455 results where found for «Zamba so as Not to Die»


For the Guy Who's Leaving

Music piece by:
Alfredo Zitarrosa
Testimony by:
Luis Cifuentes Seves
Experience in:
Campamento de Prisioneros Chacabuco, November – April 1974
« Marcelo Concha Bascuñán, a member of the Los de Chacabuco band, was a young man of great charisma and personal skills. He had been a swimming champion and was an outstanding guitarist and singer. »
[...]
« In the Chacabuco concentration camp, he was renowned for his charm, excellent mood and spirit of collaboration. He taught songs to many of his colleagues, including myself, although I should note that I could never pluck the guitar as well as him. »
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Today I Sing for the Sake of Singing (Hoy canto por cantar)

Music piece by:
Nydia Caro and Riccardo Ceratto
Testimony by:
Beatriz Bataszew Contreras
Experience in:
« I have never been a great music listener. Nevertheless, before the coup I used to listen to Nueva Canción, especially Quilapayún and Rolando Alarcón. I also liked cumbias, to fool around. We would dance and have fun. »
[...]
« But during that period my isolation was within myself. I was concentrating on what I was going to say, what I was not going to say. That was a period when you were always alert to what could happen, and this was my main focus. What could happen in the interrogations, what happened when people arrived. I concentrated on that. »
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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
« 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. »
[...]
« One song went like this: 'La vida es bella ya verás, como a pesar de los pesares, tendrás amigos, tendrás amor, tendrás amigos. Un hombre solo, una mujer, así tomados, de uno en uno, son como polvo, no son nada, no son nada'. (Life is beautiful you'll see, despite everything, you’ll have friends, find love, have friends. A man alone, a woman alone, are like dust, are nothing, are nothing.) »
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You Hear It Far Away (Se escucha muy lejos)

Music piece by:
Collective creation
Testimony by:
Ignacio Puelma
Experience in:
« The sound of the sea was carried over the cabins of the Ritoque Prison Camp by the wind. It was the daily music given to us as a gift by the ocean. »
[...]
« Our group continued to add new songs to its repertoire, including some by one Silvio Rodríguez, then not very well known. A few days later, while I was washing in the camp bathroom, a political leader, whom I respected and still do, said to me in a solemn tone: »
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Lucía

Music piece by:
Joan Manuel Serrat
Testimony by:
Beatriz Bataszew Contreras
Experience in:
Campamento de Prisioneros, Tres Álamos, December 1974 - May 1976
« 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. »
[...]
« ‘Lucía’ was for quiet and private spaces. You need a very good voice for this song. It’s difficult, not all of us would sing it. The comrade who sang it appeared to become one with the music. I think there was a guitar but I can’t say for sure. »
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Neither Fish nor Fowl (Ni chicha ni limoná)

Music piece by:
Víctor Jara
Testimony by:
Joaquín Vallejos
Experience in:
« 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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Beloved Friend (Amado amigo)

Music piece by:
Sergio Vesely
Testimony by:
Sergio Vesely
« 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. »
[...]
« Paper boat (barco de papel): We had a habit of wishing farewell to our comrades who were released or about to be transferred to other prisons. People who were not fortunate enough to be included in the group would gather around those who were about to leave, a ritual that sometimes included singing Julio Numhausser’s beautiful song 'El barco de papel'. The first verse goes like this: 'Se va el barco de papel por el mar de la esperanza, llevando un montón de sueños y los niños no lo alcanzan. Se va, se va y no volverá. Se va, se va a la libertad.' (The paper boat sails to a sea of hope, carrying dreams and children can’t reach it. There it goes, there it goes, and it will never return. There it goes, there it goes to freedom.). »
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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
« 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. »
[...]
« It made you feel that the songs we listened to on a cassette player contained the wisdom and spirit of rebellion, which I personally needed in order to feel that they had not completely deprived me of my freedom. »
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Free (Libre)

Music piece by:
José Luis Armenteros and Pablo Herrero, popularised by Nino Bravo.
Testimony by:
Marianella Ubilla
Experience in:
« 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. »
[...]
« I am so resilient that I simply decided to stop suffering, but every time I hear 'Free' I feel that, in reality, I'm not free. I am no longer physically abused, but I am socially. »
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Sinner, come to sweet Jesus (Pecador, ven al dulce Jesús)

Music piece by:
Unknown
Testimony by:
anonymous
Experience in:
« One time, a group of male and female evangelicals came to Teja Island to preach. They were taken to the visitors’ yard. »
[...]
« Because we prisoners had nothing else to do, we went to see them. »
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