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Jara Victor 1932 - 1973 (41)

Song, how hard it is sing you when I have to sing in fear!


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Σεπτέμβριος 1973



Víctor Lidio Jara Martínez (1932 - 1973) was a Chilean poet, singer, songwriter, theater director, and one of the victims of the Pinochet coup in Chile, in 1973. He was born on September 28, 1932. He grew up with his mother, who knew how to play the piano and guitar and sang; she passed on him the love of the arts but she died when he was 15. He tried to become an accountant first and then a priest, he abandoned both ideas and did his military service. Tehjn he returned to his hometown where he began to engage in music and theater.

In the mid-1950s he became a member of a theater group and began studying acting and directing at the University of Chile's School of Theater, where he received a degree in theater directing. In 1957 he joined a traditional song and dance research group, from 1964 to 1967 he was a professor of acting at the University.

By 1972 he had directed more than ten works, including Machiavelli's Mandragora (1960) and Sophocles' Antigone (1969). In 1961 he wrote his first song and untiul 1973 he had released seven albums with his songs. Hara became one of the most important representatives of the "Nueva Canción Chilena" (New Chilean Song), a music-political movement, which combined Chilean traditional music with political and social issues.

Hara was a member of the Chilean Communist Party and a supporter of President Salvador Allende. On September 11, 1973, General Pinochet overthrew the Allende government in a coup, and the next morning, Hara was arrested at the University and transferred to Chile Stadium along with other political prisoners. He was murdered while in custody on September 16, 1973. According to testimonies, he suffered many tortures, in front of his inmates all the bones of his hands were broken, to see, as he was told, how he would play the guitar. His wife received the body of her husband with many signs of abuse.