377 results where found for «Ode to Joy»


Valparaíso

Music piece by:
Sergio Vesely
Testimony by:
Sergio Vesely
Experience in:
« This song was written and sung in cell number 198 of Valparaíso’s former prison, that is to say, on the top floor of the main building, which was higher than the walls that surrounded it. »
[...]
« This had several advantages for the prisoner, for if they perched on a stool to peer through the skylight, they could enjoy the company of a good part of the city during their hours of confinement. »
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Let’s Break the Morning (Rompamos la mañana)

Music piece by:
René “Popeye” Cárdenas Eugenin
Testimony by:
María Soledad Ruiz Ovando
Experience in:
« Music was very important for us (my mother Sylvia, my sister Alejandra and myself) while my dad, Daniel Ruiz Oyarzo, 'el Negro Ruiz', was imprisoned during the dictatorship, when Alejandra was seven and I was four. »
[...]
« The situation was very strange and unpredictable; for the innocent minds of young children, as we were at the time, it was also a moment of great joy because finally we could be with our father in 'freedom' once again, and pamper ourselves in the house of a supportive family, where we stayed until we could find another place. »
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To Be Seventeen Again (Volver a los diecisiete)

Music piece by:
Violeta Parra
Testimony by:
Gabriela Durand
« I was 18, and already I had been tortured on the parrilla several times. One day I was with some other comrade prisoners, and as sometimes happened, the guards put some music on. »
[...]
« The guys used to put the radio on, playing popular tunes of the time. For us young people, the songs were a bit corny, but still, we enjoyed them, they were a relief. We always kept absolute silence. »
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Future (Futuro)

Music piece by:
Sergio Vesely
Testimony by:
Sergio Vesely
Experience in:
« The dream of the political prisoner was to regain freedom. All of us would feel joy when one of us was about to be released from prison, although it far from easy to see a comrade depart. Even less so for those who suspected they would never enjoy that privilege. »
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The Little Snail (El caracolito)

Music piece by:
Sergio Vesely
Testimony by:
Sergio Vesely
Experience in:
« I composed this song for a small children’s party we organised in the visitors’ yard of the Valparaíso Jail. I remember how the children had fun that day and enjoyed the play. That was the first time I put down the guitar so that a prisoner who played the accordion could accompany me. »
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National Anthem of Chile

Music piece by:
Eusebio Lillo and Ramón Carnicer
Testimony by:
Sergio Vesely
« The Puchuncaví Prisoners Camp had a daily routine similar to that of military regiments. In a ridiculous ceremony, the flag was raised every morning at dawn and then it was taken down at nightfall. »
[...]
« We greatly enjoyed placing great emphasis on that part of the song. It must have been the only act of open subversion that the military could never punish us for, even though surely many must have wanted to. »
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Oh Saving Victim (O salutaris Hostia)

Music piece by:
text by Saint Thomas Aquinas; music by Lorenzo Perosi
Testimony by:
Roberto Navarrete
Experience in:
Cárcel de Santiago, November 1973 - April 1974
« The political prisoners’ cell block in Santiago Prison was established when they transferred many people from the National Stadium in October or November 1973. »
[...]
« We had a good time in the rehearsals. All of us who were there enjoyed singing. »
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Swan Lake

Music piece by:
Piotr Ilich Tchaikovski
Testimony by:
César Montiel
Experience in:
Colonia Dignidad, April 1975
« In Colonia Dignidad, they played Swan Lake by Tchaikovsky a lot. It was very repetitive. To several comrades, it reminds them of torture. It is not very enjoyable for us to listen to this piece at this life stage, because it transports us back to all the suffering, to what they did to us. »
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El bimbó

Music piece by:
Georgie Dann
Testimony by:
César Montiel
Experience in:
Colonia Dignidad, April 1975
« I have a story about 'El bimbó', a song that shaped us in those difficult moments in Colonia Dignidad. It was a song with a tropical rhythm that was very trendy in the 1970s. It was played every day on the radio. Also on Eurovision, in European festivals, and on the TV programme 300 Million. »
[...]
« The DINA agents played this song when they were torturing us. It was a sick joke that they were playing a happy tropical theme while they were beating us. It sounds strange, but they enjoyed it and they sang it. »
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Partisan Anthem (Himno guerrillero)

Music piece by:
anonymous Russian melody. During the Russian Revolution, several lyrics with different ideological content circulated. This version is based on 'Makhnovtchina', attributed to Nestor Makhno, Ukrainian anarchist revolutionary.
Testimony by:
Julio Laks Feller
Experience in:
« In late September 1974, the Soviet partisan’s song was intoned softly but with an awe-inspiring force in the José Domingo Cañas torture centre. »
[...]
« Llidó, Antonio »
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