More than 1,000 people gathered outside Santiago’s General Cemetery to commemorate the singer-songwriter and honor Chile’s disappeared.
More than 1,000 people gathered outside Santiago’s General Cemetery on Saturday to commemorate the birthday of Chilean singer-songwriter Víctor Jara, joining in a mass performance of his emblematic song Deja la vida volar (Let live fly, in english).
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People of all ages, dressed in white and carrying guitars, sang in unison beneath the slogan “Today more than ever,” displayed on a giant screen. The gathering also featured banners and photographs of people who disappeared during Chile’s military dictatorship, accompanied by the question: “Where are they?”
The event has been organized by the Recoleta municipal government for 14 years. Mayor Fares Jadue said Jara’s music remains part of the memory of families still seeking answers about their missing relatives.
“Víctor Jara’s songs are part of a memory that remains alive; they are the history of families that are still seeking answers and also a permanent invitation to build a fairer, more supportive and more humane society,” Jadue said.
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Text Reads: 🎸❤️ An unforgettable day in Recoleta!
✨ Thousands of people gathered at Plaza La Paz to experience a beautiful and moving 14th edition of Mil Guitarras y Mil Voces para Víctor Jara (A Thousand Guitars and a Thousand Voices for Víctor Jara)—a massive tribute to the Chilean singer-songwriter and his legacy.
🎶 A night filled with music, remembrance, emotion, and community connection, where the voices and guitars of the people once again kept Víctor Jara’s work alive. ❤️
Jara, a member of the Communist Party and an active supporter of Salvador Allende’s Popular Unity government, was arrested on Sept. 12, 1973, at the State Technical University. He was taken to what was then Chile Stadium, now named after him, where he was tortured before being executed.
His body was found four days later with more than 44 bullet wounds.
The tribute was held directly across from the General Cemetery, where Jara’s remains are buried. The cemetery contains both his first grave, in the ossuary section opposite Patio 29, which was used as a common grave between 1973 and 1974, and his final resting place, where he has been buried alongside his wife, Joan Turner, since 2009 after his remains were exhumed by court order.
The commemoration also followed the Sept. 16 nomination of a version of Deja la vida volar performed by Manuel García for the series The House of the Spirits for a Latin Grammy.
Jara’s music continues to resonate across generations, according to Jorge Grez, a 60-year-old participant who spoke to news agency EFE during the event.
“It is important to recover memory through Víctor Jara’s songs. He was blessed because he became an idol after the coup, showing the strength of the Chilean people — a farmer who came to sing, create art, literature and poetry that fills us with color,” Grez said.
The gathering marked another anniversary of Jara’s birth, 53 years after his assassination during the first days of Chile’s military dictatorship.
From teleSUR English via This RSS Feed.