Cantos Cautivos

« During the daily flag-lowering ritual in the camp Melinka, the prisoners first had to get into formation in the courtyard and then walk in line to the location of the mast. »

Lili Marlene

Music piece by:

Hans Leip

Testimony by:

Renato Alvarado Vidal

Experience in:

Campamento de Prisioneros Melinka, Puchuncaví, May - Octobre 1975

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« I lowered my head, closed my eyes and listened, just listened, to these steps approaching, becoming louder, shaking the ground, going past me, and as they marched away, they left their singing floating in the air, where the loyal Lili Marlene was waiting for me under the light of a single streetlamp outside the barracks gates. »

King Ñaca Ñaca (El rey Ñaca Ñaca)

Music piece by:

Sergio Vesely

Testimony by:

Sergio Vesely

Experience in:

Campamento de Prisioneros Melinka, Puchuncaví, 1975

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« 'Ñaca-ñaca' was an interjection we used at Camp Melinka whenever we wanted to signal and poke fun at any dark thought that might cross our minds. That may be why it seemed the ideal name to give to the paper maché puppet that played the role of the mean king in the puppet stories we performed to entertain the children who came to visit their captive fathers. »

[...]

« The sad tyrant died broken-hearted »

King Ñaca Ñaca (El rey Ñaca Ñaca)

Music piece by:

Sergio Vesely

Testimony by:

Renato Alvarado Vidal

Experience in:

Campamento de Prisioneros Melinka, Puchuncaví, May - October 1975

Tags:

« During the last third of the 20th century, the concentration camps of the Chilean dictatorship were characterised by a high grade of organisation among prisoners, as well as the overflowing creativity they applied to all areas of human ingenuity. »

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« The sad tyrant died broken-hearted »

« While waiting in the grandstands to be interrogated for the first, second or more times, we would sing 'Free' to those who were being lined up to be released. 'Free' was a catharsis, a mixture of joy for those who were going and hope for those of us left behind. Unfortunately, the dictatorship and its civil and military henchmen employed the song for their own propaganda. »

Music piece by:

José Luis Armenteros and Pablo Herrero, popularised by Nino Bravo.

Testimony by:

anonymous

Experience in:

Campamento de Prisioneros, Estadio Nacional, September - November 1973

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« This song was performed in the Stadium grandstands by a worker from the Madeco factory: Peineta Vasquez, winner of a Song Festival that was organised at grassroots level, during the times when we were allowed to leave the spaces under the grandstands, inside the stadium, to sunbathe, together with women from various countries, before they got sent off to the pool area. »

Music piece by:

José Luis Armenteros and Pablo Herrero, popularised by Nino Bravo.

Testimony by:

Guillermo Orrego Valdebenito

Experience in:

Campamento de Prisioneros, Estadio Nacional, 1973

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« I’m from Chol Chol, part of the Coihue community. I was arrested along with 12 other people and they took us to the Second Police Station of Temuco. »

Music piece by:

José Luis Armenteros and Pablo Herrero, popularised by Nino Bravo.

Testimony by:

Paicavi Painemal

Experience in:

Comisaría de Carabineros N° 2, Temuco, 22 April 1985

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« I was taken prisoner on 23 November 1973, at the University of Concepción. In the Regional Stadium of Concepción, we had to sing the National Anthem every day. »

Music piece by:

José Luis Armenteros and Pablo Herrero, popularised by Nino Bravo.

Testimony by:

Marianella Ubilla

Experience in:

Campamento Prisioneros Estadio Regional, Christmas 1973

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I’m Not from Here - To my Comrade, my Love (No soy de aquí - A mi compañera)

Music piece by:

Facundo Cabral, with lyrics modified by a political prisoner

Testimony by:

Alfonso Padilla Silva

Experience in:

Campamento Prisioneros Estadio Regional, 25 December 1973

Tags:

« The choir of male prisoners sang a piece called 'A mi compañera' (To my comrade, my love) to the music of 'No soy de aquí, ni soy de allá' (I'm not from here, nor from there) by Facundo Cabral. »

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« I like to hear that song of hope »

« When the concentration camp that operated for nearly five months at the Regional Stadium of Concepción was closed in early February 1974, hundreds of political prisoners were transferred to the Concepción Prison, a wing of which was turned into a concentration camp. »

We Shall Overcome

Music piece by:

Attributed to Charles Albert Tindley

Testimony by:

Alfonso Padilla Silva

Experience in:

Cárcel de Concepción / Cárcel El Manzano, December 1974

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« oh, deep in my heart, (I know that) I do believe »