187 results where found for «Today I Sing for the Sake of Singing»

Amalia Rosa

Music piece by:
Tino Carrasco
Testimony by:
Luis Cifuentes Seves
Experience in:
Campamento de Prisioneros Chacabuco, November 1973 - February 1974
Tags:
« Los de Chacabuco, a band founded and conducted by Ángel Parra, performed this Venezuelan folk song, in the style of a joropo, singing it at the weekly prison camp show. I dare say it was one of the favourite songs of the audience, comprised of political prisoners. »
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Words for Julia (Palabras para Julia)

Music piece by:
José Agustín Goytisolo (lyrics) and Paco Ibáñez (music)
Testimony by:
Amelia Negrón
Experience in:
Campamento de Prisioneros, Tres Álamos, 1975 and 1976, until the closure of Tres Álamos
Tags:
« There were so many of us women prisoners. Despite the circumstances, we had managed to invent our own world, one with our rules, according to what we thought and wanted for ourselves, our families and all the Chilean people. »
[...]
« Meanwhile, we continued in the middle of the belly of the beast, embroidering and singing our song that later, much later, became our anthem: 'Otros esperan que resistas, que les ayude tu alegría, que les ayude tu canción, entre sus canciones. Nunca te entregues, ni te apartes, junto al camino, nunca digas no puedo más y aquí me quedo, y aquí me quedo' (Others expect you to resist, that your joy helps them, that your song helps them among their songs. Never give in or turn away, stay on the path, never say I can’t go on anymore, and here I stay, here I stay). »
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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. »
[...]
« There I could hear the women held in the cell in front of ours (they were almost certainly much worse off than we were), singing a song that has stuck in my mind ever since. It was the one that says 'Usted no es ná, no es chicha ni limoná' (You’re nothing, you're neither fish nor fowl). This example of fortitude and commitment helped me to get back on my feet, forget the physical pain and try to help those comrades who were worse off than me. »
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Alfonsina and the Sea (Alfonsina y el mar)

Music piece 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, which resembled vertical coffins. It was even harder in 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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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:
Cárcel de Valdivia / Cárcel de Isla Teja, 9 October 1973
Tags:
« 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. »
[...]
« One time, the prison authorities brought in a singing teacher to form and conduct a choir. He was not a prisoner. »
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You Can Blame Me (Échame a mí la culpa)

Music piece by:
José Ángel Espinoza, aka Ferrusquillo
Testimony by:
Marcia Scantlebury
Experience in:
Campamento de Prisioneros Cuatro Álamos, June 1975
Tags:
« Mexican songs - and this one in particular - have always moved me. When I shared a cell with Miriam Silva, a young woman who belonged to the Communist Youth, arrested by the DINA when she was handing out leaflets on the street, we killed time in an organised fashion to keep ourselves from getting depressed and overcome by anxiety due to an unknown fate. »
[...]
« Since Miriam also liked music, one of the activities we planned was to spend the afternoons singing. On a piece of toilet paper I copied down the words to the song 'Échame a mí la culpa', so she could learn it and then we could sing it together. »
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Go Tell It to the Rain (Ve y díselo a la lluvia)

Music piece by:
Clan 91
Testimony by:
Eduardo Ojeda
Experience in:
Campamento de Prisioneros Isla Dawson, 1973
Tags:
« We had a comrade who sang beautifully. He was called Peye and was a student at the State Technical University. »
[...]
« When I met Peye again in the Alpha Barracks, he started singing the song 'Ve y díselo a la lluvia' ('Go tell it to the rain'), in the most spectacular voice. »
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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
Tags:
« The political prisoners’ cell block in Santiago Prison was established when they transferred many people from the National Stadium in October or November 1973. »
[...]
« We had a good time in the rehearsals. All of us who were there enjoyed singing. »
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Chacabuco Mass (Misa chacabucana)

Music piece by:
Ángel Parra and Ariel Ramírez
Testimony by:
Luis Cifuentes Seves
Experience in:
Campamento de Prisioneros Chacabuco, January - February 1974
Tags:
« This song is the second track on the cassette recorded in the Chacabuco prison camp by the band Los de Chacabuco, formed by Ángel Parra and led by him until his release. At the time that the cassette was recorded, Ángel had already been freed and Ernesto Parra had become the group's conductor. »
[...]
« It is interesting to note that Ángel was the only truly religious member in Los de Chacabuco. Nevertheless, the other members joined him enthusiastically and respectfully in singing these songs, essentially as a way of acknowledging the attitude of the Army chaplain Varela, who always treated the prisoners with great respect and solidarity. »
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How We Resemble Each Other (En qué nos parecemos)

Music piece by:
Unknown. Popularised by Quilapayún
Testimony by:
Scarlett Mathieu
Experience in:
Campamento de Prisioneros Cuatro Álamos, 1974
Tags:
« In Cuatro Álamos, I was profoundly marked by the singing of a current detained-disappeared named Juan Chacón. He sang ‘En qué nos parecemos’, a love song from the Spanish Civil War. It remained engraved in me because that comrade disappeared from Cuatro Álamos. »
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