153 results where found for «That General»


Beloved Friend (Amado amigo)

Music piece by:
Sergio Vesely
Testimony by:
Sergio Vesely
« This song, written in my cell at the Puchuncaví Prison Camp, speaks to a friend and fellow prisoner; it could be any one of the thousands behind bars. »
[...]
« The lyrics contain metaphors that might be difficult to understand today because they constitute a cryptic language that prisoners used to communicate with each other. Here are a few explanations: »
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Three White Lilies (Tres blancos lirios)

Music piece by:
Unknown composer. This song probably relates to European early-years pedagogy.
Testimony by:
Domingo Lizama
Experience in:
« They arrested me at my workplace in October 1973 . I was 31 years old and worked as a porter at a logging business in Chumpullo, near Valdivia. »
[...]
« The prison had four floors. It was meant for 400 people but there were 1400. We were piled up. I was on the second floor with other political prisoners. I was lucky to land there. There were other lumberjacks, teachers and intellectuals. I also met a seminarian that I knew from when I studied in the seminary. »
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Fifth Symphony

Music piece by:
Ludwig van Beethoven
Testimony by:
anonymous
Experience in:
« I like all classical music, particularly Beethoven and Mozart. I listen to it all day on Radio Esperanza, on the bus I drive. The passengers like it. »
[...]
« I think that perhaps there was a subliminal message behind the use of these works. I see it as a form of intimidation, perhaps because of the dark and dense atmosphere that this music can sometimes have. »
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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. »
[...]
« It was then that he told us that there were songs that had been important for prisoners, and he taught us several of them. »
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Balderrama

Music piece by:
Manuel José Castilla (lyrics) and Gustavo Leguizamón (music). Popularised by Mercedes Sosa
Testimony by:
Eduardo Ojeda
« We arrived at Camp Compingin on Dawson Island on the afternoon of 11 September. We knew that we had been arrested that morning, and we knew nothing else yet. »
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Captain, our Destiny is a Wandering Island (Capitán, el rumbo es una isla errante)

Music piece by:
Sergio Vesely
Testimony by:
Sergio Vesely
« This song was dedicated to Óscar Castro, whom 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. »
[...]
« Our friendship was brief but very intense. Several times, in the middle of a serious conversation he would disconnect and climb aboard an imaginary boat called El Supertricio and he would invite me to sail with him through the kingdom of his imagination. At such moments, I was able to forget that I was in prison. »
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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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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. »
[...]
« Since none of us could read music, in the rehearsals the director must have said, 'right: this part sounds like this, and this other part like that'. »
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Barlovento

Music piece by:
Eduardo Serrano
Testimony by:
Luis Cifuentes Seves
Experience in:
Campamento de Prisioneros Chacabuco, January – February 1974
« This is one of the songs the band Los de Chacabuco arranged and performed at the weekly show authorised by the military. »
[...]
« The shows were held in a large compound (which could hold over 1,000 people) that was prepared by the prisoners themselves. A stage had been built at a height enabling a good view of the artists. »
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St John Passion (Pasión según San Juan)

Music piece by:
Ángel Parra
Testimony by:
Luis Cifuentes Seves
Experience in:
Campamento de Prisioneros Chacabuco, January - February 1974
« This song is the third track on the cassette recorded in the Chacabuco concentration camp by the band Los de Chacabuco, formed by Ángel Parra and conducted by him until his release. »
[...]
« One lasting memory about this song is the emotion with which it was received by our fellow prisoner, congressman Vicente Sota. He was a deeply religious man. He would come and hug us repeatedly, saying 'how beautiful, brother', a phrase that I’ve never forgotten. »
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