« In regards to the DINA period, the testimony of Julio Laks, who was also there at that time, will tell you about some of the moments experienced at the house on José Domingo Cañas Street. Here I will focus on what happened at Cuatro Álamos, where we sang almost every day, as I was lucky to find myself in a cell which was very much full of singing. »
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