Cantos Cautivos
Free (Libre)
- Music piece by:José Luis Armenteros and Pablo Herrero, popularised by Nino Bravo.
- Testimony by:Guillermo Orrego Valdebenito
- Experience in:
This song was performed in the Stadium grandstands by a worker from the Madeco factory: Peineta Vasquez, winner of a Song Festival that was organised at grassroots level, during the times when we were allowed to leave the spaces under the grandstands, inside the stadium, to sunbathe, together with women from various countries, before they got sent off to the pool area.
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Published on: 15 January 2015
tired of dreaming
but behind the cement is his home
his world, his city.
He thinks the fence is only
a piece of metal
something that can never stop
his desire to fly.
Free
like the sun at dawn
I am as free as the sea
Like the bird that escaped from its cage
and can at last fly.
Like the wind that embraces my cry
and my grief
an endless path
in search of the truth
and finally, I shall know what freedom is.
Crowned by his love he strode off
singing a song
He strode so happily that he heard
the voice that called him
and lying on the ground he remained
smiling and speechless
on his chest crimson flowers
blossomed incessantly.
Free
like the sun at dawn
I am as free as the sea
Like the bird that escaped from its cage
and can at last fly.
Like the wind that embraces my cry
and my grief
an endless path
in search of the truth
and finally, I shall know what freedom is.
Related testimonies:
- Run Run Went up North (Run Run se fue pa'l norte) Ernesto Parra Navarrete, Campamento de Prisioneros, Estadio Nacional, 9 November 1973
Run Run... On the big pitch, mild summer weather was in the air.
- Zamba so as Not to Die (Zamba para no morir) Ana María Jiménez, Villa Grimaldi, April 1975
I want to recall a night at Villa Grimaldi.
- 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.
- Partisan Anthem (Himno guerrillero) Julio Laks Feller, Recinto DINA, José Domingo Cañas Nº 1367, September 1974
In late September 1974, the Soviet partisan’s song was intoned softly but with an awe-inspiring force in the José Domingo Cañas torture centre.
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