32 results where found for «Sergio Vesely»

Lament for the Death of Augusto the Dog (Lamento a la muerte del perro Augusto)

Author:
Sergio Vesely
Testimony by:
Sergio Vesely
Place & date:
Campamento de Prisioneros Melinka, Puchuncaví, 1975
Tags:
« Augusto the dog (not to be confused with the journalist Augusto Olivares, affectionately nicknamed "Augusto the Dog", who was murdered at the Presidential Palace on September 11, 1973), was the mascot of the political prisoners held at the Ritoque concentration camp, and accompanied his master when the military junta decided to close that prison and transfer the inmates to the neighbouring Puchuncaví concentration camp. »
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Today Was Visitors’ Day (Hoy fue día de visitas)

Author:
Sergio Vesely
Testimony by:
Sergio Vesely
Place & date:
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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Song of a Middling Man (Canción de un hombre medio)

Author:
Sergio Vesely
Testimony by:
Sergio Vesely
Place & date:
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 large 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 finding an accommodation with the dictatorship. »
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How Can I Describe This to You? (Cómo hacer para darte una idea)

Author:
Sergio Vesely
Testimony by:
Sergio Vesely
Place & date:
Cárcel de Valparaíso, 1976
Tags:
« This is one of two songs I wrote in prison for my beloved Graciela Navarro. Through the song I try to draw her near, describing my everyday world and how I was experiencing life as a captive. »
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Priests and Soldiers (Curas y milicos)

Author:
Sergio Vesely
Testimony by:
Sergio Vesely
Place & date:
Campamento de Prisioneros Melinka, Puchuncaví, 1975
Tags:
« I don’t want to exaggerate but Camp Melinka became not only a factory that produced handicrafts and a performance hall but also a university. Every day there were classes to learn foreign languages, art, medicine or literature. Solar ovens were built. Talks were given on arachnology. Literacy programmes were offered. »
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King Ñaca Ñaca (El rey Ñaca Ñaca)

Author:
Sergio Vesely
Testimony by:
Sergio Vesely
Place & date:
Campamento de Prisioneros Melinka, Puchuncaví, 1975
Tags:
« “Ñaca-ñaca” was an interjection we used at Camp Melinka whenever we wanted to signal and poke fun at any dark thought that might crossed our minds. That may be why it seemed the ideal name with which to baptise the papier maché puppet that played the role of the mean king in the puppet stories we performed to entertain the children who came to visit their captive fathers. But Ñaca-Ñaca’s important role was more than that. The paper model was borrowed to perform the 'star role' in one of the cultural events we customarily staged every Friday. Events which, it should be pointed out, were attended only by captives and armed guards. It was a “Prisoners’ Show”, full of fantasy. »
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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. »
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Anthem of Puchuncaví (Himno de Puchuncaví)

Author:
Sergio Vesely
Testimony by:
Sergio Vesely
Place & date:
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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Musicalized Dialogue between Two Old Prisoners (Diálogo musicalizado entre dos ancianos presos)

Author:
Sergio Vesely
Testimony by:
Sergio Vesely
Place & date:
Campamento de Prisioneros Melinka, Puchuncaví, 1975
Tags:
« At Puchuncaví Detention Camp (Melinka) I shared a cell with an elderly man from Lota, where he had spent his entire life working in the coal mines. I was struck by the way he spoke. It was very different from the “Chilean” way of a twenty-something year-old like me from the capital like me. When he talked to our fellow prisoners, I could barely understand a word he said. I composed this song in the cell by transcribing some of our conversations. »
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Love (Amor)

Author:
Sergio Vesely (music); Guillermo Núñez (words)
Testimony by:
Sergio Vesely
Place & date:
Campamento de Prisioneros Melinka, Puchuncaví, 1975
Tags:
« This song is based on a poem Guillermo wrote in the Puchuncaví Prison Camp dedicated to his partner Soledad. Of all the songs I composed as a prisoner, this is the only one where the lyrics are not mine. The reason is very human and simple. One day Guillermo asked me if I could set to music verses he had written so he could sing them to his beloved the next time she visited him. I found the idea so original and I liked it so much that I decided to help him. I took the sheet of paper with the poem to my cell in one of the adjacent huts. After reading and re-reading it several times, I began to compose this song. It’s a shame, but I don’t recall if Soledad ever got a chance to hear it. »
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« Sergio Vesely (music); Guillermo Núñez (words) »
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