Errant Wind (Viento errante)

Music piece by:
Patricio Hermosilla Vives
Testimony by:
Patricio Hermosilla Vives
Experience in:
Campamento de Prisioneros Chacabuco, January 1974

Finally, in the Chacabuco Concentration Camp, after three days aboard the Policarpo Toro (a war ship which had an uncertain destination since sailing from Valparaíso in December 1973; the question was not when and where we would dock, but how we would fall overboard), I felt that death had decided to take a step back and watch from me from a little further away.

'Viento Errante ('Errant wind') (composed towards the end of that year during the improvised 'literary workshop' in which Salas, Montealegre, another prisoner and myself, tried to divert the raw pain of those hours, exploring some possible forms of 'existential meaning'), a song more unconscious than conscious, which attempted from its inception to idealise freedom in the shape of a woman without a defined face or name although, on the other hand, she embodied all the roles of a woman: mother, daughter, sister, girlfriend.

In such a testimonial setting, the winds sweeping through the pampaSouth American plains devoid of tree vegetation. were the only possible dynamic link, as those winds were clandestine, ethereal, and elusive.


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Published on: 12 January 2015

Oh errant wind that furiously blows
the sleeping gold that bites my step
bring the long-awaited kiss on her lips
that in my soul grows
oh errant wind.

Oh errant wind, sighing reptile
groaning mercury, go see my beloved
and light a blackish rose on her breast
for my absent love
oh errant wind.

Oh errant wind, sleeping sigh
the sore that weeps in my poor soul
await the return, invisible traveller
tell my beloved
oh errant wind.

Oh errant wind, and if I become pampa
I will call myself wind and live within you
to make mine in a kiss of air
she who I loved so much
oh errant wind.

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.

  • 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.

  • Chacabuco Mass (Misa chacabucana)  Luis Cifuentes Seves, Campamento de Prisioneros Chacabuco, January - February 1974

    This song is the second track on the cassette recorded in the Chacabuco prison camp by the band Los de Chacabuco, formed by Ángel Parra and led by him until his release. At the time that the cassette was recorded, Ángel had already been freed and Ernesto Parra had become the group's conductor.

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