Christmas Oratorio According to St. Luke (Oratorio de Navidad según San Lucas)

Music piece by:
Gospel According to St. Luke (lyrics), Ángel Parra (music)
Testimony by:
Luis Cifuentes Seves
Experience in:
Campamento de Prisioneros Chacabuco, January - February 1974

This is the first song on the cassette recorded at the Chacabuco camp by the band Los de Chacabuco, created by Ángel Parra and conducted by him until his release.

At the time that the cassette was recorded, Ángel had been freed and Ernesto Parra had become the group’s conductor.

The group rehearsed this song, like all the other songs, on its premises in the so-called Civic District, a street near the camp entrance. On this street other groups of prisoners, organised with the military's permission, also had their meeting places: the doctors, the lawyers, the theatre group, the choir and other groups.

All ten members of the group took part, and are named at the beginning of the recording.

The recording has some sound problems due to the old age of the cassette, which was digitised in 2015.


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Published on: 12 November 2015

Clandestine recording made by political prisoners in Chacabuco, 1974.

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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