Cantos Cautivos

Ode to Joy (Himno a la alegría)

Music piece by:

Testimony by:

Amelia Negrón

Experience in:

Campamento de Prisioneros, Tres Álamos, 31 December 1975

Tags:

« Preparations for that Wednesday night became more intense. It would be a different night. We women prisoners had secretly organised ourselves, but more importantly, we had also coordinated with the male prisoners. »

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« Ode to Joy (Himno a la alegría) »

Ode to Joy (Himno a la alegría)

Music piece by:

Testimony by:

Renato Alvarado Vidal

Experience in:

Campamento de Prisioneros Cuatro Álamos, 1975

Tags:

« Once upon a time, there was a good little wolf. … No. That’s another story. »

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« Ode to Joy (Himno a la alegría) »

Candombe for José (Candombe para José)

Music piece by:

Roberto Ternán

Testimony by:

Sara De Witt

Experience in:

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. »

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« We stood in the barracks yard and began to sing in unison. We sang the “Ode to Joy” and another song of which I remember just one verse: “se va, se va, se va hacia la libertad” (going away, going away, going away towards freedom). »

« Tres Álamos was a more 'normal' camp, even though we never had a trial. There was a lot of music, it was sort of ritualistic. »

Lucía

Music piece by:

Joan Manuel Serrat

Testimony by:

Beatriz Bataszew Contreras

Experience in:

Campamento de Prisioneros, Tres Álamos, December 1974 - May 1976

Tags:

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« ‘Ode to Joy’ was extremely important. It suggests that there are going to be changes, that our situation is not going to last forever. »

« ‘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. »

Moments (Los momentos)

Music piece by:

Eduardo Gatti

Testimony by:

Scarlett Mathieu

Experience in:

Campamento de Prisioneros, Tres Álamos, 1974

Tags:

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« The ‘Ode to Joy’ by Beethoven was one of our anthems. It was important for what it represented. We even changed the lyrics: ‘beyond the stars’ became ‘beyond borders’ because many prisoners would go into exile. »

« 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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