Cantos Cautivos
Moments (Los momentos)
- Music piece by:Eduardo Gatti
- Testimony by:Scarlett Mathieu
- Experience in:
‘Moments’ was a song sung by the female comrades whose partners were imprisoned on the other side of Tres Álamos, or were fugitives or disappeared. We all sang it, but it was like their anthem.
The ‘Ode to Joy’ by Beethoven was one of our anthems. It was important for what it represented. We even changed the lyrics: ‘beyond the stars’ became ‘beyond borders’ because many prisoners would go into exile.
When someone was expelled, we sang the tango ‘Volver’ by Carlos Gardel. Also ‘No volveré’ by Chabela Vargas, although it was a bit negative.
We sang a lot ‘Palabras para Julia’ by Goytisolo and Ibáñez, ‘De cartón piedra’, ‘Lucía’ and ‘Vagabundear’ by Serrat, and ‘A los bosques’ by Lavandenz.
They punished us for singing songs that were too subversive for them, such as ‘Canción con todos’, popularised by Mercedes Sosa, which says ‘and a river runs in my blood / that releases in my voice / its flow’.
I sang ‘La joya del Pacífico’ by Víctor Manuel Acosta with all my soul, although I did not know Valparaíso much.
There was a very dear comrade who loved
We all sang, those who sang well and those who sang badly. It was something that created great communion.
We became 110 people. It was very significant for men to hear us sing. They sang softly or sang badly.
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Published on: 11 June 2019
with the soul sad and sleeping
the dawn is nothing new anymore
on your big eyes and your forehead
already the sky and its stars
were muted, distant and dead
in your wandering mind.
They told us once when we were children
when life reveals itself
that the future, when we are grown-ups
the moments died yesterday already
they sow its seed
and we were scared, trembled
and that’s how our life went.
Everyone clinging to their gods
results of a whole history
they create and destroy them
and organise their lives accordingly
on their foreheads they put coins
from their large hands, they hang
padlocks, signs and fences.
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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