Little Doctors (Doctorcitos)

Music piece by:
unknown. Folk tune from the Andes highlands
Testimony by:
Guillermo Orrego
Experience in:
Campamento de Prisioneros Chacabuco, 1974

In 1974 - I don’t quite remember the month - the Chacabuco Olympics were held. The opening ceremony consisted of symbolically carrying the Olympic torch through the concentration camp.

The bearer of that emblem was a comrade nicknamed El Tigre de Carayaca (The Tiger of Carayaca). He put a handkerchief on his head and wore a sweatshirt-type undershirt on his torso, white and sleeveless, as well as football shorts, green, baggy and with white stripes on the sides. The shorts were mine.

There was a tremendous uproar, and the march left from the corner of our house at number 26, pavilion 5, next to our University, in the middle of the Civic District. The fervour grew as we were all running next to El Tigre and reached another pavilion after a few laps around the Olympic course.

The march was accompanied by the sounds of the quenaAndean traditional flute, made of reed or wood. played by Ricardo Yocelevsky, a former member of the group Los Curacas. I remember the song as a taquirariTraditional dance from Bolivia. from Los Chaskas, a Bolivian group that performed at the Viña del Mar FestivalOldest and largest song festival in South America since 1960. on one occasion.

The taquirari was the tune used by the political prisoners of Chacabuco at any event happening in the camp. A few years ago, I learned that this tune is also known as "Doctorcitos".

I also remember the sudden appearance of a soldier playing the trumpet by our dining room area. He would play us tunes by the German jazz player Bert Kaempfert, very well performed. He would only play for a while and then would disappear.

Since I was an actor of the Sunday show, I learned that steps were taken for this squaddie to participate in our event, but it was not possible to dissuade him.


Tags:

Published on: 29 March 2019

Recorded in 2015 by MACOMBA, a group of ex-prisoners and friends, as a homage to Marcelo Concha Bascuñán.

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.

  • 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.

  • Free (Libre)  Guillermo Orrego Valdebenito, Campamento de Prisioneros, Estadio Nacional, 1973

    This song was performed in the Stadium grandstands by a worker from the Madeco factory: Peineta Vasquez, winner of a Song Festival that was organised at grassroots level, during the times when we were allowed to leave the spaces under the grandstands, inside the stadium,  to sunbathe, together with women from various countries, before they got sent off to the pool area.

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