Victor Jara - tortured and killed by Pinochet

[andresG]

He was a Chilean singer who was tortured and killed by Pinochet.
I made a cd of his music and it's great.
One of the best spanish protest singers.

One of his songs is:
La Zamba Del Che

Vengo cantando esta zamba
con redoble libertario,
mataron al guerrillero
Che comandante Guevara.
Selvas, pampas y montañas
patria o muerte su destino.

Que los derechos humanos
los violan en tantas partes,
en América Latina
domingo, lunes y martes.
Nos imponen militares
para sojuzgar los pueblos,
dictadores, asesinos,
gorilas y generales.

Explotan al campesino
al minero y al obrero,
cuanto dolor su destino,
hambre miseria y dolor.
Bolívar le dió el camino
y Guevara lo siguió:
liberar a nuestro pueblo
del dominio explotador.

A Cuba le dió la gloria
de la nación liberada.
Bolivia también le llora
su vida sacrificada.
San Ernesto de La Higuera
le llaman los campesinos,
selvas, pampas y montañas,
patria o muerte su destino.

[andresG]

Come on.
You guys must prove to me that rock isn't the only thing discussed in this forum.

[Breast Pump]

I downloaded a few songs from him and I enjoyed them very much. I no longer have them on my hard drive though =/

[man in the red suit]

why was he killed by pinochet? I know that Pinochet was a bad guy, but he must of really disliked music or something.

(Edited by man in the red suit at 8:44 pm on Aug. 3, 2002)

[andresG]

Pinochet disliked anything that went against his fascist ways.
For example singing songs about Che and Camilo Torres.
Singing songs about the abuses dictators were commiting in Latin America.
Songs that spoke for the poor and landless in Latin America.

[honest intellectual]

He was a Chilean singer who was tortured and killed by Pinochet.
Fuck, I didn't know that

[blueguitar]

Hello, I'm new here
my name is Jorgelina, I live in Mar del Plata, Argentina
sorry about my English, i'm not used to talk or write it, please tell me if it is too wrong.

about Victor Jara, I know lots of his songs, I have them in my computer, so if there is a way to send them to you, or to put them in a FTP, or something like that, you tell me. he was a great singer, you should hear him!!
if you want to know something about his life, just ask me, I have a book about him.
Victor Jara was a theater director, a composer and very good singer, a poet, and also a great person, killed because he used his voice and guitar as a weapon, just to tell the truth... his life was truncated but not his music...

He has another song to Che Guevara, called "El Elegido" (The Chosen). I'll copy it to you soon.

well, goodbye

Jor

[Maaja]

I know La Zamba Del Che. It's great! And now I do even have the words. Because I didn't understand all of the words from the song before.
I just knew the name of the singer not what happened to him. Probabaly he was very political, as it's also possible to learn from the words of his songs.

[andresG]

blueguitar:
I'm interested to know which book about Victor Jara did you read?
I read one in spanish which I can not remember the title right now.

[peaccenicked]

here's a link to a song about Victor Jara when I first heard it I burst into tears.
http://www.arlo.net/lyrics/victor-jara.shtml

[andresG]

I have heard that song before and it is very sad.
The book I read leaves you with a very similar emotion.
It describes all the tragic events in a lot of details.

I wish I could remember the title so that I could recommend it to you guys.

[blueguitar]

AndresG:
the book i've read about Victor jara was "Victor Jara, un canto truncado" (Victor Jara, an unfinished song) written by Joan Jara (Victor's wife)

i think may be the same book you read, it tells about Victor's life ad you also learn a lot about Chile's history.
one of the best parts of the book, is when victor travelled to Cuba in 1960 and he wanted to meet Fidel, he gets a date, butwhen he was waiting, someone appears and says: "Hello, i come to tell you that Fidel can not se you today, something happened and he can't leave the meeting. but if I can do something for you, or you would like that we just talk, i would like to... my name is Ernesto Guevara, but everybody call me Che."

i recomend you to read that book if you didn't jet, it is very interesting, also very sad, specially his death, his last poem, he wrote minutes before he died...

Jor
blueguitar

[Valkyrie]

Great story about Che! Thank you, You made my day!!! :)

(Edited by Paris at 9:01 pm on Aug. 16, 2002)

[andresG]

No that is not the book I read.
The book I read was not written by Joan Jara.
But the story about him in Cuba and meeting Che is in the book I read.
The book I read also has his last poem.
The book I read also has a very similar title to yours.

[blueguitar]

well, i just know that book, but i can ask some friends from Chile, if they know, may be there is another book with a similar name, about the last poem of Victor, i think it is included in all the books about him. it's very sad to read the poem, knowing he just wrote it before dying, in a piece of paper, and he probably had the music for the poem in his mind, but thats something we will never know...