155 results where found for «The Rack»


The Rack (El costillar)

Music piece by:
unknown. Folk tune from the south of Chile
Testimony by:
Teresa Retamal Silva
« The Cárcel Buen Pastor was a compound run by nuns. They called us political prisoners and were anxious to collect information about us to pass it on to our tormentors. »
[...]
« We put significant effort into the presentation, which was a great success. The event included various performances, including the folk dance ‘El costillar’ (The Rack). We wore peasant clothes and sang with guitar accompaniment while dancing around two bottles placed on the floor. »
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Candombe for José (Candombe para José)

Music piece by:
Roberto Ternán
Testimony by:
Amelia Negrón
« We were in Pavilion 1. One of us came up with the idea, I can’t remember who. There were so many of us and we spent the day inventing and creating things! »
[...]
« None of us knew it entirely, but slowly and racking our brains we completed the music and lyrics. We all learnt it, without exception. »
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Ode to Joy (Himno a la alegría)

Music piece by:
original by Friedrich von Schiller (lyrics) and Ludwig van Beethoven (music). Free version in Spanish by Amado Regueiro Rodríguez, aka Orbe (lyrics) y Waldo de los Ríos (music), popularised in Chile by Miguel Ríos.
Testimony by:
Amelia Negrón
Experience in:
« 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. »
[...]
« We absolutely could not allow ourselves to be depressed; we were so happy on those few visit days. We would be able to touch them, smell them, hug them, give them our affection, give them the gifts we had made for them, hear the news, the latest rumours about releases from prison. There were so many things we wanted to do with them and the time together would be so brief! »
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Casida of the Dark Pigeons (Casida de las palomas oscuras)

Music piece by:
Federico García Lorca (words), Paco Ibáñez (music)
Testimony by:
Luis Alfredo Muñoz González
Experience in:
« According to scientists, memory and music processing are situated in a deep, ancestral part of the brain, where it is zealously guarded. »
[...]
« “Who are you?” I asked. “They’ve taken everyone away. They told me they were going to kill those that are still here,” she said. “Who are you?”. “They call me La Jovencita (The Young Girl). I am from Argentina and they caught me in Valparaíso. Do you think they will kill me?” »
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Tacit Song (Canción tácita)

Music piece by:
All the women present at that moment in Chacabuco
Testimony by:
Mónica García Cuadra
Experience in:
« I am the daughter of a former political prisoner who spent a long time imprisoned at Chacabuco, among other places. I am Monica, a little 9-year-old girl who travelled with a heavy heart full of sadness to visit her father, Gerardo García Salas, held at the Chacabuco concentration camp. I am an only child and in my young life, he is my sole reference point and, in essence, my image of masculinity. »
[...]
« The song that finally sealed that profound reunion was a “tacit song” written by all the comrades present at that moment, while the men held their fists high, eyes gazing straight ahead, firm, expectant, and trembling behind the fence, observing how their daughters, wives, girlfriends, sisters, mothers - their women- took flight with their own fists held high, wails suppressed in their throats. »
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Beloved Friend (Amado amigo)

Music piece by:
Sergio Vesely
Testimony by:
Sergio Vesely
« This song, written in my cell at the Puchuncaví Prison Camp, speaks to a friend and fellow prisoner; it could be any one of the thousands behind bars. »
[...]
« Paper boat (barco de papel): We had a habit of wishing farewell to our comrades who were released or about to be transferred to other prisons. People who were not fortunate enough to be included in the group would gather around those who were about to leave, a ritual that sometimes included singing Julio Numhausser’s beautiful song 'El barco de papel'. The first verse goes like this: 'Se va el barco de papel por el mar de la esperanza, llevando un montón de sueños y los niños no lo alcanzan. Se va, se va y no volverá. Se va, se va a la libertad.' (The paper boat sails to a sea of hope, carrying dreams and children can’t reach it. There it goes, there it goes, and it will never return. There it goes, there it goes to freedom.). »
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Under my Skin (A flor de piel)

Music piece by:
Julio Iglesias
Testimony by:
César Montiel
Experience in:
Colonia Dignidad, April 1975
« At the beginning of the 1970s, I met Carmen, my comrade, my love, at the Juventudes Comunistas of Talca. We had the life of young idealists, sharing our everyday, living this revolutionary process so beautifully. »
[...]
« That's the curious thing, to this day we wonder how they knew that song was our song, the song of our love. None of the guards asked us what music we liked. I would ask myself: How did they know that ‘A flor de piel’ was our song? Which of my cell comrades knew? I felt uncertain and worried that they knew this and how much information they could access. »
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Lament for the Death of Augusto the Dog (Lamento a la muerte del perro Augusto)

Music piece by:
Sergio Vesely
Testimony by:
Sergio Vesely
« Augusto the dog (not to be confused with the journalist Augusto Olivares, affectionately nicknamed 'Augusto the Dog', who was murdered in the Presidential Palace on 11 September 1973), was the mascot of the political prisoners held at the Ritoque concentration camp, and accompanied his master when the military junta decided to close that prison and transfer the inmates to the neighbouring Puchuncaví concentration camp. »
[...]
« The soldiers guarding us put up with him, although in truth they couldn’t stand the animal. They never lost an opportunity to show how much they disliked him. The situation became critical for Augusto when the soldiers realised that he had the same name as the dictator. »
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Saint Gregory’s Tonada (Tonada San Gregorio)

Music piece by:
Pedro Humire Loredo
Testimony by:
Pedro Humire Loredo
« This tonada recalls the horrible situation I was subjected to in the cells of the police station in the San Gregorio district in southern Santiago. »
[...]
« After dark, they brought more detainees and then proceeded to brutally beat them up. I heard the police tell these prisoners that they had to take them into the neighbourhood and show them where the other upelientos or leaders were. »
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We Shall Prevail (Venceremos)

Music piece by:
Claudio Iturra (lyrics) and Sergio Ortega (music)
Testimony by:
Lucía Chirinos
Experience in:
« The parish priest at Buen Pastor played the accordion. He played so beautifully. Because I played the piano, I asked him if I could borrow it. 'I'll lend it to you' he said. »
[...]
« They all turned around and their jaws dropped. Then they closed their fists, lifted their left arm and we sang at full blast, crying, raising our voices so they resonated in the corridor. It was glorious. »
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