#Songs about freedom serial
Serial human rights groups – international and Chilean – have documented the litany of torture, maltreatment, starvation, beating and sexual abuse of some 40,000 people, with 2,250 more executed and 1,300 “disappeared”. There is no overstating the horror in Pinochet’s jails, prison camps and detention centres. It is, therefore, a manifestation of hope, of trust, of faith, in sum: of love for life – which is love for freedom.”Ī poster containing the lyrics of one of the songs by Miguel Lawner. “After I collected the tape,” says Chornik, “and his family heard it, they said it was the closest they’ve ever felt to having Marcelo alive.” The heartbreaking speech thanks Parra and explains: “These songs are … a reflection of love towards the people who are waiting for us, and, in general, to all of those who have shown their solidarity, their concern and their support towards everyone who is in our situation. Chornik collected a recording of his voice while imprisoned in Chacabuco. One of the singers in Angel Parra’s band was Marcelo Concha Bascuñán, who disappeared in 1976 and was never seen again. The song seems to demand of a listener to close their eyes and conjure the scene. One of them, Oratorio de Navidad segun San Lucas (Christmas Oratorio According to St Luke), was written by the famous songwriter Angel Parra, who survived the Chacabuco concentration camp. “Some people became musicians or songwriters while detained,” she says, “and the originality of these songs is one of the valuable things about the archive.” On some occasions, Chornik collected recordings never heard before that were made in captivity and either smuggled out or hidden. She studied violin and musicology in Chile and the UK.Ĭhornik put together the Cantos Cautivos project while working at Manchester University and in collaboration with the Chilean Museum of Memory and Human Rights, with the aim of speeding up the process of collecting testimonies and making these more widely visible.Ībout a third of the songs she has found were partially or fully written by those in captivity. Chornik spent her childhood in exile, between Venezuela and France, returning to Chile with her parents by the end of the dictatorship.
#Songs about freedom archive
Cantos Cautivos (Captive Songs) is a digital archive compiled by Katia Chornik, daughter of two opponents of the dictatorship who survived one infamous detention centre, which was named La Discothèque by agents of the Dina secret police because guards deployed loud music to torture their quarry, or as a soundtrack to the abuse.
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