192 results where found for «Song of a Middling Man»


Cantata Santa María de Iquique

Music piece by:
Luis Advis
Testimony by:
Alfonso Padilla Silva
« Between March 1974 and July 1975, I had the opportunity to arrange about 200 songs and direct the production of the Cantata de Santa María de Iquique. In truth, the prison was my conservatoire. That’s where I learnt the basics of the profession of musician. »
[...]
« Two comrades would spend a day taking down the lyrics of the songs, and I would spend two days listening attentively to transcribe the harmonic and rhythmic accompaniment, which I would write down in the usual manner that popular music operates. On the fourth day, the record would leave the prison. »
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Under my Skin (A flor de piel)

Music piece by:
Julio Iglesias
Testimony by:
Carmen Espinoza Alegría
Experience in:
Colonia Dignidad, April 1975
« I’m from Talca. I met César, my comrade, my love, in 1971 or 1972, approximately. We were young idealists, we were members of Juventudes Comunistas, and were student leaders in our secondary schools. »
[...]
« That is how I could ascertain that César was also in Colonia Dignidad. I felt protected. It was a relief to hear this song, I felt that César was sending me a message that he was alive. Because in between so many voices and laments, I could not distinguish whether it was him who was being tortured. »
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Under my Skin (A flor de piel)

Music piece by:
Julio Iglesias
Testimony by:
César Montiel
Experience in:
Colonia Dignidad, April 1975
« At the beginning of the 1970s, I met Carmen, my comrade, my love, at the Juventudes Comunistas of Talca. We had the life of young idealists, sharing our everyday, living this revolutionary process so beautifully. »
[...]
« At that time, we listened to typical songs of bands such as Quilapayún and Inti-Illimani. But there was a special song that defined us as a couple. It was popular at the time, it came from Spain and was sung by Julio Iglesias. We heard it for the first time on the radio and we played it at friends’ homes and parties. »
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Song to the Pampa (Canto a la pampa)

Music piece by:
poem by Francisco Pezoa Astudillo set to music by Quilapayún
Testimony by:
Renato Alvarado Vidal
Experience in:
« The first song that we managed to sing was Quilapayún's setting of the poem Canto a la Pampa (Song to the Pampa), by the anarchist poet Francisco Pezoa Astudillo, which recounts one of the bloodiest episodes of the class struggle in Chile: the massacre of the Santa María school in Iquique in December 1907. The prisoners of the large Room 13 of Cuatro Álamos camp sang it complete and as a chorus around February 1975. »
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The Paper Boat (El barco de papel)

Music piece by:
Julio Numhauser, popularised by the band Amerindios
Testimony by:
Carlos Muñoz
Experience in:
« One of the most important songs in the detention centres. Impossible to count how many times we sang it. Every time someone was released from a detention camp or there was credible information that a person would be sent into exile, a gigantic chorus would sing this song, in a powerful unison. No one could possibly forget it. Especially significant at Tres Álamos, as this was the “exit” camp. »
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For the Guy Who's Leaving

Music piece by:
Alfredo Zitarrosa
Testimony by:
Luis Cifuentes Seves
Experience in:
Campamento de Prisioneros Chacabuco, November – April 1974
« Marcelo Concha Bascuñán, a member of the Los de Chacabuco band, was a young man of great charisma and personal skills. He had been a swimming champion and was an outstanding guitarist and singer. »
[...]
« In the Chacabuco concentration camp, he was renowned for his charm, excellent mood and spirit of collaboration. He taught songs to many of his colleagues, including myself, although I should note that I could never pluck the guitar as well as him. »
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Neither Fish nor Fowl (Ni chicha ni limoná)

Music piece by:
Víctor Jara
Testimony by:
Joaquín Vallejos
Experience in:
« I was arrested at home together with a childhood friend who they’d gone to pick up first. My family thought he’d stitched me up, which was not true. »
[...]
« To me, that song sung by many female comrades from university, by housewives and female workers, epitomises Chilean women: strong, feisty, committed, rebellious, but also coquettish, feminine and affectionate. »
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They Say the Homeland Is (Dicen que la patria es)

Music piece by:
Chicho Sánchez Ferlosio
Testimony by:
Sergio Reyes Soto
Experience in:
« This song, like so many others, was not at all “captive”. The revolutionary songs we sang behind bars imbued us with a sense of freedom. Rolando Alarcón, and later Quilapayún, introduced “Dicen que la patria es” (or “Canción de soldados”) to Chile. »
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Story of the Chair (Historia de la silla)

Music piece by:
Silvio Rodríguez
Testimony by:
Eduardo Andrés Arancibia Ortiz
Experience in:
« This was one of the songs Silvio Rodríguez sang to us the day he visited the political prisoners in Santiago’s Public Jail in 1990. »
[...]
« that digs in the ruins, in the traces of a woman. »
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La Adelita

Music piece by:
Unknown
Testimony by:
Luis Cifuentes Seves
Experience in:
Campamento de Prisioneros Chacabuco, January – February 1974
« This is another song that was performed by the band Los de Chacabuco and was sung in the prisoners’ weekly show. It’s a very old Mexican song that was popular in Chile. »
[...]
« through the voice of a sobbing woman »
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