Víctor Jara
Encyclopedia
Víctor Lidio Jara Martínez (ˈbiktor ˈliðjo ˈxaɾa marˈtines) (September 28, 1932 – September 16, 1973) was a Chile
an teacher, theatre director, poet, singer-songwriter
, political activist and member of the Communist Party of Chile
. A distinguished theatre director, he devoted himself to the development of Chilean theatre, directing a broad array of works from locally produced Chilean plays, to the classics of the world stage, to the experimental work of Ann Jellicoe
. Simultaneously he developed in the field of music and played a pivotal role among neo-folkloric artists who established the Nueva Canción Chilena
(New Chilean Song) movement which led to a revolution in the popular music of his country under the Salvador Allende
government. Shortly after the Chilean coup of 11 September 1973, he was arrested, torture
d and ultimately shot to death with 44 bullet shots by machine gun fire. His body was later thrown out into the street of a shanty town in Santiago. The contrast between the themes of his songs, on love
, peace
and social justice
and the brutal way in which he was murdered transformed Jara into a symbol of struggle for human rights
and justice across Latin America
.
, near the city of Santiago, to poor peasants Manuel Jara and Amanda Martínez. Jara's father, Manuel, was illiterate and wanted his children to work as soon as they could rather than get an education, so by the age of 6, Jara was already working on the land. Manuel Jara was unable to extract a livelihood from the earnings as a peasant in the Ruiz-Tagle estate nor was he able to find stable work to support his large family. He took to drinking and became violent. His relationship with his wife deteriorated, and Manuel left the family when Víctor was still a child to look for work elsewhere. Amanda persevered in raising Víctor and his siblings by herself, insisting that all of them should receive a good education. Amanda, a mestiza with deep Araucanian roots in the south of Chile, was not illiterate, she was autodidactic; played the guitar, the piano and was a singer in her town, singing traditional folk songs at local functions like wedding and funerals for the locals.
Jara's mother died when he was 15, leaving him to make his own way thereafter. He began to study to be an accountant, but soon moved into a seminary
instead, studying to become a priest. After a couple of years, however, he became disillusioned with the Church
and left the seminary. Subsequently he spent several years in the army before returning to his home town to pursue interests in folk music
and theater.
, Atahualpa Yupanqui
, and the poet Pablo Neruda
. Jara began his foray into folklore in the mid-1950s when he began singing with the group Cuncumen. He moved more decisively into music in the 1960s getting the opportunity to sing at Santiago's La Peña de Los Parra, owned by Ángel Parra
. Through them Jara became greatly involved in the la Nueva Canción Chilena movement of Latin American folk music. He published his first recording in 1966 and, by 1970, had left his theater work in favor of a career in music. His songs were drawn from a combination of traditional folk music and left-wing political activism. From this period, some of his most renowned songs are Plegaria a un Labrador ("Prayer to a Worker") and Te Recuerdo Amanda ("I Remember You Amanda"). He supported the Unidad Popular ("Popular Unity") coalition candidate Salvador Allende
for the presidency of Chile, taking part in campaigning, volunteer political work, and playing free concerts.
with the help of the Chilean military on September 11, 1973, in the course of which Allende killed himself (See Death of Salvador Allende
). At the moment of the coup, Jara was on the way to the Technical University (today Universidad de Santiago), where he was a teacher. That night he slept at the university along with other teachers and students, and sang to raise morale.
in September 2003 ). In the hours and days that followed, many of those detained in the stadium were tortured and killed there by the military forces. Jara was repeatedly beaten and tortured; the bones in his hands were broken as were his ribs. Fellow political prisoners have testified that his captors mockingly suggested that he play guitar for them as he lay on the ground with broken hands. Defiantly, he sang part of "Venceremos" (We Will Win), a song supporting the Popular Unity coalition. After further beatings, he was machine-gunned on September 16, his body dumped on a road on the outskirts of Santiago and then taken to a city morgue where they found 44 bullet shots on his body.
Jara's wife Joan was allowed to come and retrieve his body from the site and was able to confirm the physical damage he had endured. After holding a funeral for her husband, Joan Jara fled the country in secret.
Joan Turner Jara currently lives in Chile and runs the Víctor Jara Foundation. The Chile Stadium, also known as the Víctor Jara Stadium, is often confused with the Estadio Nacional (National Stadium).
Before his death, Jara wrote a poem about the conditions of the prisoners in the stadium, the poem was written on a paper that was hidden inside a shoe of a friend. The poem was never named, but is commonly known as Estadio Chile.
In June 2008, Chilean judge Juan Eduardo Fuentes re-opened the investigation into Jara's death. Judge Fuentes said he would examine 40 new pieces of evidence provided by the singer's family.
On May 28, 2009, José Adolfo Paredes Márquez, a 54-year-old former Army conscript was arrested the previous week in San Sebastian, Chile, and was formally charged with Jara's murder. Following Paredes' arrest, on June 1, 2009, the police investigation identified the name of the officer who first shot Víctor Jara in the head. The officer played Russian roulette
with Jara, by placing a single round in his revolver, spinning the cylinder, placing the muzzle against Jara's head and pulling the trigger. The officer repeated this a couple of times, until a shot fired and Víctor fell to the ground. The officer then ordered two conscripts (one of them Paredes) to finish the job, by firing into Jara's body. A judge ordered Jara's body to be exhumed in an effort to determine
more information regarding his death.
On December 3, 2009, a massive funeral took place in the "Galpón de Víctor Jara" across from "Plaza Brazil". Jara's remains were honoured by thousands. His remains were re-buried in the same place he was buried in 1973.
Joan Jara later wrote an account of Víctor Jara's life and music, titled Víctor: An Unfinished Song.
On September 22, 1973, the Soviet/Russian astronomer Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh
named a newly found asteroid
2644 Víctor Jara, in honor of Víctor Jara's life and artistic work.
American folksinger Phil Ochs
, who met and performed with Jara during a tour of South America, organized a benefit concert in his memory in New York in 1974. Titled "An Evening With Salvador Allende", the concert featured Bob Dylan
, Pete Seeger
, Arlo Guthrie
and Ochs.
An East German biographical movie called El Cantor (the Singer) was made in 1978. It was directed by Jara's friend Dean Reed
, who also played the part of Jara.
Dutch-Swedish singer-songwriter Cornelis Vreeswijk
recorded "Blues för Victor Jara" on his album Bananer - bland annat in 1980.
In the late 1990s British actress Emma Thompson
started to work on a screenplay
, which she planned to use as the basis for a movie about Víctor Jara. Thompson, a human rights
activist and fan of Jara, considered the political murder of the Chilean artist as a symbol of human rights violation in Chile. She believed a movie about Jara's life and death would make more people aware of the Chilean tragedy. The movie would feature Antonio Banderas
– another fan of Víctor Jara – as Jara himself where he would sing some of his songs and Emma Thompson as Víctor Jara's British wife Joan Jara. The project has not yet been made into a film.
The Soviet musician Alexander Gradsky
created the rock opera
Stadium (Стадион, Stadion) in 1985 based on the events surrounding Jara's death.
The Southwestern American band Calexico open their 2008 album Carried to Dust
with the song "Victor Jara's Hands".
Portuguese
folk band Brigada Víctor Jara
is named after him.
American folk icon, the singer-songwriter and performer, Jack Hardy (1947–2011), mentioned Victor Jara in "I Ought to Know," a song recorded on the album Omens in 2000. (song lyrics: http://jackhardy.com/JHIOughtToKnow.html, and live performance http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xT16T-Ms3Is)
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
an teacher, theatre director, poet, singer-songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
, political activist and member of the Communist Party of Chile
Communist Party of Chile
The Communist Party of Chile is a Chilean political party inspired by the thoughts of Karl Marx and Lenin. It was founded in 1922, as the continuation of the Socialist Workers Party, and in 1934 it established its youth wing, the Communist Youth of Chile .In the last legislative elections in Chile...
. A distinguished theatre director, he devoted himself to the development of Chilean theatre, directing a broad array of works from locally produced Chilean plays, to the classics of the world stage, to the experimental work of Ann Jellicoe
Ann Jellicoe
Ann Jellicoe is a British actor, theatre director and playwright. Although her work has covered many areas of theatre and film, she is best known for "pushing the envelope" of the stage play, devising new forms which challenge and delight unconventional audiences...
. Simultaneously he developed in the field of music and played a pivotal role among neo-folkloric artists who established the Nueva Canción Chilena
Nueva canción
Nueva canción is a movement and genre within Latin American and Iberian music of folk music, folk-inspired music and socially committed music...
(New Chilean Song) movement which led to a revolution in the popular music of his country under the Salvador Allende
Salvador Allende
Salvador Allende Gossens was a Chilean physician and politician who is generally considered the first democratically elected Marxist to become president of a country in Latin America....
government. Shortly after the Chilean coup of 11 September 1973, he was arrested, torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
d and ultimately shot to death with 44 bullet shots by machine gun fire. His body was later thrown out into the street of a shanty town in Santiago. The contrast between the themes of his songs, on love
Love
Love is an emotion of strong affection and personal attachment. In philosophical context, love is a virtue representing all of human kindness, compassion, and affection. Love is central to many religions, as in the Christian phrase, "God is love" or Agape in the Canonical gospels...
, peace
Peace
Peace is a state of harmony characterized by the lack of violent conflict. Commonly understood as the absence of hostility, peace also suggests the existence of healthy or newly healed interpersonal or international relationships, prosperity in matters of social or economic welfare, the...
and social justice
Social justice
Social justice generally refers to the idea of creating a society or institution that is based on the principles of equality and solidarity, that understands and values human rights, and that recognizes the dignity of every human being. The term and modern concept of "social justice" was coined by...
and the brutal way in which he was murdered transformed Jara into a symbol of struggle for human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
and justice across Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
.
| "As long as we sing his songs, as long as his courage can inspire us to greater courage, Victor Jara will never die." |
Pete Seeger Pete Seeger Peter "Pete" Seeger is an American folk singer and was an iconic figure in the mid-twentieth century American folk music revival. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of The Weavers, most notably their recording of Lead... |
Early life
Víctor Jara was born in the locality of LonquénLonquén
Lonquén is a town in Chile, located between the communities of Talagante and Isla de Maipo, within the Metropolitan Region of Santiago.-History:...
, near the city of Santiago, to poor peasants Manuel Jara and Amanda Martínez. Jara's father, Manuel, was illiterate and wanted his children to work as soon as they could rather than get an education, so by the age of 6, Jara was already working on the land. Manuel Jara was unable to extract a livelihood from the earnings as a peasant in the Ruiz-Tagle estate nor was he able to find stable work to support his large family. He took to drinking and became violent. His relationship with his wife deteriorated, and Manuel left the family when Víctor was still a child to look for work elsewhere. Amanda persevered in raising Víctor and his siblings by herself, insisting that all of them should receive a good education. Amanda, a mestiza with deep Araucanian roots in the south of Chile, was not illiterate, she was autodidactic; played the guitar, the piano and was a singer in her town, singing traditional folk songs at local functions like wedding and funerals for the locals.
Jara's mother died when he was 15, leaving him to make his own way thereafter. He began to study to be an accountant, but soon moved into a seminary
Seminary
A seminary, theological college, or divinity school is an institution of secondary or post-secondary education for educating students in theology, generally to prepare them for ordination as clergy or for other ministry...
instead, studying to become a priest. After a couple of years, however, he became disillusioned with the Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
and left the seminary. Subsequently he spent several years in the army before returning to his home town to pursue interests in folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
and theater.
Artistic life
Jara was deeply influenced by the folklore of Chile and other Latin American countries; he was particularly influenced by artists like Violeta ParraVioleta Parra
Violeta del Carmen Parra Sandoval was a notable Chilean composer, songwriter, folklorist, ethnomusicologist and visual artist...
, Atahualpa Yupanqui
Atahualpa Yupanqui
Atahualpa Yupanqui was an Argentine singer, songwriter, guitarist, and writer. He is considered the most important Argentine folk musician of the 20th century....
, and the poet Pablo Neruda
Pablo Neruda
Pablo Neruda was the pen name and, later, legal name of the Chilean poet, diplomat and politician Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto. He chose his pen name after Czech poet Jan Neruda....
. Jara began his foray into folklore in the mid-1950s when he began singing with the group Cuncumen. He moved more decisively into music in the 1960s getting the opportunity to sing at Santiago's La Peña de Los Parra, owned by Ángel Parra
Ángel Parra
Ángel Cereceda Parra is a Chilean singer and songwriter, son of Violeta Parra, notable Chilean folklorist and brother of Isabel Parra. He travels abroad helping to maintain the Nueva Canción tradition in Chilean expatriate communities in Europe, North America, and Australia. His son -also named...
. Through them Jara became greatly involved in the la Nueva Canción Chilena movement of Latin American folk music. He published his first recording in 1966 and, by 1970, had left his theater work in favor of a career in music. His songs were drawn from a combination of traditional folk music and left-wing political activism. From this period, some of his most renowned songs are Plegaria a un Labrador ("Prayer to a Worker") and Te Recuerdo Amanda ("I Remember You Amanda"). He supported the Unidad Popular ("Popular Unity") coalition candidate Salvador Allende
Salvador Allende
Salvador Allende Gossens was a Chilean physician and politician who is generally considered the first democratically elected Marxist to become president of a country in Latin America....
for the presidency of Chile, taking part in campaigning, volunteer political work, and playing free concerts.
Political activism
Allende's campaign was successful and, in 1970, he was elected president of Chile. However, the Chilean right wing, who opposed Allende's socialist politics, staged a coupCoup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
with the help of the Chilean military on September 11, 1973, in the course of which Allende killed himself (See Death of Salvador Allende
Death of Salvador Allende
Salvador Allende, President of Chile, reportedly committed suicide during the Chilean coup of 1973. Since that time, there has been great controversy between supporters and detractors of Allende on the circumstances of his death, since the military junta's version of his suicide was discounted by...
). At the moment of the coup, Jara was on the way to the Technical University (today Universidad de Santiago), where he was a teacher. That night he slept at the university along with other teachers and students, and sang to raise morale.
Death
On the morning of September 12, Jara was taken, along with thousands of others, as a prisoner to the Chile Stadium (renamed the Estadio Víctor JaraEstadio Víctor Jara
Estadio Víctor Jara is the name of the former Estadio Chile, or Chile Stadium, in Santiago, Chile. The multi-use sports complex was renamed as a memorial to folk singer Víctor Jara, who was killed there, during the Chilean coup of 1973. It has a total capacity for an audience of 4,500 persons...
in September 2003 ). In the hours and days that followed, many of those detained in the stadium were tortured and killed there by the military forces. Jara was repeatedly beaten and tortured; the bones in his hands were broken as were his ribs. Fellow political prisoners have testified that his captors mockingly suggested that he play guitar for them as he lay on the ground with broken hands. Defiantly, he sang part of "Venceremos" (We Will Win), a song supporting the Popular Unity coalition. After further beatings, he was machine-gunned on September 16, his body dumped on a road on the outskirts of Santiago and then taken to a city morgue where they found 44 bullet shots on his body.
Jara's wife Joan was allowed to come and retrieve his body from the site and was able to confirm the physical damage he had endured. After holding a funeral for her husband, Joan Jara fled the country in secret.
Joan Turner Jara currently lives in Chile and runs the Víctor Jara Foundation. The Chile Stadium, also known as the Víctor Jara Stadium, is often confused with the Estadio Nacional (National Stadium).
Before his death, Jara wrote a poem about the conditions of the prisoners in the stadium, the poem was written on a paper that was hidden inside a shoe of a friend. The poem was never named, but is commonly known as Estadio Chile.
In June 2008, Chilean judge Juan Eduardo Fuentes re-opened the investigation into Jara's death. Judge Fuentes said he would examine 40 new pieces of evidence provided by the singer's family.
On May 28, 2009, José Adolfo Paredes Márquez, a 54-year-old former Army conscript was arrested the previous week in San Sebastian, Chile, and was formally charged with Jara's murder. Following Paredes' arrest, on June 1, 2009, the police investigation identified the name of the officer who first shot Víctor Jara in the head. The officer played Russian roulette
Russian roulette
Russian roulette is a potentially lethal game of chance in which participants place a single round in a revolver, spin the cylinder, place the muzzle against their head and pull the trigger...
with Jara, by placing a single round in his revolver, spinning the cylinder, placing the muzzle against Jara's head and pulling the trigger. The officer repeated this a couple of times, until a shot fired and Víctor fell to the ground. The officer then ordered two conscripts (one of them Paredes) to finish the job, by firing into Jara's body. A judge ordered Jara's body to be exhumed in an effort to determine
more information regarding his death.
On December 3, 2009, a massive funeral took place in the "Galpón de Víctor Jara" across from "Plaza Brazil". Jara's remains were honoured by thousands. His remains were re-buried in the same place he was buried in 1973.
Víctor Jara's legacy
Although the military regime managed to burn the vast majority of master recordings of Jara's music, Joan Jara managed to sneak recordings out of Chile, which were later copied and distributed worldwide.Joan Jara later wrote an account of Víctor Jara's life and music, titled Víctor: An Unfinished Song.
On September 22, 1973, the Soviet/Russian astronomer Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh
Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh
Nikolay Stepanovich Chernykh was a Soviet and Russian astronomer.Chernykh was born in the city of Usman' in Voronezh Oblast...
named a newly found asteroid
Asteroid
Asteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...
2644 Víctor Jara, in honor of Víctor Jara's life and artistic work.
American folksinger Phil Ochs
Phil Ochs
Philip David Ochs was an American protest singer and songwriter who was known for his sharp wit, sardonic humor, earnest humanism, political activism, insightful and alliterative lyrics, and haunting voice...
, who met and performed with Jara during a tour of South America, organized a benefit concert in his memory in New York in 1974. Titled "An Evening With Salvador Allende", the concert featured Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
, Pete Seeger
Pete Seeger
Peter "Pete" Seeger is an American folk singer and was an iconic figure in the mid-twentieth century American folk music revival. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of The Weavers, most notably their recording of Lead...
, Arlo Guthrie
Arlo Guthrie
Arlo Davy Guthrie is an American folk singer. Like his father, Woody Guthrie, Arlo often sings songs of protest against social injustice...
and Ochs.
An East German biographical movie called El Cantor (the Singer) was made in 1978. It was directed by Jara's friend Dean Reed
Dean Reed
Dean Cyril Reed was an American actor, singer and songwriter who lived a great part of his adult life in South America and then in communist East Germany.-Life and career:...
, who also played the part of Jara.
Dutch-Swedish singer-songwriter Cornelis Vreeswijk
Cornelis Vreeswijk
Cornelis Vreeswijk , was a singer-songwriter, poet and actor born in IJmuiden in the Netherlands.He emigrated to Sweden with his parents in 1949 at the age of twelve. He was educated as a social worker and hoped to become a journalist, but became increasingly involved in music, performing at...
recorded "Blues för Victor Jara" on his album Bananer - bland annat in 1980.
In the late 1990s British actress Emma Thompson
Emma Thompson
Emma Thompson is a British actress, comedian and screenwriter. Her first major film role was in the 1989 romantic comedy The Tall Guy. In 1992, Thompson won multiple acting awards, including an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award for Best Actress, for her performance in the British drama Howards End...
started to work on a screenplay
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
, which she planned to use as the basis for a movie about Víctor Jara. Thompson, a human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
activist and fan of Jara, considered the political murder of the Chilean artist as a symbol of human rights violation in Chile. She believed a movie about Jara's life and death would make more people aware of the Chilean tragedy. The movie would feature Antonio Banderas
Antonio Banderas
José Antonio Domínguez Banderas , better known as Antonio Banderas, is a Spanish film actor, film director, film producer and singer...
– another fan of Víctor Jara – as Jara himself where he would sing some of his songs and Emma Thompson as Víctor Jara's British wife Joan Jara. The project has not yet been made into a film.
The Soviet musician Alexander Gradsky
Alexander Gradsky
Alexander Borisovich Gradsky is a Russian rock singer, bard, multi-instrumentalist and composer. He was one of the earliest performers of rock music in Russia. His diverse repertoire includes rock 'n' roll, traditional folk songs performed with a rock twist, and operatic arias...
created the rock opera
Rock opera
A rock opera is a work of rock music that presents a storyline told over multiple parts, songs or sections in the manner of opera. A rock opera differs from a conventional rock album, which usually includes songs that are not unified by a common theme or narrative. More recent developments include...
Stadium (Стадион, Stadion) in 1985 based on the events surrounding Jara's death.
The Southwestern American band Calexico open their 2008 album Carried to Dust
Carried to Dust
Carried to Dust is the sixth studio album from Tucson, Arizona indie rock band Calexico, released September 9, 2008. It features a number of guest musicians like Iron & Wine, Tortoise's Doug McCombs, and Pieta Brown....
with the song "Victor Jara's Hands".
Portuguese
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
folk band Brigada Víctor Jara
Brigada Víctor Jara
The Brigada Víctor Jara is a Portuguese folk band, with a career of more than 30 years and among the most influential bands of the Portuguese folk....
is named after him.
Songs mentioning Víctor Jara
- The Chilean group Inti-IllimaniInti-IllimaniInti-Illimani is an instrumental and vocal Latin American folk music ensemble from Chile. The group was formed in 1967 by a group of university students and it acquired widespread popularity in Chile for their song Venceremos which became the anthem of the Popular Unity government of Salvador...
dedicated the song "Canto de las estrellas" to Víctor Jara.
- In 1975, Norwegian folksinger Lillebjørn NilsenLillebjørn NilsenBjørn "Lillebjørn" Falk Nilsen is a prominent Norwegian singer-songwriter and folk musician. He is also considered somewhat the leading "voice of Oslo" thanks to numerous classic songs about the city from the 1970s and up....
included a tribute song entitled "Victor Jara" on his album Byen Med Det Store Hjertet. The same year the Swedish band Hoola Bandoola BandHoola Bandoola BandHoola Bandoola Band was a Swedish progg group from the 1970s with leftist political texts. Leading members were Mikael Wiehe and Björn Afzelius.-History:Hoola Bandoola Band was, together with Nationalteatern, the biggest band of the Swedish progg movement...
included their song "Victor Jara" on their album Fri information. - Belgian singer Julos Beaucarne relates the death of Víctor Jara in his song "Lettre à Kissinger".
- French singer Pierre Chêne also wrote a song about Jara's death entitled "Qui Donc Est Un Homme?"
- In 1976, Arlo GuthrieArlo GuthrieArlo Davy Guthrie is an American folk singer. Like his father, Woody Guthrie, Arlo often sings songs of protest against social injustice...
included a biographical song entitled "Victor Jara" on his album Amigo. The words were written by Adrian Mitchell and Arlo Guthrie wrote the music. - On Barnstormer's album Zero Tolerance, Attila the StockbrokerAttila the StockbrokerAttila the Stockbroker is a punk poet, and a folk punk musician and songwriter. He performs solo and as the leader of the band Barnstormer...
mentions Jara in the song "Death of a Salesman", written just after the 11 September attack on the World Trade CenterWorld Trade CenterThe original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...
. "You were there in Chile, 11 September '73. 28 years to the day - what a dreadful irony. Victor Jara singing 'midst the tortured and the dead. White House glasses clinking as Allende's comrades bled." - Former German folk duo Zupfgeigenhansel (Thomas Friz and Erich Schmeckenbecher) featured a live performance of their song "Victor Jara" as a last track on their 1978 LP Volkslieder III.
- The ClashThe ClashThe Clash were an English punk rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk. Along with punk, their music incorporated elements of reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap, dance, and rockabilly...
sing about Jara in the song "Washington BulletsWashington Bullets (song)"Washington Bullets" is a song from The Clash's 1980 album Sandinista!. A politically charged song, it is a simplified version of Latin American history from the 1959 Cuban Revolution to the Nicaraguan Sandinistas of the 1980s, with mention of the Bay of Pigs Invasion, the Soviet-Afghan War, the...
" on their 1980 album Sandinista!Sandinista!Sandinista! is the fourth studio album by the English punk rock band the Clash. It was released on 12 December 1980 as a triple album containing 36 tracks, with 6 songs on each side...
. Joe StrummerJoe StrummerJohn Graham Mellor , best remembered by his stage name Joe Strummer, was the co-founder, lyricist, rhythm guitarist and lead vocalist of the British punk rock band The Clash. His musical experience included his membership in The 101ers, Latino Rockabilly War, The Mescaleros and The Pogues, in...
sings: "As every cell in Chile will tell, the cries of the tortured men. Remember Allende in the days before, before the army came. Please remember Victor Jara, in the Santiago Stadium. Es Verdad, those Washington Bullets again."
- In 1987, U2U2U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...
included the track "One Tree Hill" on their album, The Joshua TreeThe Joshua TreeThe Joshua Tree is the fifth studio album by rock band U2. It was produced by Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, and was released on 9 March 1987 on Island Records. In contrast to the ambient experimentation of their 1984 release The Unforgettable Fire, U2 aimed for a harder-hitting sound on The Joshua...
where BonoBonoPaul David Hewson , most commonly known by his stage name Bono , is an Irish singer, musician, and humanitarian best known for being the main vocalist of the Dublin-based rock band U2. Bono was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, and attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School where he met his...
sings: "And in the world a heart of darkness, a fire zone. Where poets speak their heart, then bleed for it. Jara sang, his song a weapon, in the hands of love. Though his blood still cries from the ground."
- Jackson BrowneJackson BrowneJackson Browne is an American singer-songwriter and musician who has sold over 17 million albums in the United States alone....
recorded "My Personal Revenge" on his CD "World in Motion" in 1989 as a tribute to Víctor Jara. The lyrics include "My personal revenge will be to give you... these hands that once you so mistreated."
- Holly Near's "Sing to me the Dream" is a tribute to Víctor Jara.
- Chuck BrodskyChuck BrodskyChuck Brodsky is an American musician and singer-songwriter currently living in Asheville, North Carolina. He is particularly known for his often humorous and political lyrics, as well as his songs about baseball, such as "The Ballad of Eddie Klepp" and "Moe Berg: The Song"...
wrote and recorded "The Hands of Victor Jara." This 1996 tribute includes these words:
The blood of Victor Jara
Will never wash away
It just keeps on turning
A little redder every day
As anger turns to hatred
And hatred turns to guns
Children lose their fathers
And mothers lose their sons
- Irish folk artist Christy MooreChristy MooreChristopher Andrew "Christy" Moore is a popular Irish folk singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He is well known as one of the founding members of Planxty and Moving Hearts...
recorded the song 'Victor Jara' on his 'Live at the Point' album
- Rory McLeod's title song on his album Angry Love is about Jara.
- Ismael Serrano, a Spanish singer included Jara's name and the name of the song "Te Recuerdo Amanda" in his "Vine del Norte" song from album La Memoria de los Peces, released in 1998.http://www.ismaelserrano.com/discografia/lamemoriadelospeces.htm
- Marty Willson-PiperMarty Willson-PiperMarty Willson-Piper is a guitarist and member of Australian independent rock band The Church.After busking his way around the world, he arrived in Australia...
, who plays guitar for The ChurchThe Church (band)The Church is an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1980. Initially associated with new wave and the neo-psychedelic sound of the mid 1980s, their music later became more reminiscent of progressive rock, featuring long instrumental jams and complex guitar interplay...
, included "Song for Victor Jara" on his 2009 solo album, Nightjar.
- The Argentine rock group, Los Fabulosos CadillacsLos Fabulosos CadillacsLos Fabulosos Cadillacs is an Argentine ska band from Buenos Aires. Formed in 1985, they released their first album, Bares y Fondas in 1986...
, remember Víctor Jara in their hit song, "Matador", with the lyrics "Que suenan, son balas me alcanzan, me atrapan, resiste, 'Víctor Jara' no calla... Matador!! Matador!!"
- Heaven Shall BurnHeaven Shall BurnHeaven Shall Burn is a German heavy metal band from Saalfeld, formed in 1996. They combine an aggressive metal sound with lyrics that show a militant support of anti-racism and fighting social injustice. All members of the band are vegan.-Biography:...
made a song about him and his legacy called "The Weapon They Fear".
- Spanish ska group Ska-PSka-PSka-P is a ska punk band formed in , Spain, in 1994.The band can be categorized, politically, as an anti-establishment musical group. It is one of the most popular ska bands in Spain, Europe, and Latin America....
dedicated a song called "Juan Sin Tierra" to Jara (the song was originally written by Jorge Saldaña, and previously recorded by Jara), with the chorus going:
"No olvidamos el valor de Víctor Jara/
dando la cara siempre a la represión/
le cortaron sus dedos y su lengua/
y hasta la muerte gritó revolución."
"We won't forget Victor Jara's courage/
always fighting oppression/
They cut off his fingers and his tongue/
And right up to his death he shouted 'Revolution'."
- Tucson, AZ-based Calexico include a song called Víctor Jara's Hands on their 2008 album Carried to DustCarried to DustCarried to Dust is the sixth studio album from Tucson, Arizona indie rock band Calexico, released September 9, 2008. It features a number of guest musicians like Iron & Wine, Tortoise's Doug McCombs, and Pieta Brown....
.
- Cuban rap group Eskuadron Patriota mentions Jara in their song "Decadencia". The song goes: "Como Víctor Jara diciendole a su pueblo: La libertad esta cerca"
- The Peruvian ska band Psicosis mentions Jara in their song "Esto es Ska". The chorus goes "Lo dijo Víctor Jara no nos puedes callar".
- Soviet, Byelorussian composer Igor Lutchenok wrote a song "In memory of Victor Jara" on lyrics of Boris Brusnikov which first time was performed in 1974 by Byelorussian singer Victor Vuyachich and afterwards this song was performed by Byelorussian folk-rock group "Pesniary" in the arrangement of Vladimir Mulyavin. Please visit http://krasnoetv.ru/node/6853 http://krasnoetv.ru/node/6855 to listen to the song.
- The Glasgow/Irish folk group The Wakes included a song about Víctor Jara on their album These Hands in 2008.
- The San Francisco post-rockPost-rockPost-rock is a subgenre of rock music characterized by the influence and use of instruments commonly associated with rock, but using rhythms and "guitars as facilitators of timbre and textures" not traditionally found in rock...
band From Monument to MassesFrom Monument to MassesFrom Monument to Masses was a politically-charged post-rock band which was founded in San Francisco in late 2000. They have released four albums to date, the latest full-length of which was released through Dim Mak on March 10, 2009...
samples excerpts from a reading of Jara's poetry on the track "Deafening," a song from their 2005 remix album Schools of Thought Contend.
- German singer Hannes Wader published his song "Victor Jara" on his album Wünsche in 2001.
- Scottish singer/songwriter Bert JanschBert JanschHerbert "Bert" Jansch was a Scottish folk musician and founding member of the band Pentangle. He was born in Glasgow and came to prominence in London in the 1960s, as an acoustic guitarist, as well as a singer-songwriter...
had written his "Let Me Sing" about him.
- Venezuelan singer/songwriter Alí PrimeraAlí PrimeraAlí Rafael Primera Rosell was a musician, composer, poet, and Venezuelan political activist. He was born in Coro, Falcón State, Venezuela on October 31, 1942 and died in Caracas on February 16, 1985...
wrote his "Canción para los valientes" ( Song to the courageous ones ) about Victor Jara. The song was included in the album of the same name in 1976.
- British musician Marek Black's 2009 CD "I Am A Train" features the song "The Hands of Victor Jara" written by Marek Black
- Scottish Group, Simple Minds, Released an album with the title track called "Street Fighting Years" dedicated to Victor Jara in 1989
- Welsh folk singer/songwriter Dafydd IwanDafydd IwanDafydd Iwan , is a Welsh folk singer and politician. He was the president of Plaid Cymru .Dafydd Iwan Jones was born in Brynaman in Carmarthenshire, Wales, and is the elder brother of politician Alun Ffred Jones. He spent most of his youth in Bala in Gwynedd before attending the University of...
wrote a song called "Can Victor Jara" (Victor Jara's song) that was released on his 1979 album "Bod yn rhydd" (Being free). Here are the original Welsh lyrics.
- In 2011, London-based band Melodica, Melody and Me released a track titled "Ode to Victor Jara" as the B-Side to their limited release vinyl single "Come Outside".
- American singer-songwriter Rod MacDonaldRod MacDonaldRod MacDonald is an American folk singer/songwriter. He was a "big part of the 1980s folk revival in Greenwich Village clubs," performing at the Speakeasy, The Bottom Line, Folk City, and the Songwriter's Exchange at the Cornelia Street Cafe for many years. He co-founded the Greenwich Village...
wrote "The Death Of Victor Jara" in 1991, with the refrain "the hands of the poet still forever wave." The song is on his "And Then He Woke Up" cd (Gadfly Records); a May 2011 performance in Norderstedt, Germany is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y35it7hWZ5A. MacDonald met Phil Ochs on the eve of the 1973 concert, and sang for him a song he had just written about the Chilean coup. MacDonald has often introduced "The Death Of Victor Jara" by saying "I wish I could have played it for Phil."
American folk icon, the singer-songwriter and performer, Jack Hardy (1947–2011), mentioned Victor Jara in "I Ought to Know," a song recorded on the album Omens in 2000. (song lyrics: http://jackhardy.com/JHIOughtToKnow.html, and live performance http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xT16T-Ms3Is)
YONEX
- 1959. Parecido à la Felicidad (Some kind of happiness), Alejandro SievekingAlejandro SievekingAlejandro Sieveking , is a Chilean playwright, theatre director and actor.-Career:Sieveking was born in the Chilean city of Rengo in Chile’s O’Higgins region in September the 7th of 1934...
- 1960. La Viuda de Apablaza (The Widow of Apablaza), Germán Luco Cruchaga (assistant director to Pedro de la Barra, founder of ITUCH.)
- 1960. La Mandragola, Niccolò MachiavelliNiccolò MachiavelliNiccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli was an Italian historian, philosopher, humanist, and writer based in Florence during the Renaissance. He is one of the main founders of modern political science. He was a diplomat, political philosopher, playwright, and a civil servant of the Florentine Republic...
- 1961. La Madre de los Conejos (Mother rabbit), Alejandro SievekingAlejandro SievekingAlejandro Sieveking , is a Chilean playwright, theatre director and actor.-Career:Sieveking was born in the Chilean city of Rengo in Chile’s O’Higgins region in September the 7th of 1934...
(assistant director to Agustín Siré) - 1962. Ánimas de Día Claro (Daylight Spirits), Alejandro SievekingAlejandro SievekingAlejandro Sieveking , is a Chilean playwright, theatre director and actor.-Career:Sieveking was born in the Chilean city of Rengo in Chile’s O’Higgins region in September the 7th of 1934...
- 1963. Caucasian Chalk Circle, Bertold Brecht (assistant director to Atahualpa del Cioppo)
- 1963. Los Invasores (The Intruders), Egon WolffEgon WolffEgon Wolff is a Chilean playwright and author. He was born in Santiago, Chile and was educated in Chile and the United States.-Early life:...
- 1963. Dúo (Duet), Raúl Ruiz
- 1963. Parecido à la Felicidad (Some kind of happiness), Alejandro SievekingAlejandro SievekingAlejandro Sieveking , is a Chilean playwright, theatre director and actor.-Career:Sieveking was born in the Chilean city of Rengo in Chile’s O’Higgins region in September the 7th of 1934...
(version for Chilean television) - 1965. La Remolienda, Alejandro SievekingAlejandro SievekingAlejandro Sieveking , is a Chilean playwright, theatre director and actor.-Career:Sieveking was born in the Chilean city of Rengo in Chile’s O’Higgins region in September the 7th of 1934...
- 1965. The Knack, Ann JellicoeAnn JellicoeAnn Jellicoe is a British actor, theatre director and playwright. Although her work has covered many areas of theatre and film, she is best known for "pushing the envelope" of the stage play, devising new forms which challenge and delight unconventional audiences...
- 1966. Marat/SadeMarat/SadeThe Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade , almost invariably shortened to Marat/Sade, is a 1963 play by Peter Weiss...
, Peter Ulrich Weiss (assistant director to William Oliver.) - 1966. La Casa Vieja (The old house), Abelardo Estorino
- 1967. La Remolienda, Alejandro SievekingAlejandro SievekingAlejandro Sieveking , is a Chilean playwright, theatre director and actor.-Career:Sieveking was born in the Chilean city of Rengo in Chile’s O’Higgins region in September the 7th of 1934...
(redirects) - 1967. La Viuda de Apablaza (The Widow of Apablaza), Germán Luco Cruchaga (as director)
- 1968. Entertaining Mr. Sloane, Joe OrtonJoe OrtonJohn Kingsley Orton was an English playwright.In a short but prolific career lasting from 1964 until his death, he shocked, outraged and amused audiences with his scandalous black comedies...
- 1969. Viet Rock, Megan Ferry
- 1969. AntigoneAntigone (Sophocles)Antigone is a tragedy by Sophocles written in or before 442 BC. Chronologically, it is the third of the three Theban plays but was written first...
, SophoclesSophoclesSophocles is one of three ancient Greek tragedians whose plays have survived. His first plays were written later than those of Aeschylus, and earlier than or contemporary with those of Euripides... - 1972. Directed the ballet and musical homage to Pablo NerudaPablo NerudaPablo Neruda was the pen name and, later, legal name of the Chilean poet, diplomat and politician Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto. He chose his pen name after Czech poet Jan Neruda....
which coincided with the poets return to Chile after being awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Studio albums
| Year of Release | Title |
|---|---|
| 1966 | Víctor Jara (Geografía) Víctor Jara (Geografía) Víctor Jara is the name of the first studio album recorded by the Chilean folk-singer/songwriter, Víctor Jara in 1966 which was released by RCA early in 1967.- History :... |
| 1967 | Canciones folklóricas de América (with Quilapayún Quilapayún Quilapayún are an instrumental and vocal folk music group from Chile and among the longest lasting and most influential exponents of the Nueva Canción Chilena movement. Formed in Chile during the mid-1960s, the group became inseparable with the revolution that occurred in the popular music of the... ) |
| 1967 | Víctor Jara Víctor Jara (album) Víctor Jara is an album released by Víctor Jara in 1967, it was subsequently released under the name of Desde longuén hasta siempre with a variation of different covers.... |
| 1969 | Pongo en tus manos abiertas |
| 1970 | Canto libre |
| 1971 | El derecho de vivir en paz |
| 1972 | La Población |
| 1973 | Canto por travesura Canto Por Travesura Canto por travesura is an album recorded by Víctor Jara in 1973. It consists of a collection of southern Chilean folk songs with a consistent thematic style popular in Chilean folklore—the mocking of social norms with mischievous jokes, riddles and dark humor.-Track listing:All songs are... |
| 1974 | Manifiesto Manifiesto (album) Manifiesto was the incomplete music album recorded by Víctor Jara before he was murdered in 1973. It was intended for release in 1974, it was however released posthumously that year in Europe with numerous earlier songs added to complete the album.... |
Live albums
- Víctor Jara en Vivo (1974)
- El Recital (1983)
- Víctor Jara en México, WEA International (1996)
- Habla y Canta en la Habana Cuba, WEA International (2001)
- En Vivo en el Aula Magna de la Universidad de Valparaíso, WEA International (2003)
Compilations
- Te recuerdo Amanda, Fonomusic (1974)
- Vientos del Pueblo, Monitor – U.S. (1976)
- Canto Libre, Monitor (1977)
- An Unfinished Song, Redwood Records (1984)
- Todo Víctor Jara, EMI (1992)
- 20 Años Después20 Años Después-External links:***...
, Fonomusic (1992) - Víctor Jara presente, colección “Haciendo Historia”, Odeon (1997)
- Te Recuerdo, Víctor, Fonomusic (2000)
- Antología Musical, Warner Bros. Records (2001) 2CDs
- 1959-1969 – Víctor Jara, EMI Odeon (2001) 2CDs
- Latin Essential: Victor Jara, (WEA) 2CDs (2003)
- Colección Víctor Jara – Warner Bros. Records (2004) (8CD Box)
- Víctor Jara. Serie de Oro. Grandes Exitos, EMI (2005)
Tribute albums
- An Evening with Salvador Allende, VA - U.S. (1974)
- A Víctor Jara, Raímon - Spain (1974)
- Het Recht om in Vrede te Leven, Cornelis VreeswijkCornelis VreeswijkCornelis Vreeswijk , was a singer-songwriter, poet and actor born in IJmuiden in the Netherlands.He emigrated to Sweden with his parents in 1949 at the age of twelve. He was educated as a social worker and hoped to become a journalist, but became increasingly involved in music, performing at...
- Nederlands (1977) - Cornelis sjunger Victor JaraCornelis sjunger Victor JaraCornelis sjunger Victor Jara, rätten till ett eget liv was a music album recorded by the Swedish-Dutch folk singer-songwriter Cornelis Vreeswijk in 1978.-History:...
, Rätten till ett eget liv, Cornelis VreeswijkCornelis VreeswijkCornelis Vreeswijk , was a singer-songwriter, poet and actor born in IJmuiden in the Netherlands.He emigrated to Sweden with his parents in 1949 at the age of twelve. He was educated as a social worker and hoped to become a journalist, but became increasingly involved in music, performing at...
- Sweden (1979) - Omaggio a Victor Jara, Ricardo Pecoraro - Italy (1980)
- Quilapayún Canta a Violeta Parra, Víctor Jara y Grandes Maestros Populares, QuilapayúnQuilapayúnQuilapayún are an instrumental and vocal folk music group from Chile and among the longest lasting and most influential exponents of the Nueva Canción Chilena movement. Formed in Chile during the mid-1960s, the group became inseparable with the revolution that occurred in the popular music of the...
- Chile (1985) - Konzert für Víctor Jara VA - Germany (1998)
- Inti-illimani performs Victor Jara, Inti-illimaniInti-IllimaniInti-Illimani is an instrumental and vocal Latin American folk music ensemble from Chile. The group was formed in 1967 by a group of university students and it acquired widespread popularity in Chile for their song Venceremos which became the anthem of the Popular Unity government of Salvador...
- Chile (1999) - Conosci Victor Jara?, Daniele SepeDaniele SepeDaniele Sepe is an Italian musician, known internationally for interpreting protest songs from around the world.His first instrument was the flute, which he played at the San Pietro a Majella conservatoire...
- Italy (2001) - Tributo a Víctor Jara, VA - Latin America/Spain (2004)
- Tributo Rock a Víctor Jara, VA - Argentina (2005)
- Lonquen: Tributo a Víctor Jara, Francesca Ancarola - Chile (2007)
Documentaries and films
The following are films or documentaries about and/or featuring Víctor Jara:- El Tigre Saltó y Mató, Pero Morirá…Morirá…. Director: Santiago ÁlvarezSantiago ÁlvarezSantiago Álvarez Román was a Cuban filmmaker. He wrote and directed many documentaries about Cuban and American culture...
– Cuba (1973) - Compañero: Víctor Jara of Chile. Directors: Stanley Foreman/Martin Smith (Documentary) – UK (1974)
- Il Pleut sur Santiago. Director: Helvio Soto – France/Bulgaria (1976)
- Ein April hat 30 Tage. Director: Gunther Scholz - East Germany (1978)
- El Cantor. Director: Dean ReedDean ReedDean Cyril Reed was an American actor, singer and songwriter who lived a great part of his adult life in South America and then in communist East Germany.-Life and career:...
– East Germany (1978) - El Derecho de Vivir en Paz. Director: Carmen Luz Parot - Chile (1999)
- Freedom Highway: Songs That Shaped a Century. Director: Philip King – Ireland (2001)
- La Tierra de las 1000 Músicas [Episode 6: La Protesta]. Directors: Luis Miguel González Cruz/Joaquín Luqui – Spain (2005)
Resources in English
- Three chapters from Victor: An Unfinished Song by Joan Jara
- Discography
- Background materials on the Chilean Workers' Movement in the 1970s
- Report of the Chilean National Commission on Truth and Reconciliation
- GDR Poster Art: Víctor Jara
- Victor Jara tabs
- "Who Killed Victor Jara?", Professor Paul Cantor, Norwalk Community College, Connecticut
Resources in Spanish
- Fundación Víctor Jara
- Lyrics of all his Songs
- Discography
- Che, Guía y Ejemplo: - Songs of Víctor Jara dedicated to Che Guevara
- Informe de la Comisión Nacional de Verdad y Reconciliación (Informe Rettig)
- Vientos del Pueblo: Un Homenaje a Víctor Jara