Cantos Cautivos
How We Resemble Each Other (En qué nos parecemos)
- Music piece by:Unknown. Popularised by Quilapayún
- Testimony by:Scarlett Mathieu
- Experience in:
In Cuatro Álamos, I was profoundly marked by the singing of a current detained-disappeared named Juan Chacón. He sang ‘En qué nos parecemos’, a love song from the Spanish Civil War. It remained engraved in me because that comrade disappeared from Cuatro Álamos.
These were not very happy times, so to say. We were all coming out of the Londres 38 torture house and were in a very bad condition.
It was important to recognise voices because we were blindfolded and our communication happened in the dark. One could only meet up with the people with whom one shared the cell.
Through the windows, I heard Juan. He must not have been in good physical condition, but he was in a mood to sing.
I was very touched that someone sang with so much feeling. His voice was not broken. He managed to give light and hope to humankind despite all.
For me, ‘En qué nos parecemos’ is the symbol of the period of solitary confinement. In my case, it was not very long and then they sent me to a place where I wasn’t isolated anymore.
I have memories of Londres 38 too. We hummed a little when the guard allowed it but I do not remember which songs. Everything is very faded.
Máximo Gedda, another detained-disappeared, also sang and recited poems. It lifted the mood a lot.
These songs were very important and significant for all. I tried to remember the names of the people who sang them.
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Published on: 02 June 2019
you and I,
resemble snow
You so white and graceful
and I in the way I melt.
The tall trees
are swayed by the wind
and people in love
by their thoughts.
Related testimonies:
- Ode to Joy (Himno a la alegría) Amelia Negrón, Campamento de Prisioneros, Tres Álamos, 31 December 1975
Preparations for that Wednesday night became more intense. It would be a different night. We women prisoners had secretly organised ourselves, but more importantly, we had also coordinated with the male prisoners.
- Ode to Joy (Himno a la alegría) Renato Alvarado Vidal, Campamento de Prisioneros Cuatro Álamos, 1975
Once upon a time, there was a good little wolf. … No. That’s another story.
- 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.
- Casida of the Dark Pigeons (Casida de las palomas oscuras) Luis Alfredo Muñoz González, Campamento de Prisioneros Cuatro Álamos, February - March 1975
According to scientists, memory and music processing are situated in a deep, ancestral part of the brain, where it is zealously guarded.
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