Far Away (Tamo daleko)

Music piece by:
Djordje Marinkovic. Chilean adaptation of traditional Serbian song, originally composed in 1916.
Testimony by:
Jorge Grez Leuquén
Experience in:
Campamento de Prisioneros Isla Dawson, 2007

Working as a documentary film-maker for some years, I recorded the stories of some of the prisoners during the dictatorship. It was during some of these sessions that the song 'Tamo Daleko' reappeared; it had been sung numerous times on Dawson Island.

A humble contribution from the south of the south.


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Published on: 12 August 2015

Ex-political prisoners of Dawson Island in 2007. Filmed by documentary maker Jorge Grez Leuquén, who recorded stories of the dictatorship's detainees.

Tamo daleko
daleko kraj mora
tamo je selo moje
tamo je ljubav mojaTranslation from Serbian:
Over there, far away
away by the sea
there is my village
there is my love..

Far, far away
there along the seashore
is my beloved sweetheart
and is my beloved hometown.

My Punta Arenas
city of dreams and love
when I come back to your beaches
my heart will be reborn.

Let’s toast, brothers
let’s toast to love
for never again in our lives
will we be younger than we are today.






Related testimonies:

  • They Say the Homeland Is (Dicen que la patria es)  Sergio Reyes Soto, Campamento de Prisioneros Isla Dawson, 1973 - 1974

    This song, like so many others, was not at all “captive”. The revolutionary songs we sang behind bars imbued us with a sense of freedom. Rolando Alarcón, and later Quilapayún, introduced “Dicen que la patria es” (or “Canción de soldados”) to Chile.

  • National Anthem of Chile  Eduardo Ojeda, Campamento de Prisioneros Isla Dawson, September 1973

    We arrived at Dawson Island on the afternoon of 11 September. All we knew was that we had been arrested in the morning - nothing else.

  • Far Away (Tamo daleko)  Eduardo Ojeda, Campamento de Prisioneros Isla Dawson, 1973

    At Compingin Camp on the island, Mario started telling us about the Spanish lyrics of the Yugoslav song 'Tamo daleko'. The song was not Croatian: it was Serbian.

  • Let’s Break the Morning (Rompamos la mañana)  María Soledad Ruiz Ovando, Campamento de Prisioneros Isla Dawson, 1973 - 1974

    Music was very important for us (my mother Sylvia, my sister Alejandra and myself) while my dad, Daniel Ruiz Oyarzo, 'el Negro Ruiz', was imprisoned during the dictatorship, when Alejandra was seven and I was four.

  • Go Tell It to the Rain (Ve y díselo a la lluvia)  Eduardo Ojeda, Campamento de Prisioneros Isla Dawson, 1973

    We had a comrade who sang beautifully. He was called Peye and was a student at the State Technical University.

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