306 results where found for «Oración para que no me olvides»

Tacit Song (Canción tácita)

Song by:
All the women present at that moment in Chacabuco
Testimony by:
Mónica García Cuadra
Experience in:
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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You Hear It Far Away (Se escucha muy lejos)

Song by:
Collective creation
Testimony by:
Ignacio Puelma
Experience in:
Campamento de Prisoneros Ritoque, February 1975
Tags:
« The sound of the sea was carried over the cabins of the Ritoque Prison Camp by the wind. It was the daily music given to us as gift by the ocean. Gone were the torture centres, the cruellest torments seemed distant, and that perception helped us to reconstruct ourselves. Ritoque, Puchuncaví, Tres Álamos and other mass prisoner centres were seething places of activity. Despite the shortcomings and the actual fact of being in prison, movement was gushing from everywhere: courses, crafts, sports, debates, chess, theatre, literature, songs… life was throbbing after we’d lived through the worst nightmares. To go back to them was always a possibility, so much so that some of us did have to go back to the DINA's torture centres. »
[...]
« When the day arrived, before the audience, this music sounded innovative. When we finished our turn on stage, there was a massive applause and the jury decided that 'Se escucha muy lejos' should be the winner of the prize in the International Category. I can't quite remember - was it perhaps Luis Corvalán? At any rate, one of the miscreants, as we called the 'UP hierarchy' (Unidad Popular, that is, People's Unity), who were separated from us in the concentration camp but were allowed to take part in the cultural activities, was the person who presented us with the award: a medal made from a coin and displaying a seagull, Ritoque's Seagull. »
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Lucía

Song by:
Joan Manuel Serrat
Testimony by:
Beatriz Bataszew Contreras
Experience in:
Campamento de Prisioneros, Tres Álamos, December 1974 - May 1976
Tags:
« 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. There were days when we put more enthusiasm into it, on Saturdays or Sundays after the visits, although I’m not all that sure. »
[...]
« ‘Candombe para José’ was very important. The line ‘ánimo Negro José’ (‘go for it, Negro José’) was a bit like saying ‘it will go away, there are always other possibilities’. I feel it was an encouraging song and also a way of showing each other affection. Although it’s completely different, ‘Palabras para Julia’ (Words for Julia) also says that there is a future, in spite of the current circumstances. ‘Ode to Joy’ was extremely important. It suggests that there are going to be changes, that our situation is not going to last forever. »
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Alfonsina and the Sea (Alfonsina y el mar)

Song by:
Félix Luna (lyrics) and Ariel Ramírez (music). Popularised by Mercedes Sosa.
Testimony by:
Sergio Vesely
Experience in:
Villa Grimaldi, January 1975
Tags:
« It was not easy to endure being locked up in one of Villa Grimaldi’s miserable cells that resembled vertical coffins. It was even harderin the high temperatures of the summer months of the Andes foothills in Peñalolén. I was inside one of those cells, blindfolded, my feet and hands in chains. »
[...]
« All of a sudden, I heard the metal gate that separated us from the rest of the facility unexpectedly open and the guard asking who was singing. To avoid collective punishment, I knocked on the door from inside my “coffin cell” and identified myself as the singer. The guard, who I could not see, opened the cell door and stood in front of me. “Nice song,” he said. “Sing it again.” »
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Today Was Visitors’ Day (Hoy fue día de visitas)

Song by:
Sergio Vesely
Testimony by:
Sergio Vesely
Experience in:
Cárcel de Valparaíso, 1976
Tags:
« Visitors’ day was an exceptional day that broke the monotonous routine of all the other days of the week. I wrote this song in Valparaíso Jail, where I sang it countless times accompanied by my dearly remembered cellmate, the musician Antonio Suzarte from Valparaíso. »
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Anthem of Puchuncaví (Himno de Puchuncaví)

Song by:
Sergio Vesely
Testimony by:
Sergio Vesely
Experience in:
Campamento de Prisioneros Melinka, Puchuncaví, 1975
Tags:
« A few weeks before being transferred to Valparaíso Jail - where I would face a war council on account of alleged violations of the State Interior Security Law and other military regulations that existed during the state of siege - I wrote a song that I called anthem, because I wanted it to be sung as a group at the end of our cultural events on Fridays. The song was written so that every prisoner, regardless of political affiliation, could sing it. The only way to strengthen prisoners’ unity was to realise that all of us lived in the same conditions. »
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Valparaíso

Song by:
Sergio Vesely
Testimony by:
Sergio Vesely
Experience in:
Cárcel de Valparaíso, 1976
Tags:
« 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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The Wall (La muralla)

Song by:
Nicolás Guillén (lyrics) and Quilapayún (music)
Testimony by:
Domingo Lizama
Experience in:
Cárcel de Valdivia / Cárcel de Isla Teja, 1973 - 1978
Tags:
« In prison, there was a guy who played the guitar. He cheered up the afternoons in the cell. We all sang with him. »
[...]
« I separated from my wife a year after being imprisoned. One time when we were reunited we remembered the songs from the prison, especially “Tres blancos lirios” and “Arrorró”. These were terrible times. »
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Future (Futuro)

Song by:
Sergio Vesely
Testimony by:
Sergio Vesely
Experience in:
Cárcel de Valparaíso, 1976
Tags:
« 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. »
[...]
« It was my turn to experience that heady phase of "mapping out a future while still a prisoner" between September and November 1976. The first time was in the former Valparaiso Jail, and then it was in Santiago, in the Capuchins' Jail. At the time I understood that my road to freedom would be a bit longer than that of the comrades who simply walked out the prison gates. My prison sentence had been commuted to deportation from Chile. Exile. In other words, I would have to board a plane and fly several hours before landing in freedom. »
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Song of a Middle-Class Man (Canción de un hombre medio)

Song by:
Sergio Vesely
Testimony by:
Sergio Vesely
Experience in:
Cárcel de Valparaíso, 1976
Tags:
« In our political discussions, we always spoke disdainfully of the middle class. In the view of the Marxist ideologues in prison, that sector of society supported the dictatorship and it was necessary to reverse that trend. It was not an active support but rather a passive support that involved laying low and getting by with the dictatorship. »
[...]
« The daily regime at Valparaíso Jail obliged you to spend most of the day locked in your cell. If I was lucky to have a guitar to keep me company, I could transform that reclusion into a fleeting freedom that lasted until the prison guard opened the latch the next morning. Something of the sort must have happened the night I wrote this song. »
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