Cantos Cautivos

(Captive Songs)

Music was often written, sung and heard in political detention and torture centres in Chile during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990).

For many political prisoners, to write, play or listen to music were ways to register, process, remember, forget or transcend difficult experiences.

Music helped them to maintain a sense of normality, it was a tool to preserve dignity and hope, to have fun and communicate with other inmates and with the outside world.

The repressive system also employed music as a form of domination and indoctrination, and in connection with torture and other types of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.

The memory of these experiences is an important fragment of the lives of those who resisted, fought and shared their stories for this project.

We invite you to explore these experiences.

About the project

Portrait of Manuel Flores
Campamento de Prisioneros Chacabuco
Watercolour by Francisco Aedo

Featured

Recent and forthcoming talks

Music and political imprisonment in Pinochet’s Chile. VOX-POP, Amsterdam, 10 April 2026, 15:30-17:00. Organised by the University of Amsterdam. Info here
Ceremony to sign agreement incorporating Cantos Cautivos platform into the Universidad de Chile's Archivo Central Andrés Bello, Casa Central, 2 April 2026. Info here.
Book launch: Music and Political Imprisonment in Pinochet's Chile. University of Cambridge, Centre of Latin American Studies, 16 March 2026. Info here.
In conversation with the Harvard Global Development Practice Student Society, 9 March 2026, online.
Book launch: Music and Political Imprisonment in Pinochet's Chile. Chilean Embassy in London, 19 February 2026. Info here.

LASA awards for book Music and Political Imprisonment in Pinochet's Chile

The book was awarded Best Book in Humanities Prize (Southern Cone Studies) of the Latin American Studies Association. The publication also received an Honourable Mention in the Best Book in Recent History Prize.

University of Chile consolidates integration of digital platform Cantos Cautivos into its patrimonial collection

This integration allows the safeguarding and highlighting of this collection, ensuring its access for researchers, academics and the general public. More information here.

Launch of Music and Political Imprisonment in Pinochet's Chile (Oxford University Press) by Katia Chornik, with a prologue by Michelle Bachelet

Katia Chornik (centre) launched her book on 19 February 2026 at the Chilean Embassy in London, in conversation with Philippe Sands KC (left). Also spoke the then Chilean Ambassador Ximena Fuentes (right) and Graham Minter (Amnesty International South American Team). Book info here. Reviews in Latin American Review of Books, Latin American Bureau and Contrapulso.

New media coverage

Following Chile's presidential election in December 2025, The Guardian, The New Stateman and other media outlets in Brazil, Portugal, Spain and Austria published articles highlighting the publication of the book Music and Political Imprisonment in Pinochet's Chile and the continuous need for education about the Pinochet dictatorship. See full media coverage here.

Educational Booklet

With UNESCO's support, and as part of the Global Citizenship Education programme (GCED), we are developing a booklet with teaching guidelines and lesson plans to use the Cantos Cautivos archive in classrooms. The booklet will be published by UNESCO in 2026.

A flor de piel (Viña del Mar, 2022)

Carmen Espinoza and César were arrested and tortured in Colonia Dignidad in April 1975. Each had a different experience, but something united them: music. Watch an excerpt of the interview and explore other stories about Colonia Colonia Dignidad in Cantos Cautivos.

The Oxford Research Encyclopedia highlights Cantos Cautivos

An entry on digital resources by Danielle Barefoot notes that our project "serves as a sonic living-museum and offers essential content for survivors, researchers, and teachers." Read it here.

Short Video Tamo Daleko (Punta Arenas / Dawson Island, 2018)

Part of the Fragments of Memory series of the Central Univ. of Chile's Audiovisual Laboratory, this video explores the song “Tamo Daleko”, adapted and used as a symbol of resistance by political prisoners. Watch the video here and see other testimonies about “Tamo Daleko” in Cantos Cautivos.

Cantos Cautivos at the British Museum

The British Museum's exhibition I Object, Ian Hislop's search for dissent (Sept 2018-Jan 2019) included the recording of "Doctorcitos", collected by the Cantos Cautivos team.

Reconstruction of "Filistoque's Cueca", written by Víctor Canto in Chacabuco camp

Forty-four years later, the work has been reconstructed and recorded for the first time by MACOMBA, a group directed by Marcelo Coulon (Inti-Illimani) and formed in honour of the detained-disappeared Marcelo Concha Bascuñán. Listen to the recording and read the testimony here.

Last contributions

Cantata Our Great Mother (Cantata Nuestra Madre Grande) - Towards the Light (Hacia la luz): Music piece by:
Manuel Luis Rodríguez Uribe (lyrics), Fernando Lanfranco Leverton (music), Marco Antonio Barticevic Sapunar (notation); Testimony by:
Fernando Lanfranco Leverton; Experience in:
Campamento de Prisioneros Isla Dawson, December 1973; Cárcel de Punta Arenas, September 1975; « Most of us, political prisoners from the Magallanes region, were transferred to the detention and torture camp on Dawson Island on 21 December 1973. We came from the more than twenty detention, torture and interrogation centres of the civil-military dictatorship in the Magallanes region. »; [Read full testimony]; Published on: 11 July 2025

Thanks to Life (Gracias a la vida): Music piece by:
Violeta Parra; Testimony by:
Felipe Chiang Martínez; Experience in:
Regimiento de Infantería Motorizada Nº 23, Copiapó, October-December 1973; « I was born in Vallenar, but I have lived in Copiapó practically all my life. At the age of 18, I started working in the mines and also began my political activity. »; [Read full testimony]; Published on: 07 July 2025

The Dead Man Won't Be Pinned on Me (Ese muerto no lo cargo yo): Music piece by:
Graciela Arango de Tobón, popularised in Chile by Giolito y su Combo, and by Los Vikings 5; Testimony by:
Joaquín Real Hermosilla; Experience in:
Campamento de Prisioneros Las Bandurrias, actual Regimiento Bulnes, Coyhaique, September 1973; « From that troubled time, I would like to remember an activity that kept us active during the harsh confinement in Las Bandurrias. It is about music, an artistic expression that revealed the talent of several political prisoners and allowed us to endure the confinement for almost six months. »; [Read full testimony]; Published on: 02 July 2025

For the full list of testimonies, please click here.