Music and Memory

Transcripción

Music and Memory

Chasqui: revista de literatura latinoamericana
Music as Memory and Torture: Sounds of Repression and Protest in Chile and Argentina
Author(s): Robert Neustadt
Source: Chasqui, Vol. 33, No. 1 (May, 2004), pp. 128-137
Published by: Chasqui: revista de literatura latinoamericana
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MUSIC AS MEMORY AND TORTURE:
SOUNDS OF REPRESSION AND PROTEST
IN CHILE AND ARGENTINA
Robert Neustadt
Northern
"Few
cultural
writes
movements,"
Albrecht
Arizona
as
had
"have
Moreno,
University
an effect
profound
on
the
social histories of their time as has theNew Song movement in Chile" (108). Nueva Canci?n,
as themusic was called, played a significant political role in the periods preceding and during
Salvador Allende's socialist Unidad Popular government in Chile. This new type of folk/protest
music
of Allende's
the emergence
supported
Front.
Popular
and bands
Singer-songwriters
such
as Violeta Parra, Victor Jara, Inti-Illimani, Patricio Manns, Quilapay?n, Margot Loyola, Grupo
Cuncum?n and others criticized the exploitation of the working class while exalting populist
Nueva
socialism.1
then, was
Canci?n,
both
and supportive?it
oppositional
as a move?
took form
ment that protested injustice at the same time as it supported the establishment of Allende's
for
new
The
government.
social
song movement
from
justice
a Pan-Latin
became
quickly
American
a call
phenomenon,
the Left.
Chilean Nueva Canci?n's left-wing political agenda overlapped with a discursive project of
cultural
and
and rhythms
the Latin
Andean
elite's
in rallies,
a small
autochthonous
class
ruling
past.
to bring
over
indigenous
"the
the masses
from history,
"Their
of
task," writes
people"
of
in others
Mark
movement
Canci?n
the imperialism
both
dismissal
striving
injustices
specific
in the Nueva
Musicians
thus rejecting
American
songs
benefited
recalled
and memory.
recovery
instruments
associated
culture.
impoverished
Mattern,
"was
U.S.
indigenous
sang
a government
to change
Chileans.
In some
musically
a sometimes
to 'recover
culture
popular
musicians
Poncho-wearing
together
they resurrected
embraced
with
the past,'
cases,
that
songs
mythical
to 'recover
the
memory of their origins' and to find their 'lost race'" (40). Whereas the Chilean elite had tradi?
tionally
rejected
new song artists
rizing
an idealized
or
ignored
celebrated
indigenous
a connection
version
of traditional
culture
and any notion
that they might
have
with
native
history. Rejecting
indigenous
capitalism
nueva canci?n
a new version
asserted
culture,
roots,
and valo?
of Chilean
identity.
won
suicide
in 1967, almost
three years before Allende
the presi?
'Violeta Parra committed
on a
in Chilean
is credited,
for having
interest
folk music
She
nevertheless,
catalyzed
dency.
movement.
For an analysis
the Nueva
Canci?n
of her role in
national
level, essentially
founding
on the Nueva
folk music
and her subsequent
influence
Canci?n movement,
Chilean
popularizing
see Moreno.
On Nueva
Canci?n
and Canto
Nuevo
see Morris.
See
also Mattern,
128
chapter
3.
129
Robert Neustadt
When the (U.S.-supported) coup of September 11, 1973 ousted theAllende government and
those who
with
sympathized
it, the military
also
war
declared
on, and with,
music.
for this extend beyond the purely symbolic. The combination of music's
temporarily
military
Jara was
a person's
affect
properties
symbolic
replaced
five
assassinated
radio
and
later
in a prison
days
and emotional
psychological
television
balance.
with
programming
that the military
camp
sonic, textual and
the coup,
During
Nazi
reasons
The
march
established
the
Victor
music.
in Santiago's
Estadio Chile. (In 1998 the Fundaci?n Victor Jara presented a petition to the Chilean government
with several thousand signatures asking that the stadium be renamed officially "Estadio Victor
Jara."On September 12, 2003 the stadiumwas officially renamed). Inti-Illimani and Quilapay?n
happened to be touring outside of Chile at the time of the coup and they remained in exile for
one
From
years.
to play
ued
to another
day
their music.
this music
context
on
supporting
the music
roots),
In this context,
Chilean
musicians
that was
violence
meaning.
a new
of
support
in their homeland.
The
Musicians
that was
movement
recovery
of
to decry
the
exile.
outside
from
band,
contin?
in the postcoup
the symbolic
(via
from
in exile
but
songs,
a populist
of
socialism
cry of protest
to garner
attempted
place
taking
in Chile.
the same
of
instead
Now,
version
a postcoup
became
outlawed
to sing many
a new
of
was
Canci?n
continued
They
took
the emergence
Chilean
Nueva
and
of Chile
released
for example,
Inti-Illimani,
the lp album ?VivaChile! from exile in Italy in 1973. The album includesmany of the songs that
for and celebrated
called
of
the UP,
Chilean
the Unidad
del poder
"Canci?n
class.
working
"La
segunda
to power.
rise
Popular's
and
popular"
"Cueca
links
independencia"
The
the hymn
"Venceremos,"
songs
del C.U.T.,"
all celebrate
the struggle
the power
in Chile
the
of
move?
to populist
ments throughout Latin America. The album jacket includes the poem "C?mo en Espa?a" by
Spanish poet Rafael Alberti equating the murder of Allende with the rise of Francisco Franco:
"Al fin,
ization
of
to Chile,
war
its cause:
Canci?n
the music
o? La Nueva
internationalizing
crisis within
on Nueva
"Since
text comprised
of music,
lyrics,
a larger global
As Moreno
sphere.
?Viva Chile!?a
the Chilean
military's
and
the music
this
en Espa?a."
que
liner notes?located
the Chilean
out,
points
en Chile
los mismos
art and
graphic
Canci?n
resulted
ironically
had heretofore
been
one
is certainly
in the international?
pretty much
the more
of
confined
accom?
ironic
plishments of the military coup" (121). Exile allowed for continued freedom of expression,
international
expanded
and a continuation
solidarity
of Nueva
Canci?n's
as protest
focus
music.
In Chile, Nueva Canci?n had been essentially silenced from 1973-75 when it began to re
in limited
emerge
represented
a political
fusing
pe?as
and coded
another
kind
that had been
identity
the banned
music
and music
with
in public
of solidarity
expressions
of recovery
process.
forced
precarious
to "la
witness
The
of
silenced
the UP.
Nueva
The
Canci?n,
of
reappearance
de una memoria
recomposici?n
music
to reconstitute
attempted
dictatorship
memory
of protest
reappearance
Chileans
music,
The
underground.
the politically
bore
(Torres).
Through
y una
trizada
identidad pol?tica puesta en entredicho por el autoritarismo" (Torres, 206). In 1976, Ricardo
Garc?a
(founder
incarnation
that would
muchos
of Sello
of New
be easy
nombres
vinculaci?n
con
Alerce
Song music.
to remember
que
coined
Garcia
explains
and that would
cumplieran
la Nueva
records)
con dos
Canci?n
Chilena"
in the name
implied
and regenerate?to
remember?the
and political
of m?sica
music
comprometida
developed,
movements
by
that he
evoke
(quoted
and
sought
the memory
que
requisitos:
of memory
importance
both to recall
process
the term "Canto
fuera
its place
that had been
necessity,
more
name
of Nueva
f?cil
in Torres,
for this new
Nuevo"
a new
for
Canci?n:
de retener
218
in history.
severed
sophisticated
note
"Buscamos
y que
sugiera
17). Note
"Canto
by
postcoup
the movement
Nuevo"
the coup.
mechanisms
This
una
the double
arose
new
of
as a
arm
poetic
130Music asMemory and Torture: Sounds of Repression and Protest
discourse.
As Mattern
nuevo
canto
to effectively
in order
out,
points
needed
coded
of carefully
the protection
the authoritarian
critique
government
metaphors.
Canto Nuevo innovatedmusically on the traditionof Nueva Canci?n by incorporating the use
of electric
instruments,
especially
as drum
as well
and keyboards
guitars
kits.
Nuevo
Canto
also
borrowed rhythmically and harmonically from pop and jazz.Whereas the (now coded) political
content
nueva
origins
reveals
was
nuevo
canto
of
Cuban
trova
from Nueva
inherited
(Silivio
Pablo
Rodr?guez,
convolutions
the historical
of cultural
also was
the music
Canci?n,
and others).
Milan?s
Such
by
for musical
trova,
for example,
nueva
Cuban
exchange.
influenced
a search
had also previously received considerable influence from Chilean Nueva Canci?n (and other
relatedmusical movements that emerged fromwithin Cuba and throughoutLatin America). Canto
while
of oppression
often
Nueva
in Chilean
centrally
figures
the memory
of
as no
short novel,
Skarmeta's
Antonio
literature.
it comes
politics,
Berlin,
Germany.
Lucho's
represents
larger
sociopolitical
time as he struggles
to adapt
struggles
to life in Germany
consummate
and
to understand
with
struggles
urges
how
at
the
same
he fits
the
at the
life
his
in exile.
as he
time
that
into
hormones
raging
to terms with
to come
and
sexual
his
is and
he
nada
it is a novel
of education,"
who
at large. Lucho
the world
of
to discover
his name)
(hence
struggle
a "novel
constitutes
narrative
person
context
same
He
first
that
surprise
No pas?
is living inWest
(1980), narrates the story of an exiled Chilean adolescent named Lucho who
The
the history
recalled
America.
indigenous
in Chilean
has played
that music
the coup
that before
music
Canci?n,
recovering
discursively
the significance
Given
music
to remember
served
then,
Nuevo,
fights,
a
Hans constitutes the
physically, with competing German adolescents. A fight with boy named
of
climax
dramatic
plays
that Lucho was
role
No pas?
throughout
close
the two become
Ultimately
to abandon
forced
to become
dream
the novel.
a key
Music
a new
after
guitar
friends.
In the novel's
nada.
opening
and
the coup
paragraph
that he has
given
we
learn
up on his
a musician:
Yo
era mi cumplea?os
y mi papi me
regal? una guitarra.
septiembre
en la esquina
ser cantante...
los amigos del barrio cant?bamos
Con
quer?a
nunca
formar un conjunto
para tocar en las fiestas de los liceos. Pero
y quer?amos
13 de
El
entonces
Politics
sented
didn't
a form
tocar
have
anything
of
by
on a girl named
falls
who
could
share with
to contemporary
works
that pop music
though, Lucho decides
to sing pop
and that it is not necessary
friends.
his
lacks depth. He
songs to acquire
store,
When
pop music.
German
in a record
the Elektrola
realizes
music
For Lucho,
in music.
interest
his original
that he
listening
Sophie
(76)
to do with
entertainment
learns German
Lucho
la guitarra...
pude
His
he moves
romantic
first
Musikhaus.
that he never
a girlfriend:
"Reci?n
una ami guita...
conseguirse
really
ahora me
repre?
to Berlin,
crush
Ultimately
loved
Sophie
doy cuenta
cantar tonter?as para
aprend? que
Despu?s
aware of the process
of manipulation
(90-91). Over time Lucho becomes
esa idea de
that the pop music
identity: "Yo creo que hab?a sacado
industry uses to shape youth
con
lindas"
chicas
los cantantes populares
(91).
las revistas donde siempre
aparec?an fotografiados
maturation.
and intellectual
course
to Lucho's
emotional
in No pas?
Music
nada, runs a parallel
a language
that is charged
becomes
for dream and fantasy, music
First a vehicle
subsequently
que
uno no necesita
ni palabras
saber
se necesitan"
content.
political
in the novel
At one point
the song
crowd
rally s around
with
lyrics
to him we
find
out
Lucho
attends
"Venceremos."
that the boy
does
a massive
When
not know
protest
a German
the words
and
the dictatorship
against
to explain
man
asks Lucho
or understand
the
song:
the
the
Robert Neustadt
131
El se?or Kramer me solt? del hombro y cant? el estribillo, pero nada m?s que la
parte
que dice
pero
no hubo
porque
'venceremos'
caso,
y
mentira
parece
me
y despu?s
tuve
que
pero
jam?s me
a m?
mir?
le cantara
que
para
as? con
los hombros
la he podido
aprender.
hacerle
no
que
Y
el resto,
hab?a
caso,
es que no entiendo
bien la letra. Por ejemplo no s? lo que es el crisol de la historia, ni qui?n es el
soldado
Me
valiente.
stems
confusion
Lucho's
not
dio
verg?enza...
from
only
his
(113)
age but also
derives
from
re?
of his
the horizon
cently lived experiences. Soldiers, from the perspective of a Chilean boy who's family lives in
but bravery
anything
to an international
canci?n
in which
of
connote
would
exile,
nueva
movements
and musical
music
and
movement
valor.
from
change
scene
This
exile,
for younger
meaning
transition
the
underscores
and furthermore
exemplifies
over
generations
of
the manner
the course
time.
The
scene
above
also
a series
represents
structure
the dramatic
ing reiterates
of embedded
of No pas?
conflicts
Lucho
nada:
within
conflicts
to discover
needs
in so do?
and
the meaning
of
the song, while struggling to understand who he is and how his life fits inwith the political
conflicts that surround him. By the end of the novella, Lucho not only understands the lyrics and
the broad political context thathas given a particular shape to his life, but he is able to transmit
this knowledge to others (his former archrival Hans and his new girlfriend Edith).
"Venceremos"
is of course
a real song
by
Sergio
as the
rally
that served
Ortega,
anthem
for
Allende's Unidad Popular inChile (for impressive images of massive crowds singing andmarch?
ing to "Venceremos"
in the streets
see Patricio
of Santiago
Guzman's
first
film,
documentary
La
batalla de Chile [1975]). The lyrics of "Venceremos" can be seen as amusical time capsule, un
de
crisol
ment.
la historia?a
As
farmers
the title
and
reflection
of
the song
suggests,
and rhetoric
to create
attempts
faith
of
the Chilean
in popular
unity
socialist
amongst
move?
workers,
students:
Venceremos,
venceremos
Mil
habr?
cadenas
La miseria
written
before
que
romper
venceremos
Venceremos,
Clearly
the atmosphere
sabremos
the feminist
vencer!
movement?women
figure
into the song
almost
as an after
thought:
Campesinos,
La mujer
The
popular
march
both
de
predicts
soldados,
mineros
la patria
a socialist
tambi?n
victory
and
invites
the community
to participate
together in the joint project of history:
Sembraremos
las tierras
de gloria
Socialista ser? el porvenir
la historia
juntos seremos
a
a
cumplir,
cumplir,
cumplir
of the future tense. "Venceremos"
Todos
A
Note
the persistent
to celebrate
history,
Skarmeta's
use
the Unidad
Popular,
in so doing
Chilean
history
and
an effort
represented
to endorse
and create
to literally make
a socialist
future.
historical
novel
represents
through a historical
song in a fictional
from the Unidad
to
the
of
In so
plot moves
Popular
period
military
dictatorship.
nada calls attention
to the mnemonic
as a vehicle
of music
function
to remember
doing, No pas?
both the dreams of a precoup
socialist
the abrupt terminus
of these dreams
past and subsequently
that resulted from the coup. At the same time Skarmeta's
novel exemplifies
the protagonizing
role
narrative.
The
as Memory
132Music
and Torture:
of Repression
Sounds
and Protest
thatmusic plays in the formation of identity.Music does not simply reflect a pregiven identity
but
as Simon
rather,
has
Frith
as part
functions
argued,
the process
of
of
formation.
identity
We
cannot simply look at music to find a fixed reflection of Lucho. Pop music and nueva canci?n
in exile
contribute
shared
similar
a generation
and by extension
of Lucho
the formation
towards
of Chileans
that
experiences.
As part of Patricio Guzman's documentary, "Chile, memoria obstinada" (1997), thefilmmaker
commissioned a band of Chilean young people to play "Venceremos" while marching through
the center of Santiago. This was purportedly the first time that the song had been played publicly
in Chile in over 23 years. Although the band plays the song without lyrics, a great number of
and rhythm of the socialist march.
people immediately recognize the characteristic melody
of onlookers
Reactions
political
from
vary
jubilation
a Chilean
what
of the Unidad
triggers memories?memories
this song
perspective,
and fear. No matter
to anger
listener's
of the coup,
Popular,
and of those that disappeared during the dictatorship. For Chileans on theRight, thesememories
constitute a political thorn; they would prefer to ignore the military's excessive use of force
(excesses, which they insistwere committed by both sides inwhat they describe as a "war") and
to celebrate instead the triumphs of neoliberalism.
Guzman's
ry changes
were
born
unaware
often
taste
between
one
have
never
these
different
to another.
generation
even heard
in exile
Young
he was
Although
his political
shape
Chileans
who
In Skarmeta's
"Venceremos."
generations.
that memo?
the fact
underscores
its history
from
his experiences
meaning,
political
with
relationship
disappear
a bridge
embodies
as his
can
the dictatorship
of the song's
as well
and
time
during
Lucho
novel,
of Chile's
exploration
over
originally
consciousness
of music.
and understanding
The short story, "El clarevidente," by the Chilean writer Gustavo Gonz?lez Rodr?guez (pub?
in Pasi?n
lished
focusing
story
on
focuses
a collection
la m?sica,
por
on music),
how
exemplifies
the manner
in which
of
music
experience
generations
can
a competition
that entered
stories
successive
function
obsessively
literature
for
music
differently.
as both
the memory
The
and
a
symbol of a particular time in history. The protagonist, Antonio, fails in love with young folk
singer
Valentina
named
performing
Unidad
keeps
Popular
the time of the Unidad
together,
They
spend a night
Popular.
for the
work
Political
love.
a
at
and
making
songs
subsequently
pe?a
to
into
exile
the coup takes place
them apart for a time and when
go
they
during
Parra
Violeta
different parts of the world.
Antonio
spends
his exile
dreaming
about
nostalgically
his
long-lost
love
and when
he returns
to Chile fifteen years later he encounters a different (neoliberal) country and different music:
Retorn?
cuando
definitivamente
88. Los
del
Prisioneros
y Sol
comenzaba
y Lluvia
del No para el plebiscito
con
reencuentros
primeros
de
a mi af?n de cerrar un par?ntesis
a afirmarme,
de las que volver
esc?pti?
la campa?a
marcaron
tonalidades
contradictorias
el pa?s, d?ndole
ra?ces
a?os de lejan?a sin encontrar
quince
a
con
la
co como
respecto
pol?tica
llegaba
y atado
mis
a una
lejana
noche
de
1972
en
el amor. (108)
When
scene
he finds
out
at the door
la puerta
piel mate
that Valentina
bodes
y all? estaba"
lives
for a nostalgic
(109). The image
tersa y sin se?ales
in Santiago
reencounter
he
with
is an illusion,
eventually
paradise
however,
to visit. The
the nerve
gathers
lost: "Toqu? el timbre, se abri?
"era y no
era
la Vale.
La misma
rostro de frente abierta,
del paso de los a?os. El mismo
de entonces,
un
con
vez
los grandes ojos que
m?s
suaves
recto.
Los
tal
labios
carnosos,
poco
y perfil
p?mulos
in the threshold
is Valentina's
sino grises
daughter,
(109). The apparition
ya no eran pardos,
a trace of the past both in her physical
and in her name. She
who
constitutes
appearance
Violeta,
133
Robert Neustadt
on
is a living memory
appearance
brings
the overlap
and
rous,
from
grows
two
of
of
name
her
of Valentina
encounters
their
and
personal
memory
inseparable
levels: Whereas
back memories
historical
and
with
music.
his
memory,
the Unidad
of Violeta
shared
experiences,
Antonio's
nostalgia
intimate
amo?
and
political
Canci?n
Valentina
of justice
dream
her
Parra,
for Nueva
with
relationship
collective
Popular?the
the memory
evokes
their
the
and
democratic
through
socialism in Chile.
knows
Violeta
Ironically,
about
nothing
nueva
her namesake,
or canto
canci?n
nuevo.
Violeta
is a heavy metal fan, particularly fond of the British band, IronMaiden. When the realValentina
returns home Antonio realizes that thewoman he has loved obsessively for years exists only in
his memory.
Her
longer
has
over
changed
time
interest
and makeup,
heels
high
"El
sings.
in Chile.
of heavy
not
does
"es cosa
the extent
underscores
In spite
in Iron Maiden
in an office,
works
tells him,
she
canto,"
for Iron Maiden
predilection
Violeta's
nihilism,
or
guitar
plays
daughter's
music
wears
Valentina
Today's
and no
form
metal's
to which
association
a criticism
reflect
wears
a uni?
del pasado"
taste
with
(112).
in popular
head-bashing
culture.
of youth
To
the
contrary, IronMaiden has a reputation of philosophical, religious, political and intellectual depth.
Antonio is originally ignorant of this aspect. When looking at the album cover he asks Violeta
if the group is "sat?ntico" (110). She mocks his ignorance, explaining that IronMaiden's em?
blematic
monster,
as well
band,
is "capaz
"Eddie,"
(110). Whereas
Thatcher"
nomenon
de
Iron Maiden
as the fear and
rejection
a la reina
asustar
Isabel
epitomizes
contemporary
it provokes,
as another
y de
a Margaret
estrangular
the
explains
of a centuries-long
phe?
Violeta
cynicism,
instance
of discrimination:
Los que le cuelgan a IronMaiden el r?tulo de sat?nico son los herederos de la
En
Inquisici?n.
Despu?s
nistas.
la Edad Media
no saben
Hoy
a las
brujas
inventaron
a Galileo
torturaron
y m?s
nada mejor
a los comu?
libros y mataron
a los rockeros.
que perseguir
sus hogueras.
para alimentar
tarde quemaron
es una
Sat?n
criatu?
ra de ellos. (110-11)
in this way,
Seen
the character's
of
understanding
Iron Maiden
demonstrates
certain
compati?
bilities with the social and political agenda of Violeta Parra andNueva Canci?n. Time has passed
and
the musical
to authoritarianism
opposition
a markedly
manifests
different
(non-Chilean)
style,
but we still see a Chilean youth culture identifying with music while denouncing the abuse of
As
power.
the protagonist
"una Violeta
The
attrition
story
a framework
to
then canto
they
nuevo,
1988. More
and
nuevo's
as memory
and
For Antonio,
who
lives
time
before
his memory
to disappear
March
from mass
outdoor
concert
people
dilemma
surprise
were
of
the
of
cultural
public
amnesia
attention.
in Santiago's
said to attend
to the cumulative
the
coup.
causing
When
Canci?n
Years
of
the early
Inti-Illimani
constitutes
dictatorship
protest
returned
music,
and
and
from
exile
on September
de la Bandera
Parque
the concert
communication
(personal
from
since waned
Mattem
in Chile,
points
out
23,
however,
that canto
the past ironically
destabilized
the music's
force:
political
nuevo
in
on
the
one
tension
the
its role
between,
hand,
lay
remembrance
and maintenance
of democratic
identity and community
with
of canto
of political
and, on the other,
politically
to his
encountered
in the past, Nueva
Canto
nuevo's
has
2003).
popularity
now plays
for much
smaller
audiences.
identification
The
and
remembrance
juxtaposes
25,
Inti-Illimani
strict
in a kind
resulted
than 250,000
Coulon,
even
music
the past.
support
a massive
played
Jorge
and
in Chile,
censorship
for his past
searching
(111).
underscores
of memory
he went
says,
postmoderna"
impotent
its tendency
nostalgia.
to become
Ironically,
in terms of mass
to
confined,
appeal,
the role of canto nuevo
in keeping mem
as Memory
134Music
and Torture:
of Repression
Sounds
and Protest
ories alive also partly defined its failure. By looking backward it defined itself at
least initially in nostalgic terms that failed to connect with the contemporary
concerns
This
is not
of many
that all Chilean
to say
Los
the group
mentions,
(63-64)
lost its critical
youth.
music
edge. As the narrator of "El clarevidente"
resistance
of a new type of musical
representative
became
Prisioneros
in Chile during the 1980's.
Although Los Prisioneros's version of punk-rock referred only tangentially to politics
(through the band's name for example) they played an important part in the prodemocracy
of
movement
the 80's.
Their
"La voz
song,
de
a young-person's
became
los 80" (1984),
anthem.
The song does not explicitly talk about Pinochet or the plebescite, but rather alludes to big
that are on
changes
their way
in Chile:
est? naciendo
grande
Algo
en la d?cada
los ochenta
de
This "something big," requires that young Chileans leave behind the inertia of the 70's and that
they band together to form a new force:
Deja la inercia de los setenta
abre los ojos ponte de pie
escucha
el
el sonido
sintoniza
latido,
tus sentidos
agudiza
vivo.
est?s
que
date
cuenta
The song is both a reflection of young people's identity in Chile of the 1980's and also an
ta"?documents
imperative
The
the movement.
to join
invitation
the political
forms
command
changes
la voz de los ochen?
la fuerza
viene
refrane?"Ya
song's
on
The
in
Chile.
that were
emphasis
song's
taking place
Deja la inercia
abre los ojos ponte de pie
el sonido
el latido, sintoniza
tus sentidos date cuenta
agudiza
que est?s vivo
escucha
an example
represents
of popular
music's
constitutive
relationship
with
"La voz
identity.
de
los
80" narrates and describes the political changes taking place at this time inChile. The song also
advises
neously
Los
people
builds
to participate,
how
the very
Prisioneros
play
in loose
albeit
movement
prodemocracy
an electric urban-style
terms.
ambiguous
that it describes.
"La voz
simulta?
los 80,"
to contemporary
that alludes
of music
de
conditions
in Chile. Their song, "Las industrias" insists that the factories that emit choking pollution into
Santiago's
dissatisfied
air should
Chileans
of dictatorship.
move
who
"Dando
elsewhere.
returned
patadas,"
no hope
from
evokes
"?Por qu? no se van?"
exile vis a vis others
the alienation
of
underscores
who
have
the tensions
suffered
between
through
Chileans
a generation
of young
of Los Prisioneros
the music
years
who,
is less
a job. Clearly
of finding
have
educated,
though
don't sing about creating
and canto nuevo. Los Prisioneros
than Nueva
Canci?n
overtly
political
On the other hand,
refer to the dictatorship.
a workers'
and their songs don't explicitly
paradise
a generation
of alienated
with
what
is
about
Chile
wrong
pollution,
(unemployment,
by singing
in order in the patria.
that all was
discourse
official
the Dictatorship's
etc.) they undercut
youths
"En
los textos
la cultura
mo"
(212).
oficial,
One
"disappearance"
de
un fuerte y directo
cr?tico a
envi?n
writes Torres,
las canciones,"
"predomina
el consumismo
la dictadura,
el arribismo
la educaci?n,
la moral,
y el patriotis?
the void that was
left behind
could
say that Los Prisioneros
by the
reoccupied
of Nueva
Canci?n
and canto
nuevo.
By
contributing
rhythm
and
lyrics
to the
Robert Neustadt
"No" movement
mos"
135
of '88), Los
the plebescite
to
around.2
people
rally
evokes
music
bittersweet
nostalgia
Prisioneros
(for
a
provided
contemporary
"Vencere?
for young
in No pas?
nada and "El clarevidente,"
it can
or in the most
as
extreme
of violence,
cases, can even function
In Jacqueline
Cuevas
Narv?ez's
short story, "El favor"
in
(also published
a Chilean
to sing the socialist
la m?sica)
forced his captives
Pasi?n
army captain
por
anthem,
naked and upside
down on meat
"La Internacional,"
while
hooks. Here
hanging
again we have
Whereas
also
memories
trigger unpleasant
a medium
of torture.
an example of awriter inserting a historical song in a fictional narrative, in a story that oscillates
between past and present. The Captain insists that they sing while undergoing torture in order to
and to emphasize
his prisoners
lost their cause. As an agent of
the fact that they have
even humiliates
the newly
"order"
the soldier
the prisoners
installed
for not being
able to sing
on key. This act of violence
"La Internacional"
turns against him however
in subsequent
years.
humiliate
The excaptain is haunted by the memory of the song. Everywhere he goes he believes that he
hears
an
the song
instrument
(and sees the faces of those he
of torture during
the dictatorship
he employed
tortured). The same song which
now returns to torture his
memory.3
as
Argentine Mempo Giardinelli's short story, "Kil?metro 11" (1993), offers another striking
of a text
example
mnemonic
in which
music
of
memories
triggers
of psychological
weapon
revenge.
The
torture
and
a
constitutes
simultaneously
a party held
by a group of men
story describes
who had been imprisoned together during the dictatorship.When the band begins to play the song
"Kil?metro
musical
"el cabo Segovia,"
the man who
11," one of the men
recognizes
formerly
provided
to their torture sessions:
"Morocho
de ojos como
y labiudo,
accompaniment
tajitos,
a ellos
'Kil?metro
tocaba
11' mientras
los torturaban.
Los milicos
tocar y
lo hac?an
siempre
cantar para que no
se oyeran
Segovia's
of
playing
los gritos de los prisioneros"
the victims'
(50). By covering
11" effectively
in the torture sessions.
collaborated
screams,
"Kil?metro
The story takes place in a time period subsequent to the dictatorship.When themen recognize
Segovia they force him to take off his dark glasses and to play "Kil?metro 11" repeatedly, once
for each
of the former
prisoners.
This
fictional
scenario,
recognizing
a former
torturer
in Argenti?
na (or for thatmatter in any country of the Southern Cone), is certainly feasible in
reality. Julie
Taylor describes such potential encounters in postdictatorship Argentina: "The terrorhad ended
in 1983, followed by the courageous and unique trial and punishment of themilitary Junta by
Argentine civilian courts in 1985. But soon thereafter new laws leftmost of the armed forces
in turn in the minds
of the population
the constant
a strange
doubt as to whether
free,
leaving
or torturer"
be that of an assassin
face might
a
(11). The scene in Giardinelli's
story constitutes
una
kind of inverted
"torture:"
"el emparrado
de
romano
circo
en
se
el
semeja
especie
que
hubieran
los roles de fiera y v?ctimas"
invertidos
ever touch
of the men
(50). None
Segovia
physically. Yet by obliging him to play and replay "Kil?metro 11" again and again, they both
reiterate the fact that they recognize him and they force him to acknowledge his role in their
torture.
To
torture,
as it were,
reopen,
the scab
2Los Prisioneros
success.
certs
in its most
"a tocar de nuevo"
Segovia
November
that sold
out
sense
basic
is to touch another's
body with violence.
By forcing
the former
soldier to tocar la herida,
to
(51) the exprisoners
compel
of time and anonymity
that had been covering
the crimes of the past.
broke up in the early
1990s and pursued
careers without
individual
much
30 and December
the band reunited
to play two con?
1, 2001,
nevertheless,
almost
Over
fans attended
each concert
in the Estadio
70,000
immediately
Nacional.
3A true case
had
tortured
him
of a professor
in the Estadio
of professors
signed
work
for a Chilean
a petition
university
who
(Felipe Ag?ero)
allegedly
recognized
Nacional
received
international
recently
asserting
that the former
military
officer
another
who
professor
a group
when
not be allowed
to
attention
should
(see Vald?s).
as Memory
136Music
and Torture:
of Repression
Sounds
and Protest
The motivation for playing the song has changed directions: Originally used (in Giardinelli's
fiction) as a means to cover the sounds resulting from physical torture inflicted by soldiers, it is
a vehicle
now
to reopen
the wounds
of the past.
For
a type
this constitutes
Segovia,
of psycho?
logical torture because it forces him to recognize and acknowledge his complicity with the
dictatorship.
Although Giardinelli does not include any of the lyrics in the story, "Kil?metro 11" is an
actual ch?mame song (music by Tr?nsito Cocomarola and lyrics by C. Alguer). On itsmost basic
level
the song
appears
to be a nostalgic
plea for a reconciliation
vez
otra
hasta
Vengo
aqu?
de nuevo
a
of
lost
love:
tu amor
implorar
ya no hay tristeza y dolor
al verme lejos de t?.
The song underscores the distance between the singer and the object of his desire. And yet while
to guilt, anger and reconciliation
of lost love, the references
the lyrics clearly evoke a relationship
"Kil?me?
in Giardinelli's
a different meaning
when
connote
read in the context of postdictatorship
of his past as a means
for the transgressions
tro 11." In the lyrics the singer claims responsibility
to end his current suffering:
Culpable
tan solo
soy
de todo lo que he sufrido
por eso es que ahora he venido
triste estoy.
y triste muy
Notice as well the central role thatmemory plays in the song. On the one hand he begs her to
anger, "olvida mi bien el enojo aquel," while
their past love and his need for reconciliation.
forget
her
forget
never
at the same
time
to
her
he beseeches
Clearly we should not equate the relationship between the exprisoners and the Cabo Segovia
with
one
lovers.
of former
The
story
"Kil?metro
11," nevertheless,
represents,
a
music,
through
recontextualized state of nonreconciliation in a time of postdictatorship. Throughout the Southern
Cone there exist neoliberal political movements whose ideologues argue that the time has come
tomove beyond thememory of the dictatorships. It is time, according to some, to forget the past
and
to focus
on
the Argentinean
and
the present
covered
military
as a representative
of
in the story, Segovia
the song "Kil?metro
11," present-day
to the future. Or,
shortcuts
the screams of the past, proposing
... un cafeci
army says in "El favor," "Basta de recuerdos,
an opposing
"Kil?metro
Giardinelli's
11,"
represents
story,
the future. Whereas
of torture with
the sounds
similarly
hope to cover
politicians
as the former captain of the Chilean
to y a mirar
(78). Mempo
mujeres"
to this perspective.
Justice will remain
incomplete,
viewpoint
for those injured.
and reparations
committed
ty for crimes
the crimes of the past can there be any movement
exposing
In conclusion,
music
offers
a tangible
cultural
thread
at best, without
accountabili?
public
and
the distance"
by "going
Only
future reconciliation.
towards
through which
of politics,
one
can
read
recent
his?
the
history,
an authentic
Chilean
identity," writes
"They set out to recover
as Chileans,
to discover
their roots and
of who
the question
Mattern,
they were
in
Canto
answer
cultural
the
Chilean
of
to
and
Nuevo,
inconsistency"
(153).
question
origins,
to opposing
the dicta?
in addition
a musical
movement
of protest whose
cause,
turn, embodies
such as Los Pri?
musical
to remember
Nueva
Canci?n.
movements,
Subsequent
torship, was
in their
a different
sound
that again brought
the void with
people
sioneros,
together
occupied
be seen as a punk
Their
to the Pinochet
song "La voz de los 80," might
dictatorship.
opposition
consciousness
and built both collective
a new kind of march
that documented
rock "Venceremos,"
tory. Nueva
processes
Canci?n
identity
"to answer
Examples
exemplifies
the
imbrication
and
memory
formation.
of
and political
symbol,
in Chile
resistance.
of music
ranging
from
in literature
nostalgia
of
bear witness
the hope
to the pervasiveness
socialism
with
associated
of music
to memories
as a mnemonic
of
the coup
137
Robert Neustadt
the disappearance
and
of hope,
and Nueva
lives
No
Skarmeta's
Canci?n.
nada,
pas?
delineates
the historical transition of Nueva Canci?n to an internationalizedmusical protest from exile, and
narrates
determinant
in the protagonists's
the manner
in which
music
proves
simultaneously
story, "El Clarevidente,"
portrays
similarly
identity as a subject of history. Gonz?lez
Rodriguez's
across generational
to canto nuevo and
from Nueva
lines. This narrative
stretches
Canci?n
music
Even
beyond.
to Chile,
returning
Cuevas Narv?ez's
after
of his past.
nostalgia
11," both underscore
use
the protagonist
story, "El
that characterize
the tensions
as an instrument
remains
favor,"
life
"exiled"
in the
permanently
and Mempo
Giardinelli's
"Kil?metro
in postdictatorship.
texts recount
These
and subsequently
demonstrate
how memo?
a psychological
of torture in the present.
the past constitute
version
the integra?
Through
as memory
and torture, representing
in literature, writers
record music
tion of music
processes
and recovery.
of repression,
protest
the historical
of music
of torture
ries of
Works Cited
Cuevas
Narv?ez,
Feria
Concurso
"Music
Simon.
Frith,
"El favor." Pasi?n
Jacqueline.
del Disco
1996. Santiago,
London:
Gay.
Giardinelli,
Sage
"Kil?metro
1993.
Norma,
Lom
in Cultural
Questions
1996. 108-27.
Publications,
Mempo.
Editorial
and Identity."
la m?sica:
por
Chile:
11." El
de Dios
castigo
de Cuentos
Antolog?a
1996.
ediciones,
Identity.
Eds.
Stuart Hall
Buenos
(Cuentos).
premiados
77-84.
and Paul
Aires:
du
Tesis-Grupo
49-53.
Gonz?lez
la m?sica:
"El clarevidente."
Gustavo.
Pasi?n
de Cuentos
por
Rodr?guez,
Antolog?a
Feria
Concurso
del Disco
1996. Santiago,
Chile: Lom ediciones,
1996. 105-113.
premiados
La batalla de chile: La lucha de un pueblo
Patricio.
sin armas. New York: First Run/I?
Guzm?n,
carus Films, 1990.
?.
memoria
Chile,
Mark.
Mattern,
New
obstinada.
Acting
in Concert:
York:
First Run/Icarus
Music,
Films,
1997.
and Political
Community,
Action.
New
Brunswick:
Rutgers UP. 1998.
?.
Music
"Popular
and Redemocratization
in Santiago,
Chile
1973-1989."
in Latin
Studies
A
merican Popular Culture 16 (1997), 101-13.
Albrecht.
Moreno,
"Violeta
Parra
and La Nueva
Canci?n
chilena.
Studies
in Latin
American
Popular Culture 5 (1986), 108-26.
es necesario
E. "Canto porque
Nancy
1983." Latin American
Research
Review
cantar:
Morris,
Antonio.
Skarmeta,
No pas?
nada.
In Ritos
21.2
de
The New
(1986):
iniciaci?n:
Song Movement
117-36.
Tres novelas
cortas
in Chile,
1973
de Hispanoam?ri?
ca. Ed. Gr?nor Rojo and Cynthia Steele. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1986.
Julie. "Tango: Slap or Caress." Unpublished
manuscript.
en el Chile autoritario
"M?sica
con
Cr?nica
de una convivencia
Rodrigo.
(1973-1990):
en Chile. Ed. Manuel
flictiva."
autoritarismo
Antonio
Cultura,
y redemocratizaci?n
Garret?n,
Taylor,
Torres,
Sa?l Sosnowski andBernardo Subercaseaux. Santiago de Chile: Fondo de Cultura Econ?mica,
1993.
Vald?s,
197-220.
Ceclia.
"Torture
Charge
Pits
Professor
vs Professor."
New
York Times
2001).
(September
8,

Music and Memory

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