Blue Eyes (Ojos azules)

Music piece by:
attributed to Gilberto Rojas Enríquez (Bolivia), Manuel Casazola Huancco (Perú), and the Andean oral tradition. Popularised in Chile by Violeta Parra and her children Isabel and Ángel Parra.
Testimony by:
Luis Cifuentes Seves
Experience in:
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.

They played at the prisoners' weekly show. The song was very popular in Chile in the 1960s and many bands included it in their repertoire.

The quenaAndean traditional flute, made of reed or wood. was played by Ricardo Yocelewski and the charangoA small Andean plucked string instrument traditionally made from an armadillo shell or wood. by Luis Cifuentes.


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Published on: 13 November 2015

Clandestine recording made by political prisoners in Chacabuco in 1974.

Do not cry, blue eyes
do not cry or fall in love.
You will cry when I leave
when there is nothing else to be done.

You swore to love me
to love me for the rest of your life.
But hardly two or three days have passed
you are going away and leaving me.

In a glass of wine
I would like to drink poison
poison to kill myself
poison to forget you.



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.