Víctor Jara | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | Víctor Lidio Jara Martínez (1932-09-28)28 September 1932 |
| Origin | Chillán Viejo, Chile |
| Died | 16 September 1973(1973-09-16) (aged 40) Santiago, Chile |
| Genres | |
| Occupations |
|
| Instruments |
|
| Years active | 1946–1973 |
| Labels | |
| Formerly of | |
Spouse | |
| Website | fundacionvictorjara |
Víctor Lidio Jara Martínez (Spanish pronunciation:[ˈbiɣtoɾˈliðjoˈxaɾamaɾˈtines]; 28 September 1932 – 16 September 1973)[1] was a Chilean teacher,theater director, poet, singer-songwriter andCommunist[2] political activist. He developed Chilean theater by directing a broad array of works, ranging from locally produced plays to world classics, as well as the experimental work of playwrights such asAnn Jellicoe. He also played a pivotal role among neo-folkloric musicians who established theNueva canción chilena (New Chilean Song) movement. This led to an uprising of new sounds in popular music during the administration of PresidentSalvador Allende.
Jara was arrested by the Chilean military shortly after the11 September 1973 coup led byAugusto Pinochet, which overthrew Allende. He was tortured during interrogations and ultimately shot dead, and his body was thrown out on the street of a shantytown inSantiago.[3] The contrast between the themes of his songs, which focused on love, peace, andsocial justice, and his murder, transformed Jara into a "potent symbol of struggle for human rights and justice" for those killed during the Pinochet regime.[4][5][6] His prominent role as an admirer and propagandist forChe Guevara and Allende's government, in which he served as a culturalambassador through the late 1960s and until 1973, made him a target.
In June 2016, a Florida jury found formerChilean Army officer Pedro Barrientos liable for Jara's murder.[7][8] In July 2018, eight retired Chilean military officers were sentenced to 15 years and a day in prison for Jara's murder.[9] Barrientos, who had his U.S. citizenship revoked in July 2023, was arrested inDeltona, Florida, in October 2023.[10][11] Barrientos would be successfullydeported back to Chile on 1 December 2023, and was immediately taken intoPDI custody.[12][13]
 | This sectionneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.(January 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Víctor Lidio Jara Martinez[14] was born on 28 September 1932.[15] His parents were tenant farmers who lived near the town of La Quiriquina, located twelve kilometers fromChillán Viejo; he had five brothers.[16] His exact place of birth is uncertain,[17] but he was born in theÑuble Region. At the age of five, his family moved toLonquén, a town nearSantiago de Chile, where his father, Manuel Jara, had rented a small parcel of land.[18] His father was illiterate and did not want his children going to school, so that they could help him in the fields instead. His mother, on the other hand, knew how to read a little and from the beginning she insisted that they at least learn the alphabet.[16]
Jara's mother was amestiza withMapuche ancestry from southern Chile, who had taught herself to play the guitar and piano. She also performed as a singer, with a repertory of traditional folk songs that she used for local events like weddings and funerals.[19] The relationship between his parents became more tense with each passing day, his father began to drink and disappeared from the house several days in a row, leaving all the work in the hands of Amanda. Later, his mother moved to Santiago and took a job as a cook in a restaurant in Vega Poniente.[clarification needed] Because she was so skilled she did well there and so she was able to educate three of her children, including Victor.[16]
She died when Jara was 15. Jara began to study accounting, but soon moved into a seminary, where he studied for the priesthood. After a couple of years, however, he became disillusioned with theCatholic Church and left. Subsequently, he spent several years in theChilean Army before returning to his hometown to pursue interests in folk music and theatre.[20]
I think it was a very intimate and affective affair. Looking back a little, now and with greater maturity, it was nothing more than loneliness, the disencounter with a world that you have kept solid, home and maternal affection and suddenly it disappears and everything disappears, so you have that affection next to young boys who have a relationship with a Church and well I took refuge there. Then I considered that this refuge led me to other values of encounter with another, deeper affection that perhaps came to balance that lack of interior affection, believing that I found that affection in religion, in dedicating myself to the priesthood.
— Víctor Jara[16]
After joining the choir at theUniversity of Chile in Santiago, Jara was convinced by a fellow chorus member to pursue a career in theater. He subsequently joined the university's theater program and, through his talent, earned a scholarship.[20] He appeared in several of the university's plays, gravitating toward those with social themes, such as Russian playwrightMaxim Gorky'sThe Lower Depths.[20]
In 1957, he metVioleta Parra, a singer who had steered folk music in Chile toward modern song composition rooted in traditional forms,[further explanation needed] and who had established musical community centers calledpeñas to incorporate folk music into everyday life. Jara absorbed these lessons and began singing with a group calledCuncumén, with whom he continued his explorations of Chile's traditional music.[20] He worked as a guitarist and vocalist from 1957 to 1963.[21] He was deeply influenced by the folk music of Chile and other Latin American countries, and by artists such as Parra,Atahualpa Yupanqui, and the poetPablo Neruda. In the 1960s, Jara started specializing in folk music and sang at Santiago's La Peña de Los Parra, owned byÁngel Parra. Through these activities, he became involved in theNueva canción movement of Latin American folk music.
In 1966, Víctor released his self-titled first album; it was the only album released by the Demon label and was Víctor Jara's first solo work.[22] The album would later be re-released under the titlesCanto a lo humano andSus mejores canciones, and in 2001 an reissue on CD byWarner Music Chile was released with the original title.[23] This version onCD also included five bonus tracks, four of which are songs by Víctor Jara along with Cuncumén.
The album includes Jara's versions of some Latin American folk songs, such as "La flor que anda de mano en mano", and "Ojitos verdes"; as well as two Chilean folk songs, "La cocinerita", an Argentinian folk song, or "Ja jai",[clarification needed] a Bolivian traditional.[23] The authorship of this album, as well as its singles, was in the hands ofCamilo Fernández, owner of the Demon label from its launch in 1966 until 2001, when he transferred the rights to the widow of Víctor Jara.[24]
In 1967, released their[who?] second album homonymous, this album apart from the controversial song "The appeared"[clarification needed] includes Jara's covers of folk songs from Latin America and Spain. The album was later released under the name ofDesde Lonquén hasta siempre.[25] In 1968, Jara released his first collaborative album entitled, "Canciones folklóricas de América" (Folkloric Songs of America), withQuilapayún.[26] In 1970, Jara left theater to devote himself to music.
Early in his recording career, Jara showed a knack for antagonizing conservative Chileans, releasing a traditional comic song called "La beata" that depicted a religious woman with a crush on the priest to whom she goes for confession. The song was banned on radio stations and removed from record shops, but the controversy only added to Jara's reputation among young and progressive Chileans.[27] More serious in the eyes of the Chilean right wing was Jara's growing identification with the socialist movement led bySalvador Allende. After visits toCuba and theSoviet Union in the early 1960s, Jara joined theCommunist Party. The personal met the political in his songs about the poverty he had experienced firsthand.[27]
Jara's songs spread outside Chile and were performed by American folk artists.[28] His popularity was due not only to his songwriting skills but also to his exceptional power as a performer. He took a turn toward political confrontation with his 1969 song "Preguntas por Puerto Montt" ("Questions About Puerto Montt"), whose subject wasEdmundo Pérez Zujovic, a government official who had ordered police to attack squatters in the town ofPuerto Montt. The Chilean political situation deteriorated after the official was assassinated, and right-wing thugs beat up Jara on one occasion.[28]
In 1970, Jara supported Allende, thePopular Unity coalition candidate for president, volunteering for political work and playing free concerts.[29] He composed "Venceremos" ("We Will Triumph"), the theme song of Allende's Popular Unity movement, and welcomed Allende's election to the Chilean presidency in 1970. After the election, Jara continued to speak in support of Allende and played an important role in the new administration's efforts to reorient Chilean culture.[30]
He and his wife,Joan Jara, were key participants in organizing cultural events that supported the Chile's new socialist government. He set poems by Pablo Neruda to music and performed at a ceremony honoring him after Neruda received theNobel Prize in Literature in 1972. During this time, Jara continued to teach at Chile'sTechnical University. His popular success during this time, as both a musician and a Communist, earned him a concert inMoscow. He was so successful that the Soviet Union claimed in their media that his vocal prowess was the result of surgery he had undergone while in Moscow.[31]
On 11 September 1973, the Chilean military, with the support of the United States,overthrew the Allende government,[32] resulting in Allende's suicide and the installation ofAugusto Pinochet as dictator. On the day of the coup, Jara was on his way to work at the Technical University. He slept that night at the university along with other teachers and students and sang to raise their morale.[citation needed]
After the coup, Pinochet's soldiers rounded up Chileans who were believed to be involved with leftist groups, including Allende's Popular Unity party. On the morning of 12 September 1973, Jara was taken prisoner, along with thousands of others, and imprisoned insideEstadio Chile.[33][34] Soon after, he was killed with a gunshot to the head, and his body was riddled with more than 40 bullets.[35] According to theBBC:
There are many conflicting accounts of Jara's last days but the 2019 Netflix documentaryMassacre at the Stadium pieces together a convincing narrative. As a famous musician and prominent supporter of Allende, Jara was swiftly recognised on his way into the stadium. An army officer threw a lit cigarette on the ground, made Jara crawl for it, then stamped on his wrists. Jara was first separated from the other detainees, then beaten and tortured in the bowels of the stadium. At one point, he defiantly sang "Venceremos (We Will Win)", Allende's 1970 election anthem, through split lips. On the morning of the 16th, according to a fellow detainee, Jara asked for a pen and notebook and scribbled the lyrics to "Estadio Chile", which were later smuggled out of the stadium: "How hard it is to sing when I must sing of horror. / Horror which I am living, horror which I am dying." Two hours later, he was shot dead, then his body was riddled with machine-gun bullets and dumped in the street. He was 40.[36]
After his murder, Jara's body was displayed at the entrance of Chile Stadium for other prisoners to see. It was later discarded outside the stadium along with the bodies of other prisoners who had been killed by the Chilean Army.[37] His body was found by civil servants and brought to a morgue, where one of them was able to identify him and contact his wife, Joan. She took his body and gave him a quick and clandestine burial in the general cemetery before she fled the country into exile.
In July 2015, 42 years later, former Chilean military officers were charged with his murder.[38] In August 2023, a Chilean court confirmed a ruling convicting seven former soldiers, who were aged between 73 and 85 at the time of their sentencing, and sentencing them to jail terms from 8 up to 25 years.[39]
On 16 May 2008, retired colonel Mario Manríquez Bravo, who was the chief of security at Chile Stadium as the coup was carried out, was the first to be convicted in Jara's death.[40] Judge Juan Eduardo Fuentes, who oversaw Bravo's conviction, then decided to close the case,[40] a decision Jara's family soon appealed.[40] In June 2008, Judge Fuentes re-opened the investigation and said he would examine 40 new pieces of evidence provided by Jara's family.[41][42]
On 28 May 2009, José Adolfo Paredes Márquez, a former Army conscript arrested the previous week in San Sebastián, Chile, was formally charged with Jara's murder. Following his arrest, on 1 June 2009, the police investigation identified the officer who had shot Jara in the head. The officer playedRussian 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 Jara 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 beexhumed in an effort to gather more information about his death.[43][44][45]
On 3 December 2009, Jara was reburied after a massive funeral in theGalpón Víctor Jara, across from Santiago'sPlaza Brasil.[46]
On 28 December 2012, a judge in Chile ordered the arrest of eight former army officers for alleged involvement in Jara's murder.[47][48] He issued an international arrest warrant for one of them, Pedro Barrientos Núñez, the man accused of shooting Jara in the head during a torture session.
On 4 September 2013,Chadbourne & Parke attorneys Mark D. Beckett[49] andChristian Urrutia,[50] with the assistance of theCenter for Justice and Accountability,[51] filed suit in a United States court against Barrientos, who at the time lived inFlorida, on behalf of Jara's widow and children. The suit accused Barrientos of arbitrary detention; cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment;extrajudicial killing; andcrimes against humanity under theAlien Tort Statute (ATS), and of torture and extrajudicial killing under theTorture Victim Protection Act (TVPA). It alleged that Barrientos was liable for Jara's death as a direct perpetrator and as a commander.[37][52]
The specific claims were that:
A 2009Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) legal petition which was published in December 2019 described Polanco as having been a "Captain of Army Intelligence," and noted that he had been detained through the jurisdiction of the Criminal Justice of Santiago in May 2004 for his role in a separate murder and was convicted in 2007.[53]
On 15 April 2015, a US judge ordered Barrientos to stand trial in Florida.[54] On 27 June 2016, he was found liable for Jara's killing, and the jury awarded Jara's family $28 million.[55]
On 3 July 2018, eight retired Chilean military officers were sentenced to 15 years in prison for Jara's murder and the murder of his Communist associate and former Chilean prison director Littre Quiroga Carvajal.[56][57] They received three extra years for kidnapping both men.[57] A ninth suspect was sentenced to five years in prison for covering up the murders.[56][57]
In November 2018, it was reported that a Chilean court ordered the extradition of Barrientos.[58]
On 28 August 2023, theChilean Supreme Court ratified the previous judicial resolutions. The retired Army Brigadier,Hernán Chacón Soto, upon learning of the Supreme Court's now final and unappealable sentence, committed suicide the next day, before he could be arrested and taken to prison.[59]
On 5 October 2023, Barrientos was arrested inDeltona, Florida, during a traffic stop.[10][11] His U.S. citizenship had been previously revoked by a U.S. Federal Court on 14 July 2023 after it was found that he willfully concealed material facts related to his military service.[10][60][11]
On 9 November 2023, it was revealed that Barrientos was ordered to be extradited back to Chile.[61] On 12 November 2023, Jara's widow Joan, who was a key witness in the 2016 civil trial against Barrientos and who also played a crucial role in raising awareness to Jara's murder, died.[62] Barrientos was reportedly two weeks away from extradition at the time of her death.[62]
It was first reported that Barrientos was scheduled to beextradited on 28 November 2023.[63][61] However, it was later claimed that the date for his departure from the United States was changed to 30 November 2023, with his arrival in Chile expected to be the next day on 1 December.[64][65] It was also revealed that upon his arrival in Chile, Barrientos would be immediately transferred intoPDI custody and will havedefendant status.[64][65] His planned transfer to Chile would be confirmed by the nation'sSupreme Court on 30 November.[66] However, lawyer Almudena Bernabeudue and an ICE spokesman revealed that due to the fact that Barrientos answered to immigration proceedings and was now anundocumented illegal immigrant, his departure from the United States would count as adeportation rather than an extradition.[67][68] Barrientos would be deported back to Chile on 1 December 2023.[13] Upon his return, Barrientos left escorted by PDI personnel and was transferred to thePeñalolén Military Police Battalion, where he would remain inpreventive detention as a defendant for his role in not only Jara's murder, but also the murder of the former director of prisonsLittré Quiroga.[12]
The following are films or documentaries about and/or featuring Víctor Jara:
Joan Jara lived the rest of her life in Chile running the Víctor Jara Foundation,[71] which was established on 4 October 1994 with the goal of promoting and continuing Jara's work. She publicized a poem that Jara wrote before his death about the conditions of the prisoners in the stadium. The poem, written on a piece of paper that was hidden inside the shoe of a friend, was never named, but it is commonly known as "Estadio Chile" (Chile Stadium, now known as Víctor Jara Stadium).[72]
On 22 September 1973, the Soviet astronomerNikolai Stepanovich Chernykh found an asteroid that he initially called "SO2", but later he would end up calling it "2644 Victor Jara".[73]
The 1975 anthologyFor Neruda, for Chile contains a section called "The Chilean Singer", with poems dedicated to Jara.[74]
In 1975 Norwegian singer Lillebjørn Nilsen published a song called "Victor Jara" commemorating his killing, on his album "Byen med det store hjertet".
Arlo Guthrie wrote a song called "Victor Jara" on his albumAmigo released in 1976.
In 1977, Chilean composerLeon Schidlowsky composed theMisa Sine Nomine (Mass Without Name) in memory of Jara, setting parts of themass ordinary juxtaposed with Biblical passages in Hebrew, and texts in other languages by various contemporary authors, including by the composer himself, for narrator, mixed choirs with up to 36 voices, organ, and percussion.
The song "Washington Bullets" on The Clash's album "Sandinista!" contains the refrain: "Remember Allende and the days before, before the army came. Please remember Victor Jara, in the Santiago stadium..."
In 1987,U2 included the line "Jara sang, his song a weapon in the hands of love, you know his blood still cries from the ground" on the songOne Tree Hill from their albumThe Joshua Tree.
In 1989, Scottish rock bandSimple Minds dedicated the song "Street Fighting Years" to Jara.[75]
In the late 1990s, British actressEmma Thompson started to work on a screenplay that she planned to use as the basis for a movie about Jara. Thompson, a human rights activist and fan of Jara, saw his murder as a symbol of human rights violations in Chile, and believed a movie about his life and death would raise awareness.[76] The movie was to featureAntonio Banderas as Jara and Thompson as his wife, Joan.[77]
German metalcore bandHeaven Shall Burn's 2004 album Antigone includes a song named "The Weapon They Fear", paying tribute to Victor Jara.[78]
In 2007, a fishing schooner built in 1917 in Denmark was renamed after Jara. It sails at social and cultural events, and when it is not sailing it is located in the museum in the port of Lübeck, Germany.[79]
The 2008 albumCarried to Dust byCalexico opens with the song "Victor Jara's Hands".[80]
English folk musicianReg Meuross wrote a song named "Victor Jara" which is included on his 2010 albumAll This Longing.[81]
The title song onRory McLeod's albumAngry Love is about Jara.[82]
In a list made byRolling Stone, published on 3 June 2013,[83] Jara is named as one of the "15 Rock & Roll Rebels",[84] being the only Latin American to make the list.[85][86]
In 2020,Welsh musicianJames Dean Bradfield ofManic Street Preachers releasedEven in Exile a concept album about the life and death of Victor Jara with lyrics written by the poetPatrick Jones.[87] In the same year, Bradfield produced a podcast on Victor Jara as a companion for the album.[88]
On 7 September 2021, the Municipality of Estación Central approved the name change of "Avenida Ecuador" to "Avenida Víctor Jara".[89]
On November 8, 2021, video gameDead By Daylight released a character named Carmina Mora: a Chilean painter with a character description with references to Jara.
The album Shore (2020) by Seattle based band Fleet Foxes includes a track titled Jara, and singer/songwriter Robin Pecknold has described the song as a tribute to his politically active friends. It includes the line “Now you’re off to Victor on his ladder to the sky.”
Media from Commons
News from Wikinews
Quotations from Wikiquote
