Speech by Marcelo Concha Bascuñán

Music piece by:
Marcelo Concha Bascuñán
Testimony by:
Luis Cifuentes Seves
Experience in:
Campamento de Prisioneros Chacabuco, January-February 1974

This speech is the fourth track on the cassette recorded at Camp Chacabuco by the group Los de Chacabuco, created by Ángel Parra and directed by him until his release from prison. The unique value of this speech lies in the fact that our dear Marcelo was the only member of Los de Chacabuco who after being released was imprisoned again, and has been disappeared to this day. Marcelo had been a swimming champion and an outstanding guitarist and singer. The memory of his bonhomie, charm and enthusiasm remains with us.

Transcription of the speech:

"The group Chacabuco salutes its director and creator, Ángel Parra, to whom we owe the fact that we have been able to perform the songs that feature on this tape. They are yet another manifestation of the multiple activities - artistic, intellectual, manual, cultural and productive - which have been taking place here at Chacabuco camp. These songs are also 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. It is, therefore, a manifestation of hope, of trust, of faith, in sum: of love for life - which is love for freedom."

Victims remembered in this testimony:

Tags:

Published on: 11 November 2015

(Recording made by political prisoners in Chacabuco in 1974)

Related testimonies:

  • Blue Eyes (Ojos azules)  Luis Cifuentes Seves, Campamento de Prisioneros Chacabuco, January – February 1974

    This is the last track on the cassette recorded by the band Los de Chacabuco in the concentration camp; it was digitised in 2015.

  • 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.

  • How We Resemble Each Other (En qué nos parecemos)  Luis Cifuentes Seves, Campamento de Prisioneros, Estadio Nacional, September - November 1973

    During the 1960s, the group Quilapayún popularised this old Spanish song in Chile. Víctor Canto and I performed it as a duet in Santiago’s National Stadium, which had been converted into a concentration, torture and extermination camp.

  • Chacabuco’s Soul (Alma de Chacabuco)  Luis Cifuentes Seves, Campamento de Prisioneros Chacabuco, November - December 1973

    This is the original version of a composition by Ángel Parra at Chacabuco, as secretly recorded at the prison camp during his farewell concert. The composer’s voice can be heard.

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