Cantos Cautivos
To Sing by Improvising (Pa’ cantar de un improviso)
- Music piece by:Violeta Parra
- Testimony by:Claudio Enrique Durán Pardo (Kila Chico)
- Experience in:
We made a Venezuelan cuatro from a large plank of wood attached to one of the walls of the "ranch" where we ate.
I had wanted a Venezuelan cuatroLatin American string instrument of the guitar family. National instrument of Venezuela and Puerto Rico. ever since Violeta Parra had taught us that Latin American music has no boundaries; she played the cuatro in her songs in a masterly way, which I wanted to imitate. Her children, Ángel Parra and Isabel Parra, had recorded a song in 1970, very charming and catchy, and we wanted to do it: "Pa’ cantar de un improviso" (To sing by improvising). To do so without a cuatro would not be the same.
After much work, help and dedication we built a cuatro from that plank of wood, with the assistance of another prisoner who had some experience as a luthier. So we finally had a brand new, captivating and captive cuatro, to sing to the three hundred souls of Puchuncaví.
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Published on: 23 December 2014
good talent is needed,
memory and understanding,
the strength of a fierce fighting rooster.
In what hail storm
must words flourish,
Even the devil would be astonished
with so many beautiful reasons
as in the conversations
between St. Peter and St. Paul.
Being the first time
that I sing in this house,
Glory to the Father, glory to the Son,
glory to the Holy Ghost.
You're petite and pretty,
Too bad you're so crazy,
You’re like an old guitar
anyone who wants can play you.
Yesterday when I wanted you
you seemed like a bright star
and now that I don’t love you,
Geez, what a ferocious beast!
A friend’s wife
must be loved
because helping her to love,
is an act of charity.
I like to sing with all my strength
and that people hear my voice
so that in hell they know
that on earth there is a singer.
I'm leaving, now I’m going,
I leave you with a song,
I leave you in tears.
Related testimonies:
- Lament for the Death of Augusto the Dog (Lamento a la muerte del perro Augusto) Sergio Vesely, Campamento de Prisioneros Melinka, Puchuncaví, 1975
Augusto the dog (not to be confused with the journalist Augusto Olivares, affectionately nicknamed 'Augusto the Dog', who was murdered in the Presidential Palace on
11 September 1973 ), was the mascot of the political prisoners held at the Ritoque concentration camp, and accompanied his master when the military junta decided to close that prison and transfer the inmates to the neighbouring Puchuncaví concentration camp. - Ode to Joy (Himno a la alegría) Luis Madariaga, Cárcel de Valparaíso, 1974 - 1976
In prison, we would sing the 'Ode to Joy' when a comrade was released or sent to exile.
- Today Was Visitors’ Day (Hoy fue día de visitas) Sergio Vesely, Cárcel de Valparaíso, 1976
Visitors’ day was an exceptional day that broke the monotonous routine of all the other days of the week.
- Song of a Middle-Class Man (Canción de un hombre medio) Sergio Vesely, Cárcel de Valparaíso, 1976
In our political discussions, we always spoke disdainfully of the middle class. In the view of the Marxist ideologues in prison, that sector of society supported the dictatorship and it was necessary to reverse that trend.
- How Can I Describe This to You? (Cómo hacer para darte una idea) Sergio Vesely, Cárcel de Valparaíso, 1976
This is one of two songs I wrote in prison for my beloved Graciela. In the song I tried to draw her closer to me, describing my everyday world and my experience of life as a captive.
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