162 results where found for «With the Sprouts I Sowed»

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. »
[...]
« Breadcrumbs (migas de pan): These were the raw material we used in the interrogation centres for sculpting little figurines. This activity was important to keep the prisoners' minds occupied. In situations of extreme solitary confinement, when all contact with the outside world had been cut off, prisoners used these figurines to build a tiny bridge of communication with their fellow prisoners. A person in solitary confinement would place the figurine where others could see it, leaving leave a sign life. »
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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. »
[...]
« 2. 'La prefería compartida con el compromiso social y político que ella tenía, antes de vaciar su vida' ('I would prefer to share her with the social and political commitment she had, rather than empty my life'): That is, he would prefer to share her instead of living day to day, although he doesn’t want a commitment, and although he doesn’t know when he would see her again, etc. »
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May the Omelette Flip Over (Que la tortilla se vuelva)

Music piece by:
Chicho Sánchez Ferlosio. Popularized by Quilapayún
Testimony by:
Claudio Melgarejo
Experience in:
Comisaría de Concepción, November 1973
Tags:
« I spent a week in captivity, in November 1973. I didn’t hear many songs, but the most popular ones sung by my comrades were 'Venceremos' (We Shall be Victorious) and 'Que la tortilla se vuelva' (May the Omelette Flip Over), also known as 'The Tomato Song', which portrays the bosses' exploitation of the workers. »
[...]
« At that time, the young in Latin American were steeped in revolutionary change and we empathised with the situation around Che Guevara and Cuba. »
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The Wall (La muralla)

Music piece by:
Nicolás Guillén (lyrics) and Quilapayún (music)
Testimony by:
Domingo Lizama
Experience in:
Cárcel de Valdivia / Cárcel de Isla Teja, 1973 - 1978
Tags:
« In prison, there was a guy who played the guitar. He cheered up the afternoons in the cell. We all sang with him. »
[...]
« When our visitors brought food, we would share it with the gendarmes. They were starving. They were conscripted youngsters. »
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Luchín

Music piece by:
Víctor Jara
Testimony by:
anonymous
Experience in:
Cárcel de Valdivia / Cárcel de Isla Teja, September 1973
Tags:
« They said that once you got to the prison of Teja Island, you were safe. »
[...]
« The owner of the guitar was an academic who knew songs by Víctor Jara, Quilapayún and Inti-Illimani. They were popular at that time and we identified with them. Their songs represented the people and the peasants. »
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Priests and Soldiers (Curas y milicos)

Music piece by:
Sergio Vesely
Testimony by:
Sergio Vesely
Experience in:
Campamento de Prisioneros Melinka, Puchuncaví, 1975
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. »
[...]
« While listening to one of those professors, I learned about Father Bartolomé de las Casas, a priest who lived in Central America and earned the title of Defender of the Indians during the harshest period of the Spanish Conquest. His life was marked by defeat. He was unable to stop the abuses committed with the consent of the Catholic Church, which was his spiritual home. »
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Three Indian Songs (Tres canciones indias)

Music piece by:
Sergio Vesely
Testimony by:
Sergio Vesely
Experience in:
Campamento de Prisioneros Melinka, Puchuncaví, 1975
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. »
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Song of a Middle-Class Man (Canción de un hombre medio)

Music piece by:
Sergio Vesely
Testimony by:
Sergio Vesely
Experience in:
Cárcel de Valparaíso, 1976
Tags:
« In our political discussions, we always spoke disdainfully of the middle class. In the view of the Marxist ideologues in prison, that sector of society supported the dictatorship and it was necessary to reverse that trend. »
[...]
« It was not active support but rather passive support that involved laying low and getting by with the dictatorship. Where possible, it was a case of don't see, don't hear and don't say anything that might smell of politics. »
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Love (Amor)

Music piece by:
Guillermo Núñez (lyrics) and Sergio Vesely (music)
Testimony by:
Sergio Vesely
Experience in:
Campamento de Prisioneros Melinka, Puchuncaví, 1975
Tags:
« This song is based on a poem Guillermo wrote in the Puchuncaví Prison Camp dedicated to his partner Soledad. Of all the songs I composed as a prisoner, this is the only one where the lyrics are not mine. »
[...]
« I took the sheet of paper with the poem to my cell in one of the adjacent huts. After reading and re-reading it several times, I began to compose this song. »
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Song of the Seed and the Plant (Canción de la semilla y la planta)

Music piece by:
Sergio Vesely
Testimony by:
Sergio Vesely
Experience in:
Campamento de Prisioneros Melinka, Puchuncaví, 1975
Tags:
« The history of the seed and the plant, of which this song forms part, was performed as a play to entertain our audience of children during a family visit to the prison. Imagination had no limits when it came to kindling a small flame of hope in our hearts. »
[...]
« With the scarce resources available to us, we made costumes and dressed up as a jester, a gardener, a sun, and clowns, and thus attired we came out to meet our loved ones that day, much to the surprise of the soldiers, who watched us from a distance not understanding what was going on. »
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