Cantos Cautivos
Return, Return (Volver, volver)
- Music piece by:Fernando Z. Maldonado. Popularised by Vicente Fernández
- Testimony by:Jorge Montealegre Iturra
- Experience in:
At the Chacabucan artistic shows, Hugo sang tangos, including 'Volver' (Return) by Gardel and Le Pera.
This caused a lot of self-ironic laughter when he sang 'que veinte años no es nada' (twenty years is nothing) given our situation of uncertainty in which no one knew how long we’d be imprisoned.
He also sang this tango during a farewell party for a group of comrades who were going to be released. To think of returning was tragicomic. And yet, four decades later, we returned. Of our own free will.
But 40 years is not nothing: it’s a long time. And 'Volver' is much more than a tango. In September 2013, we remembered the fortieth anniversary of the coup and the death of
Names, ironies, places, omissions. After visiting the house where he lived as a prisoner, now filled with the ghosts of the past, like all the other houses there, Pollito Fonseca went to the theatre and sang one of his hits: the Mexican song 'Volver, volver' ('Return, Return') by
Guitar in hand, Pollito once again sang about returning, literally, 40 years later.
Back then, when he performed on the prison camp stage, he sang it mischievously and a sense of dark humour. This was expressed not only because of the real possibility of returning to the prison, but also by the gestures he made when singing 'Voy camino a la locura y aunque todo me tortura…' ('I’m on the road to madness and still everything tortures me...').
At that point in the song, the entire captive audience would laugh at a verse that was not just funny but also bold: the word 'torture' was accusatory and symbolised our story prior to being taken to Chacabuco.
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Published on: 06 January 2015
is all excited
to return.
I'm on the path to madness
and still everything tortures me
I know how to love.
We left each other some time ago
but the time arrived to lose
you were quite right
I will obey my heart
and I'm dying to return.
And return, return, return
to your arms again
I'll go wherever you are
I know how to lose, I know how to lose
I want to return, return, return.
We left each other some time ago
but the time arrived to lose
you were quite right
I will obey my heart
and I'm dying to return.
And return, return, return
to your arms again
I'll go wherever you are
I know how to lose, I know how to lose
I want to return, return, return.
Related testimonies:
- Filistoque's Cueca (Cueca del Filistoque) Víctor Canto Fuenzalida, Campamento de Prisioneros Chacabuco, June 1974
Filistoque is a real-life person in all his mighty height (1.90 metres tall). I always remember him laughing. In Chacabuco, we shared a house for nearly ten months. Around him, you were never allowed to become depressed or get into a stew over our situation.
- Lucky Devil (El suertúo) Luis Cifuentes Seves, Campamento de Prisioneros Chacabuco, November 1973 - February 1974
This
cueca was composed at Chacabuco sometime between November 1973 and February 1974 and was sung by Los de Chacabuco, of which Víctor Canto and I were members. - A Cocky Fellow (El puntúo) Luis Cifuentes Seves, Campamento de Prisioneros Chacabuco, November 1973 - February 1974
This
cueca was composed in Chacabuco between November 1973 and February 1974, and was sung by the band Los de Chacabuco, to which Víctor Canto and I belonged. - 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.
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