Ep. 130

I often talk about Chilean revolutionary song here on the podcast. Its close to my heart, not because of any personal connection to that beautiful country whatsoever, but because their history, music and culture is deep in my heart and I have deep admiration for the struggles, successes and achievements. I often talk about nueva cancion and its suppression under Pinochet as well, but what happened in Chile was not unique. The US history of interventionism is long and continues to grow longer even in this present moment. The history of fascism attempting to destroy art and culture is also long. These dictatorships understand that music and art holds an immense power of communication. Many of these dictatorships began actually suppressing their own cultures and traditional music and art. In Chile, we have perhaps the most severe case of artistic suppression, the murder of Víctor Jara as well as his records and many others being banned, Pablo Neruda’s books were burned and it was illegal to sing revolutionary songs. In Spain Franco officially banned Catalan and other languages from school and public spaces.

Revolutionary artists suffered exile simply for singing about the reality of their people, yet they became part of the strong international community that not only brought attention to the atrocities being committed, but also played a role in ending those dictatorships with their tireless work and denouncements of their atrocities.

Today we will be celebrating what many would call “protest music”, however I, like Víctor Jara, prefer the term “revolutionary song”, from around the world. All of these artists faced various consequences for their activism and We need this inspiration right now, we actually need more revolutionary song after all, no hay revolucion sin canciones, so at this time let us take inspiration from these courageous and talented artists, starting of course in Chile. But who start with, Chile has such a rich diversity of Nueva Cancion, of course we start with Víctor Jara, a man who paid the ultimate price for simply singing the truth. We start in Chile especially seeing as this is the month of memory in Chile, a commemoration, a celebration of memory and a vigil to all those whose lives were taken.

Victor Jara — Manifiesto

Isabel Parra — En Septiembre Canta el Gallo

Quilapayún — Mi Patria

Illapu — Nuestro Mensaje

Los Jaivas — Un Mar de Gente

Manuel Garcia — El Viejo Comunista (live)

Atahualpa Yupanqui — Camino del Indio

Víctor Heredia — Sobreviviendo

Mercedes Sosa — Gracias a la Vida

Daniel Viglietti — Declaración de amor a Nicaragua/Con Nicaragua [with Benedetti]

Ramon Pelegero Sanchis (Raimon) — Diguem No

Phil Ochs — Santo Domingo (the marines have landed on the shores of)

[note]

Andres Jimenez — Libertad y Soberania

El Hormiguero — Calle 13

Silvio Rodriguez — La Maza

Pablo Milanés — canción por la la unidad latinoamericano

Carlos Puebla — Y en eso llego Fidel

Quilapayún, Inti Illimani - El Pueblo Unido Jamás Será Vencido