376 results where found for «To Sing by Improvising»

Little Doctors (Doctorcitos)

Music piece by:
unknown. Folk tune from the Andes highlands
Testimony by:
Luis Cifuentes Seves
Experience in:
Campamento de Prisioneros Chacabuco, January - February 1974
Tags:
« Agreeing to a suggestion from Ricardo, Los de Chacabuco learned and arranged this tune. In the Andean high plateau, the tune is a satirical reference to lawyers and, by implication, to civil servants. It is performed at carnival time. »
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Neither Fish nor Fowl (Ni chicha ni limoná)

Music piece by:
Víctor Jara
Testimony by:
Joaquín Vallejos
Experience in:
Academia de Guerra Naval, January 1974
Tags:
« 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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Morning Has Broken

Music piece by:
Cat Stevens, based on a traditional Gaelic hymn; lyrics by Eleanor Farjeon
Testimony by:
Luis Cifuentes Seves
Experience in:
Campamento de Prisioneros, Estadio Nacional, September - November 1973
Tags:
« At the time of the coup in 1973, this song was world-famous and frequently played on the radio. »
[...]
« As transistor radios were quite small, many people were arrested with one of these in their pockets, and a significant number were not searched and confiscated by the military. This explains why, when we were in the National Stadium, we were able to listen to them, keep track of the news and listen to music. »
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With the Sprouts I Sowed (Y con brotes de mi siembra)

Music piece by:
Andrés Rivanera (lyrics) and Eugenio Moglia (music). Popularised by Los Moros and Jorge Yáñez.
Testimony by:
Guillermo Orrego Valdebenito
Experience in:
Campamento de Prisioneros Chacabuco, 1974
Tags:
« In Chacabuco there were two theatres: one that was very beautiful and was linked to the old saltpetre works, where it is claimed (wrongly as it happens) that Caruso once performed, and another theatre that was inside the concentration camp. »
[...]
« In those shows, there was an outstanding contribution by our comrade Servando, whose nickname was ‘Venancio,’ and who had a preference for performing songs of Tito Fernández, ‘El Temucano’. Venancio also performed work by other songwriters. »
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Anthem of Puchuncaví (Himno de Puchuncaví)

Music piece 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 version I recorded for the album Documento  includes an instrumental introduction, inspired by the tune of an anthem sung in a concentration camp in the first years of Nazism in Germany. »
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Musicalized Dialogue between Two Old Prisoners (Diálogo musicalizado entre dos ancianos presos)

Music piece by:
Sergio Vesely
Testimony by:
Sergio Vesely
Experience in:
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 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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Beloved Friend (Amado amigo)

Music piece by:
Sergio Vesely
Testimony by:
Sergio Vesely
Experience in:
Campamento de Prisioneros Melinka, Puchuncaví, 1975
Tags:
« 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. »
[...]
« Aimless strolls (caminatas sin destino): Nothing was more characteristic of life in the detention camps and jails than people who strolled alone or with another person in the corridors, halls, prison yard or in a cell. No observer could suppress a smirk upon watching the incongruous bustle to nowhere, changing direction upon nearing a wall or a barbed-wire fence. This ritual encouraged interpersonal relationships. We didn't go to the movies with a friend. Instead, we would take an aimless stroll to nowhere, which was also the safest 'place' for sharing information and to unleash the imagination without the risk of being overheard by some snoop. »
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Poet of Destiny (Poeta del destino)

Music piece by:
Sergio Vesely
Testimony by:
Sergio Vesely
Experience in:
Anexo Cárcel Capuchinos, 1976
Tags:
« This song is a tribute to Miguel Enríquez, Secretary-General of the MIR, who was gunned down by a commando of the dictatorship’s secret police on 5 October 1974. »
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The Brief Space Where You Are Absent (El breve espacio en que no estás)

Music piece by:
Pablo Milanés
Testimony by:
Vilma Rojas Toledo
Experience in:
Cárcel de Coronel, 1986 - 1988
Tags:
« I recall that during my time as a political prisoner, Pablo Milanés was one of our greatest companions. His songs filled us with life, helped us to keep breathing and living behind the bars imposed by Pinochet’s military dictatorship. »
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The Paper Boat (El barco de papel)

Music piece by:
Julio Numhauser, popularised by the band Amerindios
Testimony by:
José Selín Carrasco Vargas
Experience in:
Campamento de Prisioneros Melinka, Puchuncaví, 1976
Tags:
« While we were imprisoned in Melinka, this song was sung every time that one of us was released. I remember a fellow prisoner nicknamed Bigote Molina (Moustache Molina) singing the song when we were going to Tres Álamos, from where we would be released a few days later. »
[...]
« It was exciting to hear the song when we said goodbye to someone, and even more when it was our turn. »
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