Víctor Jara

For the main-belt asteroid, see 2644 Victor Jara.
This name uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is Jara and the second or maternal family name is Martínez.
Víctor Jara
Background information
Birth name Víctor Lidio Jara Martínez
Born September 28, 1932
Origin Chillán Viejo, Chile
Died September 15, 1973 (aged 40)
Genres Folk, Nueva canción, Andean music
Occupation(s) Singer/Songwriter, Poet, Theatre director, University academic, Social activist
Instruments Vocals, Spanish Guitar
Years active 1959–1973
Labels EMI-Odeon
DICAP/Alerce
Warner Music
Associated acts Violeta Parra, Patricio Castillo, Quilapayún,
Inti-illimani, Patricio Manns, Ángel Parra, Isabel Parra, Sergio Ortega, Pablo Neruda, Daniel Viglietti, Atahualpa Yupanqui, Joan Baez, Dean Reed, Silvio Rodriguez, Holly Near, Cornelis Vreeswijk
Website Official website

Víctor Lidio Jara Martínez (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈbiktor ˈliðjo ˈxaɾa marˈtines]; September 28, 1932 – September 15, 1973)[1] was a Chilean teacher, theatre director, poet, singer-songwriter, and political activist. A distinguished theatre director, he developed Chilean theatre by directing a broad array of works, ranging from locally produced Chilean plays, to the classics of the world stage, to the experimental work of such playwrights as Ann Jellicoe. He also played a pivotal role among neo-folkloric musicians who established the Nueva Canción Chilena (New Chilean Song) movement; this led to an uprising of new sounds in popular music during the administration of Salvador Allende.

Shortly after the Chilean coup of 11 September 1973, Jara was arrested; he was tortured under interrogation and ultimately shot dead. His body was later thrown out into the street of a shanty town in Santiago.[2] The contrast between the themes of his songs, on love, peace and social justice and the brutal way in which he was murdered transformed Jara into a "potent symbol" of struggle for human rights and justice for all the victims of the Pinochet regime.[3][4]

Early life

Víctor Jara was born in 1932 in the locality of Lonquén, near the city of Santiago, to poor peasants Manuel Jara and Amanda Martínez. His father Manuel was illiterate and encouraged his children to work from an early age to help the family survive, rather than to attend school. By the age of 6, Jara was already working on the land. His father could not support his family on earnings as a peasant at the Ruiz-Tagle estate, nor was he able to find stable work to support his large family. As he took to drinking, he became increasingly violent. His relationship with his wife deteriorated, and Manuel left the family to look for work when Víctor was still a child.

Amanda Martínez persevered in raising Víctor and his siblings; she insisted that each get a good education. A mestiza with deep Araucanian roots in the south of Chile, she was self-taught; she played the guitar and the piano. She also performed as a singer, with a repertory of traditional folk songs she used for local functions like weddings and funerals.[5]

Jara's mother died when Jara was 15, leaving him to make his own way. He began to study to be an accountant, but soon moved into a seminary, where he studied for the priesthood. After a couple of years, however, he became disillusioned with the Church and left the seminary. Subsequently he spent several years in army service before returning to his home town to pursue interests in folk music and theatre.

Artistic life

Jara was deeply influenced by the folklore of Chile and other Latin American countries; he was particularly influenced by artists such as Violeta Parra, Atahualpa Yupanqui, and the poet Pablo Neruda. Jara began his foray into folklore in the mid-1950s when he began singing with the group Cuncumen. In the 1960s, he started specializing in folk music, and got to sing at Santiago's La Peña de Los Parra, owned by Ángel Parra. Through these activities, Jara became greatly involved in the la Nueva Canción Chilena movement of Latin American folk music. He published his first recording in 1966 and, by 1970, had left his theatre work in favour of a career in music. His songs were drawn from a combination of traditional folk music and left-wing political activism. From this period, some of his most renowned songs are Plegaria a un Labrador ("Prayer to a Worker") and Te Recuerdo Amanda ("I Remember You Amanda"). He supported the Unidad Popular ("Popular Unity") coalition candidate Salvador Allende for the presidency of Chile, taking part in campaigning, volunteer political work, and playing free concerts.

Political activism

Jara's role in Chilean society was not limited to his musical output. A supporter of the Popular Unity party, Jara publicly spoke on Salvador Allende's behalf.[6] Allende's campaign was successful and, in 1970, he was elected president of Chile. Jara continued to actively support Allende as president, frequently speaking in support of Allende and playing an important role in the new administration's efforts to reorient Chilean culture.[7]

The Chilean right wing believed that Allende was too far to the political left. Backed by the United States, which opposed Allende's socialist politics, the right staged a coup d'état on September 11, 1973 through the Chilean military,[8] and Death of Salvador Allende. At the moment of the coup, Jara was on the way to the Technical University (today Universidad de Santiago), where he was a teacher. That night he slept at the university along with other teachers and students, and sang to raise morale.

Víctor Jara's grave in the General Cemetery of Santiago. The note left reads: “‘Till Victory!”

Torture and murder

On the morning of September 12, Jara was taken as a prisoner by the military, along with thousands of others deemed suspect, and interned as a prisoner in the Chile Stadium in September 1973[9]). His body was later discarded outside the stadium along with other civilian prisoners who had been killed by the Chilean Army.[10]

Jara's wife, Joan Jara, was allowed to come and retrieve his body from the site and was able to confirm the physical damage he had endured. After holding a funeral for her husband, Joan Jara fled the country in secret. Joan Turner Jara currently lives in Chile and runs the Víctor Jara Foundation. Before his death, Jara wrote a poem about the conditions of the prisoners in the stadium. The poem was written on a piece of paper that was hidden inside the shoe of a friend. The poem was never named, but is commonly known as "Estadio Chile". (The Chile Stadium, also known as the Víctor Jara Stadium, is often confused with the Estadio Nacional (National Stadium).)

Legal Actions

In June 2008, Chilean judge Juan Eduardo Fuentes re-opened the investigation into Jara's death. Judge Fuentes said he would examine 40 new pieces of evidence provided by the singer's family.[11]

On May 28, 2009, José Adolfo Paredes Márquez, a 54-year-old former Army conscript, arrested the previous week in San Sebastian, Chile, was formally charged with Jara's murder.

Following Paredes' arrest, on June 1, 2009, the police investigation identified the name of the officer who first shot Víctor Jara in the head. The officer played Russian roulette with Jara, by placing a single round in his revolver, spinning the cylinder, placing the muzzle against Jara's head and pulling the trigger. The officer repeated this a couple of times, until a shot fired and Víctor fell to the ground. The officer then ordered two conscripts (one of them Paredes) to finish the job, by firing into Jara's body. A judge ordered Jara's body to be exhumed in an effort to determine more information regarding his death.[12][13][14]

On December 3, 2009, a massive funeral took place in the "Galpón Víctor Jara" across from "Plaza Brasil". Jara's remains were honoured by thousands. His remains were re-buried in the same place he was buried in 1973.[15]

On December 28, 2012 a judge in Chile ordered the arrest of eight former army officers for alleged involvement in the murder of Victor Jara.[16][17] He issued an international arrest warrant for one of them, Pedro Barrientos Núñez, accused of shooting Jara in the head during a torture session. Barrientos lives in Florida and US authorities have failed to comply with the warrant.[18]

On September 4, 2013, the Center for Justice and Accountability filed suit in US court against Pedro Barrientos, who currently resides in Florida, on behalf of Victor Jara's widow and children. The suit accuses Pedro Barrientos of arbitrary detention; cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment; extrajudicial killing; and crimes against humanity under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS); and of torture and extrajudicial judicial killing under the Torture Victim Protection Act (TVPA), in connection with the death of Víctor Jara. The complaint alleges that Barrientos is liable for Víctor Jara’s death as a direct perpetrator, as well as a commander, and an indirect collaborator to the crimes at Chile Stadium.[10][19]

SPECIFIC CLAIMS in ALLEGATION:

On April 15, 2015 a US judge has ordered Barrientos to stand trial in Florida.[20]

Legacy

Although the military dictatorship burned the majority of master recordings of Jara's music, Joan Jara managed to get recordings out of Chile; these were later copied and distributed worldwide. The widow later wrote an account of Víctor Jara's life and music, titled Víctor: An Unfinished Song.

Named by Rolling Stone magazine as one of the fifteen foremost protest artists.[10]

On September 22, 1973, the Soviet/Russian astronomer Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh named a newly found asteroid 2644 Víctor Jara, in honor of Víctor Jara's life and artistic work.

American folksinger Phil Ochs, who met and performed with Jara during a tour of South America, organized a benefit concert in his memory in New York in 1974. Titled "An Evening With Salvador Allende", the concert featured Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, Arlo Guthrie and Ochs.

For Neruda, for Chile contains a section called "The Chilean Singer,with poems dedicated to Jara.[21]

An East German biographical movie called El Cantor (the Singer) was made in 1978. It was directed by Jara's friend Dean Reed, who also played the part of Jara.

In the late 1990s British actress Emma Thompson started to work on a screenplay, which she planned to use as the basis for a movie about Víctor Jara. Thompson, a human rights activist and fan of Jara, considered the political murder of the Chilean artist as a symbol of human rights violation in Chile. She believed a movie about Jara's life and death would make more people aware of the Chilean tragedy.[22] The movie would feature Antonio Banderas – another fan of Víctor Jara – as Jara himself where he would sing some of his songs and Emma Thompson as Víctor Jara's British wife Joan Jara.[23] The project has not yet been made into a film.

UK poet Adrian Mitchell translated Jara's poems and lyrics. He wrote the tribute 'Victor Jara,' which singer Arlo Guthrie later set to music.

The Soviet musician Alexander Gradsky created the rock opera, Stadium (Стадион, Stadion) (1985), based on the events surrounding Jara's death.[24]

Portuguese folk band Brigada Víctor Jara is named after him.

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's Wrecking Ball Tour made a stop in Chile on September 12, 2013 (Springsteen's first ever performance in the country), just days before the 40th anniversary of Jara's death. Springsteen and guitarist Nils Lofgren paid tribute to Jara by covering his song, "Manifiesto," which Springsteen sang in Spanish.

In a short speech before the song, Springsteen said (in Spanish): "In 1988 we played for Amnesty International in Mendoza, Argentina, but Chile was in our hearts. We met many families of Desaparecidos, which had pictures of their loved ones. It was a moment that stays with me forever. A political musician, Víctor Jara, remains a great inspiration. It’s a gift to be here and I take it with humbleness."[25]

Songs mentioning Víctor Jara

"My voice is weak, just a whisper

My hands are broken
But I have written a letter
To remind my love
That she was born and raised

With her Back against the wall"
As every cell in Chile will tell, the cries of the tortured men. Remember Allende in the days before, before the army came. Please remember Victor Jara, in the Santiago Stadium. Es Verdad, those Washington Bullets again.
The blood of Victor Jara

Will never wash away
It just keeps on turning
A little redder every day
As anger turns to hatred
And hatred turns to guns
Children lose their fathers

And mothers lose their sons
No olvidamos el valor de Víctor Jara/

dando la cara siempre a la represión/
le cortaron sus dedos y su lengua/
y hasta la muerte gritó revolución

We won't forget Victor Jara's courage/

always fighting oppression/
They cut off his fingers and his tongue/
And right up to his death he shouted 'Revolution'.

"Decadencia. The song goes: "Como Víctor Jara diciendole a su pueblo: La libertad esta cerca"

Theatre work

Discography

Studio albums

Year of release Title
1966 Víctor Jara (Geografía)
1967 Canciones folklóricas de América (with Quilapayún)
1967 Víctor Jara
1969 Pongo en tus manos abiertas
1970 Canto libre
1971 El derecho de vivir en paz
1972 La Población
1973 Canto por travesura
1974 (Estimated release) Tiempos que cambian (unfinished)
1974 Manifiesto

Live albums

Compilations

Tribute albums

Documentaries and films

The following are films or documentaries about and/or featuring Víctor Jara:

See also

Notes

  1. "Report of the Chilean Commission on Truth and Reconciliation Part III Chapter 1 (A.2)". usip.org. 2002-04-10. Archived from the original on 2006-12-31. Retrieved 2007-01-06.
  2. Jara, Joan. Victor: An Unfinished Song, 249-250
  3. "Jara v. Barrientos". Center for Justice and Accountability. 2013-07-04. Retrieved 2014-10-03.
  4. Charlotte Karrlsson-Willis (2013-09-06). "Family of Víctor Jara turns from Chile to US in quest for justice". The Santiago Times. Retrieved 2014-10-03.
  5. Jara, Joan. Victor: An Unfinished Song, 24-27
  6. Jara, Joan. Victor: An Unfinished Song,
  7. Mularski, Jedrek. Music, Politics, and Nationalism in Latin America: Chile During the Cold War Era. Amherst: Cambria Press. ISBN 9781604978889.
  8. Hitchens, Christopher (2001). The Trial of Henry Kissinger. New York: Twelve. p. 304. ISBN 978-1455522972.
  9. "Stadium's Renaming an Ode to Singer Martyred There". Los Angeles Times. September 9, 2003. Retrieved August 12, 2011.
  10. 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 "Complaint: Jara v. Barriento" (PDF). Official Florida court legal filing. Retrieved 2013-09-05.
  11. "New probe into Victor Jara murder". BBC News. 2008-06-04. Retrieved 2010-05-27.
  12. "Chilean singer Jara is exhumed". BBC. 2009-06-04. Retrieved 2009-06-05.
  13. "A oficial que ajustició a Víctor Jara, le decían "El Loco"". Red Nacion. Retrieved 17 October 2013.
  14. Carroll, Rory. "Ex-Pinochet army conscript charged with folk singer Victor Jara's murder". Ex-Pinochet army conscript charged with folk singer Victor Jara's murder. The Guardian. Retrieved 17 October 2013.
  15. "Chile: A Proper Funeral for Víctor Jara". Global Voices Online. 2009-12-05. Retrieved 2009-12-06.
  16. Mariano Castillo (December 29, 2012). "Charges brought in Chilean singer's death, 39 years later". CNN.
  17. "Ex-army officers implicated in Victor Jara death". BBC. 2012-12-28. Retrieved 2013-07-18.
  18. Wadi, Ramona (9 February 2013). "Forty Years Later, Justice for Víctor Jara: School of the Americas Grads Indicted in Murder of the Popular Allende-Era Singer/Activist". Truth-out.org. Retrieved 2013-07-18.
  19. "Jara v. Barrientos No. 3:13-cv-1075-J-99MMH-JBT (2013).". Center for Justice and Accountability. 2013-09-04. Retrieved 2013-09-05.
  20. "Victor Jara killing: Chile ex-army officer faces US trial". Retrieved 2015-04-15.
  21. Lowenfels 1975.
  22. Stasio, Marilyn (Fall 1998). "Emma Thompson: The World's Her Stage". ontheissuesmagazine.com.
  23. Beatrice Sartori (1999-01-07). "Antonio Banderas se mete en la piel del poeta torturado". elmundo.es. Retrieved 2006-02-03.
  24. A website dedicated to the Alexander Gradsky's rock opera Stadium (Stadion) (Russian)
  25. "Springsteen News". Backstreets.com. Retrieved 2014-05-20.
  26. Julos Beaucarne - Lettre a Kissinger. December 10, 2011.
  27. Allmusic link
  28. Video of Adrian Mitchell's poem "Victor Jara," with music by Arlo Guthrie, performed by Guthrie and his band Shenandoah in 1978 on YouTube
  29. "Brief Descriptions of some of Rory’s recorded and released songs". Rorymcleod.com. Retrieved 2013-07-18.
  30. "Music". Chuck Brodsky. Retrieved 2013-07-18.
  31. "La memoria de los peces (1998)". Ismael Serrano. Retrieved May 1, 2012.
  32. Instituto de Teatro de la Universidad de Chile (Theatre Institute belonging to the University of Chile)
  33. Oliver, William (2002-10-13). "Marat/Sade in Santiago. Educational Theatre Journal 1967)". jstor.org. Retrieved 2007-01-06.
  34. An Evening with Salvador Allende was a recording of the Friends of Chile benefit concert held in New York City (1974) to honor Allende, Neruda and Víctor Jara. The double album appeared as a limited edition several years after the concert event; it was never reissued after its limited release. It featured Melanie, Bob Dylan, the Beach Boys, Phil Ochs and it was where Pete Seeger for the first time performed an English translation of Víctor Jara's last poem: Estadio Chile.

References

External links

Resources in English

Resources in Spanish