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Canto Porque es Necesario Cantar: The New Song Movement in Chile, 1973–1983

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 October 2022

Nancy Morris
Nancy Morris*
Affiliation:
University of New Mexico
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“Para el camino” Canto a la angustia y a las alegrias. Canto porque es necesario can tar para ir dejando una huella en los dias, para ir diciendo cosas prohibidas.

“For the Road” I sing of anguish and joy. I sing because it's necessary to sing to leave my mark on time, to say forbidden things.

Latin American New Song is distinct from the usual stereotypes of Latin American popular music. Songs such as “Para el camino” do not fit into the common categories of salsa, ballads, Spanish-language versions of U.S. hit songs or popularized traditional styles such as the ranchera and cumbia. Although New Song is not as well known as the more typical styles, its greater social significance has achieved an impact in Latin America far beyond the musical realm.

Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Research Review , Volume 21 , Issue 2 , 1986 , pp. 117 - 136
Copyright
Copyright © 1986 by the University of Texas Press

Footnotes

∗

This research was sponsored by the Latin American Institute at the University of New Mexico and funded by a Mellon Inter-American Field Research Grant. An earlier version appeared as part of the LAI Research Paper Series.

References

Notes

1. “Para el camino” by Nelson Schwenke, performed by the Chilean group Duo Schwenke-Nilo.

2. Music of the Nueva Canción Chilena is available in the United States from several small record companies. Albums by Inti-Illimani, Víctor Jara, and Quilapayún are available from Monitor Records, 156 5th Ave., New York, NY 10010. The anthology Chile: Songs for the Resistance was released by Paredon Records, P.O. Box 40268, San Francisco, CA 94140. Another anthology entitled Chile Vencerá was released by Rounder Records, 186 Willow Ave., Somerville, MA 02144. Recent Inti-Illimani albums that illustrate the evolution of the group's music in exile have been released by Redwood Records, 476 West MacArthur Blvd., Oakland, CA 94609. Music of other Nueva Canción artists such as Violeta Parra, Isabel and Angel Parra, and Patricio Manns is available from various record importers. Music made in Chile since 1973—that is, Canto Nuevo—is unavailable outside of Chile.

3. Interview with anonymous musician in Santiago, July 1983.

4. For first-person descriptions of the Nueva Canción Chilena, see Osvaldo Rodriguez, Cantores que reflexionan: memoria y testimonio (Madrid: Ediciones Literatura Americana Reunida, 1984); Joan Jara, Víctor Jara: An Unfinished Song (New York: Ticknor and Fields, 1984); Jean Clouzet, La nouvelle chanson chilienne (Paris: Seghers, 1975). Also useful are Juan A. Orrego-Salas, “La Nueva Canción chilena: tradición, espíritu y contenido de su música,” Literatura Chilena en el Exilio 4, no. 2 (Spring 1980):2–4; and Rodrigo Torres, Perfil de la creación musical en la nueva canción chilena desde sus orígenes hasta 1973 (Santiago: Centro de Indagación y Expresión Cultural y Artística [CENECA], 1983).

5. Bernardo Subercaseaux and Jaime Londoño, Gracias a la vida: Violeta Parra, testimonio (Buenos Aires: Galerna, 1976), 66.

6. “La carta” by Violeta Parra. I am grateful to Osvaldo Rodríguez and Silvia Rühl for their assistance with song translations.

7. Subercaseaux, Gracias, 71.

8. Patricio Krebs Merino and Juan Ignacio Corces, “Entrevista exclusiva: Silvio Rodríguez,” La Bicicleta, Sept. 1981, p. 24.

9. “Discusión sobre la música chilena,” compiled by Carlos Orellana, Araucaria de Chile 2 (1978):115.

10. Translation of a tape recording of the opening remarks by Fernando Castillo, Rector of the Universidad Católica, at the Primer Festival de la Nueva Canción Chilena in Santiago in 1969.

11. “Plegaria a un labrador” by Víctor Jara. This song is included in his album Vientos del Pueblo, Monitor Records MFS 778.

12. “Venceremos” by Claudio Iturra and Sergio Ortega. This song is included in the Inti-Illimani album ¡Viva Chile!, Monitor Records MFS 769.

13. Stafford Beer, Brain of the Firm, 2nd ed. (Chichester: John Wiley and Sons, 1981), 289.

14. Liner notes to the album Canto al programa.

15. “Canción de la reforma agraria” by Sergio Ortega, Luis Advis, and Julio Rojas, is performed by Inti-Illimani on the album Canto al programa.

16. Ernesto González Bermejo, “Isabel Parra, enemiga del olvido y la desesperanza,” Crisis, August 1975, p. 49.

17. “El pueblo unido jamás será vencido” by Sergio Ortega and Quilapayún. This song was recorded on the Quilapayún album El pueblo unido, Monitor Records MFS 773.

18. José Joaquín Brunner, La cultura autoritaria en Chile (Santiago: FLACSO, 1981), 86.

19. Hernán Pozo, Orientación cultural y educacional chilena (1973–1981), CIDE Documentos de Trabajo no. 14 (Santiago: Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo de la Educación, 1982), 32. Emphasis in original.

20. Soledad Bianchi, “El movimiento artístico chileno en el conflicto político actual,” Revista Casa de las Américas 130 (Jan.–Feb. 1982):147.

21. Ibid.

22. According to witnesses, Jara was arrested on 12 Sept. 1973 and was taken to the Estadio Chile, which was being used as an impromptu prison. There he was recognized by a soldier who berated him, shouting, “Sing now, bastard!” Witnesses say Jara sang, his hands were beaten by the guard and he was then led away. His corpse was later found near the Santiago cemetery, with the hands and body beaten and three bullet wounds. “Viuda de Víctor Jara declaró ante la justicia,” La Segunda de la Hora (Santiago), 8 June 1981, p. 13.

23. Orellana, “Discusión,” 115. The quena is a pre-Hispanic flute generally made of bamboo, and the charango, a small stringed instrument resembling a mandolin. These traditional instruments of the indigenous peoples of the Andes are frequently used in New Song music.

24. José Morales, “El canto nuevo,” Araucaria de Chile 2 (1978):175.

25. Alvaro Godoy, “Ricardo García: un Alerce se levanta,” La Bicicleta, Apr.–May 1981, p. 16.

26. Interview with anonymous musician in Santiago, June 1983.

27. Brunner, La cultura autoritaria, 87.

28. Alvaro Godoy, “Introducción,” La Bicicleta, Apr.–May 1981, p. 4.

29. Fernando Paulsen S., “El nuevo canto,” Análisis, Jan.–Feb. 1982, p. 4.

30. Centro de Indagación y Expresión Cultural y Artística, “El canto popular en el período 1973–1978,” mimeo, Santiago, 1978.

31. Godoy, “Ricardo García,” 15.

32. At least ten people whom I interviewed—musicians, concertgoers, and producers— confirmed these occurrences. No printed documentation is available in the Chilean press of the period, probably due to the intimidating political climate.

33. Interview with anonymous producer in Santiago, July 1983.

34. Bianchi, “El movimiento artístico,” 151.

35. Orellana, “Discusión,” 115.

36. “El joven titiritero” by Eduardo Peralta.

37. “Cuando llega el invierno” by Pato Valdivia.

38. Ana María Foxley, “Trovadores del Canto Nuevo,” Hoy, 28 Jan.–3 Feb. 1981, p. 35.

39. Bianchi, “El movimiento artístico,” 151.

40. Interview with anonymous musician in Santiago, July 1983.

41. “El cautivo de Til Til” by Patricio Manns. Transcribed from Alerce cassette no. 211 made at La Gran Noche del Folklore, Santiago, 1978.

42. Several Chileans interviewed described this moment, which I later verified by reviewing the Alerce cassette of the concert, cited in n. 41.

43. Unpublished manuscript by anonymous musician, Santiago, n.d.

44. “Corte resolverá suspensión de ‘La Gran Noche del Folklore’,” La Tercera de la Hora (Santiago), 21 Dec. 1979, p. 7.

45. Interview with Ricardo García of Alerce Records, Santiago, July 1983.

46. Interviews with anonymous producer and musician in Santiago, July 1983.

47. “Sólo algunos minutos pudieron estar en Chile los ‘Illapu’,” La Tercera de la Hora, 8 Oct. 1981, p. 55.

48. Interview with Miguel Davagnino of Productora Nuestro Canto in Santiago, July 1983.

49. Conversation with record importer in Santiago, July 1983.

50. “Escollos en el camino,” Hoy, 6 May 1981, p. 44; and “Ricardo García en libertad incondicional,” El Mercurio, 13 Aug. 1981, p. 10C.

51. “Vamos a la patria” by Pato Valdivia.

52. “En esta época” by Nelson Schwenke, performed by Duo Schwenke-Nilo. Transcribed from a recorded performance in Santiago in July 1983.

53. “Homenaje” by Luis LeBert.

54. “Canción al Movimiento Democrático Popular” sung by Grupo Napalé. Transcribed from Chile: Ten Years of Cultural Resistance. Excerpts from the inaugural program of the Primer Congreso Nacional de Artistas y Trabajadores de la Cultura de Chile, 8–11 Dec. 1983. Cassette produced by La Peña Cultural Center, Berkeley, Calif.

55. From tape of the congreso. See n. 54.

56. “Un triunfo: la quinta noche del folklore,” Análisis 1, no. 71 (20 Dec. 1983–3 Jan. 1984):48.

57. Letter from Chilean musician, Dec. 1984.

58. Alvaro Godoy, “Introducción,” 4.

59. Alvaro Godoy, “El nuevo canto chileno: entre el consumismo y la marginalidad,” Mensaje 299 (June 1981):265.

60. Unpublished manuscript by anonymous musician, Santiago, n.d.

61. “El canto del hombre” by Pedro Yáñez.