Tag Archives: Nueva Cancion

Goodbye General! A London event commemorates 50 years since the military coup in Chile.

For many, still, the coup in Chile in 1973 is in fresh memory and for others the trauma has lived on in the children and grandchildren of those who suffered.

Naomi Larsson Piñeda, a musician and journalist, told me via Twitter messaging about how Chilean families still have a hard time talking about the events in 1973 and the years that followed.

Read also: “Justice Finally Served For 1973 Murder Of Chilean Musician Victor Jara”

Naomi’s mother moved from Chile in 1980 to the United Kingdom and although having traveled to Chile in her youth, it was not until in her adult life that Naomi started reconnecting with her homeland: “I work as a journalist so have spent a lot of time reporting from Chile and learning about its history – as a child, the dictatorship was something that was never really discussed, like in so many Chilean families.”

Read also: “The Violator Is You: Women In Chile Perform A Protest Chant”

This coming Wednesday, October 18, Naomi has organised a night of music, titled ¡Adios General!, in cooperation with Movimientos, to commemorate the decades that have passed since the coup.

Featured bands are Naomi in Blue, Malena Zavala, and Patiño. ¡Adiós General! will celebrate Nuevo Pop Chileno and the songs of Los Prisioneros, Aparato Raro, Los Pinochet Boys and more – the Chilean rock bands who drove the sounds of a new counterculture.”

“The 18 October is also a particularly important day – it was the start of the social uprising in 2019 where millions of Chileans took to the streets to protest the economic and social hangovers of the dictatorship.”
– Naomi Larsson Piñeda

Profits from the event will go to Ecomemoria, a collective planting a forest in the south of Chile with each tree memorialising a victim of the dictatorship.

When: 18 October 2023
Where: the Jago, Dalston (UK)
Tickets: here

Free, Online Lecture (and Concert) About Chilean Protest Music

Next 23rd of March Jova Bagioli Reyes will explore the protest music and politics of Chile and perform key songs from Chilean history during a free, online event.

This event is made possible by the efforts of the School of Integration in Manchester UK, which is “a project initiated by activist and artist Tania Bruguera, highlighting the experiences of immigrants, critically questioning the terms ‘migrant’ and ‘integration’, inventing new terminologies and celebrating the power of human movement.”

See also: Nueva Canción Protest Music Sung During Chile Protests (Videos)

Register for the event right here below.

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Nueva Canción Protest Music Sung During Chile Protests (Videos)

We have covered before the long awaited justice brought forth for the family and memory of legendary Chilean protest singer Victor Jara who was murdered at the hands of the Pinochet army in 1973.

Jara left behind a great repertory of protest songs, some of which have had a lasting effect on the Chilean people. Along with Violeta Parra, Mercedes Sosa and others, he was part of the Nueva Canción, a musical genre and a social movement.

Today the Chilean people unite by singing those same songs that protest musicians created so many years ago as seen in the videos below. More than a million people have been recorded marching in the past days and already it seems it has had an effect on the president’s cabinet.

See also: Justice Finally Served For 1973 Murder Of Chilean Musician Victor Jara

In the capital, Santiago, a curfew was initiated on the 19th of October. This did not keep people from raising their voice in protest. A soprano by the name of Ayleen Jovita Romero was recorded singing “El derecho de vivir en paz”, (The right to live in peace) by Victor Jara, from a balcony. Her voice can be heard reverberating between the buildings as the streets below are quiet.


Cover photo credits: Flickr link