I’m Not from Here - To my Comrade, my Love (No soy de aquí - A mi compañera)

Music piece by:
Facundo Cabral, with lyrics modified by a political prisoner
Testimony by:
Alfonso Padilla Silva
Experience in:
Campamento Prisioneros Estadio Regional, 25 December 1973

The choir of male prisoners sang a piece called 'A mi compañera' (To my comrade, my love) to the music of 'No soy de aquí, ni soy de allá' (I'm not from here, nor from there) by Facundo Cabral.

I don’t remember who wrote the lyrics. But that’s how I wrote it down in one of the ten notebooks I used to copy songs during my imprisonment.

The female comrades who were prisoners replied to the chanting of the men held in the Regional Stadium with the song 'To my comrade' sung to the rhythm of the zambaTraditional musical genre and dance from Argentina. 'Woman, child and friend' by Robustiano Figueroa Reyes.

The lyrics of the song were modified like this:

Let me sing my song of hope,
I want to offer you my soul, my desires,
my joys, sorrows, my confidence
in freedom, a more serene future.

I dream of the day when everything is over,
no more torments, no more strife,
our efforts, our energies
Continuing the course already laid out.

Give me the light of your gaze,
I want your bread of freedom
united forever in one destiny
comrade and friend.

There are so many memories we share
those quiet evenings, many tender faces,
saying everything without saying a thing
an aimless passage, of vague hope.

You have given me so much joy,
and so much love I have given you,
my path, yours, your destiny, and mine,
Let us raise our glasses with our new wine.

The experience of prisoners held in numerous concentration camps and prisons throughout the country showed that participation in some form of cultural and artistic activity, be it the rehearsal and subsequent performance of a play, writing poems and stories (as well as essays), handicrafts or playing music, made a significant contribution towards strengthening individual and collective moral, an attitude of resistance and a sense of unified body among the political prisoners.

Every time we practised some form of art, and with all the difficulties and limitations imposed by such complex conditions, it was an act of affirmation of humanity and life. Each achievement represented a small stretch of road gained over the dictatorship.


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Published on: 15 December 2014

Modified lyrics

I like you when you come to our Stadium
among your female comrades, my darling
and I contemplate your figure like a blade of grass
and I begin dreaming once again.

I like to always be lying close to you
your look of quiet sadness
when it meets mine it reflects
your loneliness that wishes to flee.

We are from here, we are from there
It is our home, our freedom
and if today it is not with us both
it will return.

I like to hear that song of hope
that you always sing in the afternoon, quietly
and feeling a loving partner
life opens up like a sun.

I'll carry you alight inside my soul
when you return to the dream house
and in a fraternal embrace, comrade
we will not forget yesterday.

We are from here, we are from there...


Related testimonies:

  • We Shall Overcome  Alfonso Padilla Silva, Cárcel de Concepción / Cárcel El Manzano, December 1974

    When the concentration camp that operated for nearly five months at the Regional Stadium of Concepción was closed in early February 1974, hundreds of political prisoners were transferred to the Concepción Prison, a wing of which was turned into a concentration camp.

  • The Soldier (El soldado)  Alfonso Padilla Silva, Campamento Prisioneros Estadio Regional, 25 December 1973

    During Christmas 1973, approximately 660 men and 100 women were held as prisoners in the Concepción Regional Stadium. Concentration camp officials allowed us to celebrate Christmas on the pitch. We were in a corner of the pitch and we used the pole vault pit as a stage.

  • The Little Cigarette (El cigarrito)  Alfonso Padilla Silva, Campamento Prisioneros Estadio Regional, 25 December 1973

    During Christmas 1973, I was one of some 600 men and 100 women prisoners in Concepción Regional Stadium.

  • The Great Gigi L’amoroso (Gigi el amoroso)  Eduardo René Cuevas, Regimiento de Infantería Reforzada Nº 3, Los Ángeles (nowadays Regimiento de Infantería Nº 17), October - November 1973

    This song was used while the Military Intelligence Service (SIM) subjected me to cruel torture at a clandestine torture centre in the southern Chilean city of Los Ángeles.

  • The Brief Space Where You Are Absent (El breve espacio en que no estás)  Vilma Rojas Toledo, Cárcel de Coronel, 1986 - 1988

    I recall that during my time as a political prisoner, Pablo Milanés was one of our greatest companions. His songs filled us with life, helped us to keep breathing and living behind the bars imposed by Pinochet’s military dictatorship.

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