La nueva canción is the Latin American musical movement that began in the 1960s. Like the US protest song revival of the 60s (with Joan Baez and Bob Dylan) it was radical in both its political and artistic goals. La nueva canción movement sought to revitalize Latin American song by combining traditional music with expressive poetry and contemporary social themes. (more...)
Victor Jara, one of the leading proponents in Chile, was imprisoned, tortured and executed by the Pinochet regime and scraps of his songs were smuggled out of prison by comrades. The enduring appeal of his music lies in its association with his courage and conviction rather than its artistry per se. As researcher Hazel Marsh from the University of East Anglia pointed out in a workshop on Ali Primera, the Venezuelan equivalent of Victor Jara, also of humble origin, who died young and whose songs were banned by the state in the 1970s and 80s (more...)
"There is a posthumous transformation of meaning when a committed artist dies, they become enobled, simplified in popular imagination, become far more important than they might have been in reality, preserved in popular memory, a legend of the people."
That doesn't mean their influence on us isn't real, just that the forces of inspiration are mysterious. As a friend once explained to me: when someone inspires you, the inspiration itself is not within them, but in you and it's what you do with it that's important.
It is largely thanks to Joan Jara, the British-born dancer and teacher who married Victor, that his songs have been saved for posterity as she has spent a life-time promoting her husband's work. Joan has written movingly about the last few days of Victor's life, but in general her message is celebratory.
"I think more than anything, the music of Chile was a motivating force for solidarity. I have an intimate experience of how the spirit of Victor and his music made people want to know more about Chile. First of all, the story... But then, through the songs, and how the music spread in spite of always being in Spanish. People understood, it was a way of communicating. So many people who went to the first Chilean concert in Queen Elizabeth Hall in 1974 became committed and spent years in the solidarity movement for Chile, so many people..."
In 2003 when the stadium in Santiago was renamed after Victor Jara and turned into an arts centre, Joan emphasised all the other names who suffered or died there:
"El nombre de Víctor contiene muchos otros nombres de la gente que sufrió o perdió su vida en ese estadio. Es una pena que hayamos que tenido que esperar 30 años para esto, pero es un paso más en el camino hacia la justicia y la reconciliación."
And in her message to the festival in Machynlleth, she said:
"I think it's some kind of miracle that over 30 years after his cruel death Victor Jara's name and example can still bring people together to work for a better world."
But in facilitating all this, Joan Jara herself is inspiring. And Christopher Bruce of the Rambert Ballet Company - who collaborated with Amnesty international on dance projects to raise awareness of human rights - recalls the powerful impact of meeting Joan in the 1970s and how this meeting lead him to choreograph the innovative Ghost Dances. With the representation of the oppression of ordinary people symbolised by sinister ghost figures, the ballet had a tremendous impact on audiences in many countries. And so the inspiration is passed on...
