Cantata Our Great Mother (Cantata Nuestra Madre Grande) - Towards the Light (Hacia la luz)

Music piece by:
Manuel Luis Rodríguez Uribe (lyrics), Fernando Lanfranco Leverton (music), Marco Antonio Barticevic Sapunar (notation)
Testimony by:
Fernando Lanfranco Leverton
Experience in:
Campamento de Prisioneros Isla Dawson, December 1973; Cárcel de Punta Arenas, September 1975

Most of us, political prisoners from the Magallanes region, were transferred to the detention and torture camp on Dawson Island on 21 December 1973. We came from the more than twenty detention, torture and interrogation centres of the civil-military dictatorship in the Magallanes region.

Despite precarious conditions and permanent mistreatment, we were able to create beauty, stay united, alert and in solidarity.  In those circumstances, Manuel, another political prisoner, wrote the texts of the Cantata Nuestra Madre Grande and gave them to me with the aim of creating the musical work.

I began to compose, using Latin American rhythms and harmonies and very much influenced by the Chilean New Song movement, the songs of Víctor Jara, Violeta Parra, Patricio Manns, Rolando Alarcón and many others. I finished composing the work in the Cárcel Pública of Punta Arenas with the support of Marco Antonio, with whom I wrote the musical notation on the stave.

Then, we were transferred from Dawson Island to Punta Arenas, where we were detained at the Estadio Fiscal, the Regimiento Cochrane and finally, the Cárcel Pública. With each move, we clandestinely took the scores with us. In April 1976, we managed to get them out of the Cárcel Pública, and then I took them to my exile in Ireland.

The Cantata had a pre-premiere in September 1975 in the Cárcel Pública, on the occasion of the anniversary of the Communist Youth. The performance was in the sector occupied by the political prisoners, segregated from the common prisoners. Naturally, it was very stealthy. The prison guards didn't find out about it, so there were no reprisals. The Cantata was discussed, and I sang about three songs. It was very moving.

In June 2021, the three authors met again and decided to compile all the background information about the Cantata and proceed with its performance.

In September 2023, on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the coup, we presented the Cantata at the José Bohr Municipal Theatre in Punta Arenas to a full house, in the presence of many comrades in struggle, regional authorities and family members. The Cantata in symphonic version will be presented in September 2025 at the Cultural Centre of Punta Arenas.

Today, there is also a book with two editions as well as a documentary that has been successfully presented in several countries around the world.


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Published on: 04 July 2025

"Hacia la luz" (55:34). Teatro Municipal José Bohr. September 2023. https://nuestramadregrande1.com/

How immense your flame will be
the final flame of your painful body!

Every thorn in your forehead
will leap like an uncontrolled claw
every child you have lost will return
bursting everywhere
as a luminous flood
and you will be a woman in childbirth
in that reddened and new dawn.

I would like to be present
in your ritual and hopeful dawn
to listen, paternal
your portentous cry
and see your hands close with anxiety
for when your son
the last one, who will be the first one
raises his eyes
and nobody else may stop him
in his final ascension towards the light.

Related testimonies:

  • They Say the Homeland Is (Dicen que la patria es)  Sergio Reyes Soto, Campamento de Prisioneros Isla Dawson, 1973 - 1974

    This song, like so many others, was not at all “captive”. The revolutionary songs we sang behind bars imbued us with a sense of freedom. Rolando Alarcón, and later Quilapayún, introduced “Dicen que la patria es” (or “Canción de soldados”) to Chile.

  • National Anthem of Chile  Eduardo Ojeda, Campamento de Prisioneros Isla Dawson, September 1973

    We arrived at Dawson Island on the afternoon of 11 September. All we knew was that we had been arrested in the morning - nothing else.

  • Far Away (Tamo daleko)  Eduardo Ojeda, Campamento de Prisioneros Isla Dawson, 1973

    At Compingin Camp on the island, Mario started telling us about the Spanish lyrics of the Yugoslav song 'Tamo daleko'. The song was not Croatian: it was Serbian.

  • Let’s Break the Morning (Rompamos la mañana)  María Soledad Ruiz Ovando, Campamento de Prisioneros Isla Dawson, 1973 - 1974

    Music was very important for us (my mother Sylvia, my sister Alejandra and myself) while my dad, Daniel Ruiz Oyarzo, 'el Negro Ruiz', was imprisoned during the dictatorship, when Alejandra was seven and I was four.

  • Go Tell It to the Rain (Ve y díselo a la lluvia)  Eduardo Ojeda, Campamento de Prisioneros Isla Dawson, 1973

    We had a comrade who sang beautifully. He was called Peye and was a student at the State Technical University.

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