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Marcelo
Nilo, musician:
People would follow us. Nelson’s parents’
house was ransacked. He had to move out. When they
located where he was living, they’d stand outside
at the hour of curfew. Nelson used to stay dressed
all night in case they’d come to take him. But
they only harassed him. Several friends, even some
of the university professors, took turns walking with
him wherever he went so they wouldn’t pick him
up on the street. You could see them following us;
you’d know that if you left the house, they’d
be there. One time we were all in our dressing room
at the Cariola Theatre, where we were playing for
a human rights event -- many things were done at that
theater; it was accessible because it belonged to
the actors union. The dressing rooms were small, not
much bigger than 5' x 7'. There were five of us in
the group: the bass guitar, the viola, violins. And
as we were tuning our instruments, I noticed that
there were six in the room, not five. None of us knew
the other person, but there he was in our dressing
room, pretending to be tuning our guitars. And he
let us see him! I think that was their job: to make
us aware of their presence. Fortunately, they never
arrested us -- though they did arrest friends of ours.
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Schwenke & Nilo’s first three recitals in Valdivia caused
an impact. We wrote our poems and our songs based on things we talked
about with people. It’s called "the importance of registering
memory." That material obviously touched directly on emotions
and desires of many Chileans for opening up the situation -- particularly
the young people, who are rebels and questioners anyway, with their
illusions of freedom, even more so in that time of absolute repression,
of darkness.
Poetry has enormous status in Chile. Two Nobel Prizes, at least
fifteen major poets, all of whom were born in the provinces and
went to live in Santiago to remember the provinces with nostalgia:
Nicanor Parra, Gonzalo Rojas, even Neruda, worked in Santiago and
from there they leapt to the world, their visions sieved through
the cultural filter of Santiago. If I had repeated that story of
the provincial poet who goes to Santiago, my language would probably
have ended up being similar to the standard, and eventually I would
have been accepted as one of those poets. But writing from the provinces
and having a vision of my country and of the world from that perspective
has made my language distinctive, in the songs I wrote and in the
poetry I’ve been able to build, just for having stayed here.
Everyone always told me it was crazy. And it is, if you believe
in a literary career as a progression in status in the literary
and social hierarchy. I’m convinced now more than ever that
I made the right decision.
Images
from "Música Popular Chilena – 20 Años"
1970-1990 Edited by Alvaro Godoy and Juan Pablo González. Published
by Ministerio de Educación, Departamento de Cultura, (1995).
Of
related interest:
The
Pinochet Prosecution: The Genocide Controversy
The Pinochet
Prosecution: Gains, Losses, Lessons
The Pinochet Precedent:
Who Could be Arrested Next (October 2000)
Victor
Jara : Vientos del Pueblo Album
www.alercelaotramusica.cl
www.grec.com/cancioneros
www3.gratisweb.com/candidos
www.barrocoandino.scd.cl
schwenkeynilo.scd.cl
www.eperalta.scd.cl
www.manns.tripod.com
www.violetaparra.scd.cl
www.jaivas.scd.cl
www.geocities.com/victorjaracl/victor.html
This is the Victor Jara Foundation's page on Victor.
www.uklatino.co.uk/events/v_jara.html
Announces book signing in London on September 6, of new edition
of Joan Jara's book "An Unfinished Song" with guest
appearances by Emma Thompson, John Williams, Paco Peña.
www.echonyc.com/~onissues/f98emma.html
Marilyn Stasio's article on Emma Thompson talking about film
about Victor.
www.arlo.net/lyrics/victor-jara.shtml
This is the song Joan Jara speaks of in her story.
www.illapu.cl
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