Testimonies

Testimonies are sorted by publication date, showing the newest first.
Click on to sort by witness, to sort alphabetically by musical piece title, or to sort by publication date.


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
« 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. »
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Published on: 18 June 2015


With the Sprouts I Sowed (Y con brotes de mi siembra)

Music piece by:
Andrés Rivanera (lyrics) and Eugenio Moglia (music). Popularised by Los Moros and Jorge Yáñez.
Testimony by:
Guillermo Orrego Valdebenito
« In Chacabuco there were two theatres: one that was very beautiful and was linked to the old saltpetre works, where it is claimed (wrongly as it happens) that Caruso once performed, and another theatre that was inside the concentration camp. »
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Published on: 26 May 2015


Morning Has Broken

Music piece by:
Cat Stevens, based on a traditional Gaelic hymn; lyrics by Eleanor Farjeon
Testimony by:
Luis Cifuentes Seves
Experience in:
« At the time of the coup in 1973, this song was world-famous and frequently played on the radio. »
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Published on: 25 April 2015


Little Doctors (Doctorcitos)

Music piece by:
unknown. Folk tune from the Andes highlands
Testimony by:
Luis Cifuentes Seves
Experience in:
Campamento de Prisioneros Chacabuco, January - February 1974
« Agreeing to a suggestion from Ricardo, Los de Chacabuco learned and arranged this tune. In the Andean high plateau, the tune is a satirical reference to lawyers and, by implication, to civil servants. It is performed at carnival time. »
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Published on: 09 April 2015


The Rain is Falling (Scende la pioggia)

Music piece by:
The Turtles ('Elenore'), with new lyrics by Gianni Morandi
Testimony by:
Eduardo René Cuevas
Experience in:
Cárcel de Los Ángeles, September 1973
« This song was a workhorse for the prisoners. Iván Moscoso sang it, accompanied by a guitar, in a powerful and defiant voice, and the most altruistic among us sung along in the presence of the gendarme guards, in a courtyard that was only for political prisoners. »
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Published on: 31 March 2015


The Great Gigi L’amoroso (Gigi el amoroso)

Music piece by:
Jacqueline Misrahi, Lana Sebastian and Paul Sebastian. Popularised by Dalida in various languages: Italian ('Gigi L’amoroso'), Spanish ('Gigi el amoroso'), French ('Gigi l'amour'), English ('The Great Gigi l’amoroso'), German ('Gigi der Geliebte') and Japanese ('Ai suru Jiji').
Testimony by:
Eduardo René Cuevas
« This song was used while the Military Intelligence Service (SIM) subjected me to cruel torture at a clandestine torture centre in the southern Chilean city of Los Ángeles. »
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Published on: 21 March 2015


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. »
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Published on: 08 March 2015


La López Pereyra

Music piece by:
Artidorio Cresseri
Testimony by:
Germán Larrabe
« This zamba was the first song we tried to perform in Puchuncaví, with a group made up of prisoners transferred from Chacabuco Detention Camp together with us, newly arrived 'puchuncas'. »
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Published on: 05 March 2015


Sadness (Tristeza)

Music piece by:
Hermanos Núñez
Testimony by:
Germán Larrabe
« A very sad song, often performed by parents of young children. »
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Published on: 05 March 2015


An Old Love Tune (Tonada del viejo amor)

Music piece by:
Eduardo Falú and Jaime Dávalos
Testimony by:
Luis Cifuentes Seves
Experience in:
Campamento de Prisioneros Chacabuco, November 1973 - February 1974
« The Los de Chacabuco band, created and conducted by Ángel Parra, performed this zamba by Eduardo Falú and Jaime Davalos at the camp’s weekly shows. »
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Published on: 19 February 2015