Moments (Los momentos)

Music piece by:
Eduardo Gatti
Testimony by:
Scarlett Mathieu
Experience in:
Campamento de Prisioneros, Tres Álamos, 1974

‘Moments’ was a song sung by the female comrades whose partners were imprisoned on the other side of Tres Álamos, or were fugitives or disappeared. We all sang it, but it was like their anthem.

The ‘Ode to Joy’ by Beethoven was one of our anthems. It was important for what it represented. We even changed the lyrics: ‘beyond the stars’ became ‘beyond borders’ because many prisoners would go into exile.

When someone was expelled, we sang the tango ‘Volver’ by Carlos Gardel. Also ‘No volveré’ by Chabela Vargas, although it was a bit negative.

We sang a lot ‘Palabras para Julia’ by Goytisolo and Ibáñez, ‘De cartón piedra’, ‘Lucía’ and ‘Vagabundear’ by Serrat, and ‘A los bosques’ by Lavandenz.

They punished us for singing songs that were too subversive for them, such as ‘Canción con todos’, popularised by Mercedes Sosa, which says ‘and a river runs in my blood / that releases in my voice / its flow’.

I sang ‘La joya del Pacífico’ by Víctor Manuel Acosta with all my soul, although I did not know Valparaíso much.

There was a very dear comrade who loved ‘Candombe para José’Song inspired by the candombe, a dance developed by African slaves in Uruguay.. She even requested that the song was sung for her funeral.

We all sang, those who sang well and those who sang badly. It was something that created great communion.

We became 110 people. It was very significant for men to hear us sing. They sang softly or sang badly.


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Published on: 11 June 2019

Your silhouette is wandering
with the soul sad and sleeping
the dawn is nothing new anymore
on your big eyes and your forehead
already the sky and its stars
were muted, distant and dead
in your wandering mind.

They told us once when we were children
when life reveals itself
that the future, when we are grown-ups
the moments died yesterday already
they sow its seed
and we were scared, trembled
and that’s how our life went.

Everyone clinging to their gods
results of a whole history
they create and destroy them
and organise their lives accordingly
on their foreheads they put coins
from their large hands, they hang
padlocks, signs and fences.

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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