Cantos Cautivos
The Salamander (La salamanca)
- Music piece by:Arturo Dávalos
- Testimony by:Luis Cifuentes Seves
- Experience in:Campamento de Prisioneros Chacabuco, January - February 1974
A salamanca is a type of salamander that lives in caves in northern Argentina. By extension, it also represents the cave. In this song, the lyricist turns the salamanca into a place where a coven of witches gathers.
This song forms part of a cassette recorded in the Chacabuco concentration camp by the band Los de Chacabuco between January and February 1974.
Under the direction of Ernesto Parra, all ten members of the group who appear in the photograph took part. Their aim was to preserve the songs of Ángel Parra, composed while he was a prisoner in the camp, along with songs by other artists.
The cassette was safeguarded and digitalised in 2015.
Tags:
Published on: 01 September 2015
Clandestine recording made by political prisoners in Chacabuco in 1974.
filling the moonlit night with the smell of sulfur
he dismounted from his horse and the dance began
his tail marking the beat.
A beau of the island sang his love
to a lady toad dressed in blue.
like charcoal they danced, wearing the flower
that returns the light to the blind.
[Chorus]
Oh tunnel where dawn dies on leaving
salamander of my native hill
and in the moonlit night you may well hear
The demon and the devils sing.
Riding her broom, an old witch crossed
the indigo skies
an owl on her shoulder and a great trident
as she shoots at the Southern Cross.
A bearded armadillo played the fiddle
and a skunk with a tenor voice
tore through the silence with an Indian song
that the demon had taught him to sing.
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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