Cantos Cautivos
194 results where found for «Today I Sing Just for the Sake of Singing»
Prayer So You Don't Forget Me (Oración para que no me olvides)
- Music piece by:Óscar Castro (words) and Ariel Arancibia González (music)
- Testimony by:Rosalía Martínez
- Experience in:Campamento de Prisioneros Cuatro Álamos, November - December 1974
- Tags:
- « When Katia Chornik contacted me a few years ago asking me to provide my testimony about my musical experience in prison, I thought I didn’t have much to say. »
- [...]
- « Here I will focus on what happened at Cuatro Álamos, where we sang almost every day, as I was lucky to find myself in a cell which was very much full of singing. »
- [Read full testimony]
- Music piece by:Poni Micharvegas
- Testimony by:Luis Alfredo Muñoz González
- Experience in:Campamento de Prisioneros Cuatro Álamos, late February 1975
- Tags:
- « While I was in solitary confinement in Cuatro Álamos, one day I noticed there was a large room at the end of the corridor, which, overnight, the dinos had filled with prisoners. »
- [...]
- « At the end of the day, these comrades organised quite a 'jamboree': talking, sharing information, asking questions and singing. It was a frenetic activity of solidarity, support, courage and warmth. »
- [Read full testimony]
- Music piece by:Eduardo Gatti
- Testimony by:Scarlett Mathieu
- Experience in:
- Tags:
- « ‘Moments’ was a song sung by the female comrades whose partners were imprisoned on the other side of Tres Álamos, or were fugitives or disappeared. We all sang it, but it was like their anthem. »
- [...]
- « They punished us for singing songs that were too subversive for them, such as ‘Canción con todos’, popularised by Mercedes Sosa, which says ‘and a river runs in my blood / that releases in my voice / its flow’. »
- [Read full testimony]
- Music piece by:Joan Manuel Serrat
- Testimony by:Beatriz Bataszew Contreras
- Experience in:Campamento de Prisioneros, Tres Álamos, December 1974 - May 1976
- Tags:
- « Tres Álamos was a more 'normal' camp, even though we never had a trial. There was a lot of music, it was sort of ritualistic. »
- [...]
- « There was always a lot of singing. It was a collective act, of companionship and affection. We sang standing up, all connected like in an oval. It produced something with great connection and strength. »
- [Read full testimony]
- Music piece by:original by Friedrich von Schiller (lyrics) and Ludwig van Beethoven (music). Free version in Spanish by Amado Regueiro Rodríguez, aka Orbe (lyrics) y Waldo de los Ríos (music), popularised in Chile by Miguel Ríos.
- Testimony by:Luis Madariaga
- Experience in:Cárcel de Valparaíso, 1974 - 1976
- Tags:
- « In prison, we would sing the 'Ode to Joy' when a comrade was released or sent to exile. »
- [...]
- « Come, sing, dream, singing »
- [Read full testimony]
- Music piece by:original by Friedrich von Schiller (lyrics) and Ludwig van Beethoven (music). Free version in Spanish by Amado Regueiro Rodríguez, aka Orbe (lyrics) y Waldo de los Ríos (music), popularised in Chile by Miguel Ríos.
- Testimony by:Irma Alvarado
- Experience in:Cárcel de Río Negro, December 1974
- Tags:
- « Together with two comrades, I arrived at Río Negro Prison from Chin Chin Prison in Puerto Montt. As punishment, we were sent to a storehouse where the grass was kept for the animals. We shared a small space with mice and giant spiders crawling over our beds. The dungeon had only one small window. »
- [...]
- « Come, sing, dream, singing »
- [Read full testimony]
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. »- [...]
- « Today, I can remember it and speak about it. I can say that when I hear his songs I am immediately transported back to those years in jail in the city of Coronel, to that woman who is a political prisoner of Pinochet’s dictatorship. I remember him as the great comrade he was, through his music and his songs. »
- [Read full testimony]
- Music piece by:Víctor Canto Fuenzalida (lyrics), Efraín Navarro (music)
- Testimony by:Víctor Canto Fuenzalida
- Experience in:Campamento de Prisioneros Chacabuco, June 1974
- Tags:
- « Filistoque is a real-life person in all his mighty height (1.90 metres tall). I always remember him laughing. In Chacabuco, we shared a house for nearly ten months. Around him, you were never allowed to become depressed or get into a stew over our situation. »
- [...]
- « No one could be oblivious to his presence. Just a greeting from Filistoque enlivened the streets of Chacabuco. A figure like him deserved a cueca of his own. Cheers to you, dear comrade, wherever you are. »
- [Read full testimony]
- Music piece by:Sergio Vesely
- Testimony by:Sergio Vesely
- Experience in:
- 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. »
- [...]
- « Songs are good for releasing a singer from tempestuous doubts and allowing him to denounce injustice openly, with no qualms. In other words, the way things are painted when we see the world in black and white. Joking aside, the positive medicinal effect of music therapy is undeniable. Beyond the value that a songwriter gives a song or that others may give, I think songwriting was a discovery that helped me, above all, to give meaning to my life as a prisoner. »
- [Read full testimony]
- Music piece by:Sergio Vesely
- Testimony by:Sergio Vesely
- Experience in:
- Tags:
- « After our transfer from Tres Álamos to Puchuncaví in April 1975, a group of prisoners began toying with the idea of presenting a poetic-theatrical performance about the history of Latin America’s indigenous cultures and their extermination under Iberian domination. »
- [...]
- « This composition combines three indigenous songs in a single song. It came to me during the process of creating that great work, which we called 'I Sing to the Americas'. Only parts of the song were included in the programme that evening. »
- [Read full testimony]
- « I recall that during my time as a political prisoner,