La Adelita

Music piece by:
Unknown
Testimony by:
Luis Cifuentes Seves
Experience in:
Campamento de Prisioneros Chacabuco, January – February 1974

This is another song that was performed by the band Los de Chacabuco and was sung in the prisoners’ weekly show. It’s a very old Mexican song that was popular in Chile.

It used to be performed in the compound set up by the prisoners and rehearsed at Los de Chacabuco's venue in the so-called Civic District. Along with the other songs recovered from the historic cassette, this one was also recorded in the group’s aforementioned venue.


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Published on: 11 November 2015

Clandestine recording made by political prisoners in Chacabuco, 1974.

At the top of a steep ridge
a regiment was encamped
and a girl who bravely followed
madly in love with the sergeant.

Popular among the troops was Adelita
the woman idolised by the sergeant
who besides being brave was also pretty
and even the colonel respected her.

And he was heard to say
that he loved her so
if Adelita were to go with another
I would follow her by land and by sea
if by sea on a warship
if by land on a military train.

If Adelita would like to marry me
and if Adelita were now my wife
I would buy her a silk dress
to take her dancing in the barracks.

And after the cruel battle ended
and the troops returned to their camp
through the voice of a sobbing woman
a prayer was heard in the camp.

And on hearing her, the sergeant
afraid of losing forever his beloved
hiding his pain under a scarf
sang to his beloved like this...

And he who was so moribund
was heard saying…

And if I happen to die in the war
and if they arrange to bury my body
Adelita, by God I beg you
not to cry for me.


Related testimonies:

  • Blue Eyes (Ojos azules)  Luis Cifuentes Seves, Campamento de Prisioneros Chacabuco, January – February 1974

    This is the last track on the cassette recorded by the band Los de Chacabuco in the concentration camp; it was digitised in 2015.

  • The Crux of the Matter (La madre del cordero)  Servando Becerra Poblete, Campamento de Prisioneros Chacabuco, 9 November 1973 - 10 November 1974

    I recited this poem in the National Stadium. I continued to do so in the Chacabuco prison camp, earning the nickname of “Venancio” from my fellow prisoners.

  • The Crux of the Matter (La madre del cordero)  Servando Becerra Poblete, Campamento de Prisioneros, Estadio Nacional, 9 November 1973 - 10 November 1974

    I recited this poem in the National Stadium. I continued to do so in the Chacabuco prison camp, earning the nickname of “Venancio” from my fellow prisoners.

  • How We Resemble Each Other (En qué nos parecemos)  Luis Cifuentes Seves, Campamento de Prisioneros, Estadio Nacional, September - November 1973

    During the 1960s, the group Quilapayún popularised this old Spanish song in Chile. Víctor Canto and I performed it as a duet in Santiago’s National Stadium, which had been converted into a concentration, torture and extermination camp.

  • Chacabuco’s Soul (Alma de Chacabuco)  Luis Cifuentes Seves, Campamento de Prisioneros Chacabuco, November - December 1973

    This is the original version of a composition by Ángel Parra at Chacabuco, as secretly recorded at the prison camp during his farewell concert. The composer’s voice can be heard.

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