Italian singer Silvia Balducci recorded a series of songs by Victor Jara in 2003 entitled Homage a una sonrisa (homage to a smile). This is her second visit to Machynlleth to the festival. In an interview last year she talked about her motivations. Silvia considers herself one of the daughters of Chile's socialist musical tradition. She remembers she was eight years old on the day of the military coup in 1973 when Pinochet ousted Allende and supporters of socialism were rounded up, tortured and shot. The group Inti Illimani, exiled to Italy, popularised the songs of Victor Jara among others, especially El pueblo unido jamás será vencido, which, she says, became for the Italians a hymn of hope and social justice.(more...)
"It was the music of solidarity. Salvador Allende wanted to build a new society not with money alone but with cultural values. "No hay revoluciones sin canciones." Allende was the first example of a socialist president who came to power through democratic means. This was an inspiration for all the countries in Europe. When they killed Allende, they killed the dreams of the European left. After the coup in Chile, socialist party strategies in Europe began to change, in Italy it was the beginning of the end for the left...Then came the era of Thatcher and Reagan where only money was important and those who used to vote communist supported right-wing parties...
The songs taught me that music is more than selling records and making money, it's an ideology, an instrument of struggle. These songs leave you with authentic emotions which have lasted for 30 years. Now today we're with the G8, the war in Iraq, the sound of Bob Geldof... but I believe this music will continue to have universal value."
When I caught up with Silivia this week-end she explained further that: "art is a plitical statement, music is a powerful tool that can scare the stablishement. The pop songs of today are devoid of political meaning; pop singers are not dangerous. In our society we seem to have lost the capacity to express anger against the system, real human emotion, sincerity, dreams that go beyond ourselves or write songs that touch the soul".
Is it a cultural, historical or socio-economic difference? Hazel Marsh of UAE tells us that "music and politics are not separate in Latin America, something that British political scientists tend to ignore when studying the bolivarian movement today."
Gracias a la vida
Silvia Balducci includes in her repertoire the work of Violeta Para, musician and visual artist , one of the founders of la nueva cancion who is also remembered for reviving community centres for the arts and political activism (these were closed down by the military). A contemporary, comrade and co-performer of Victor Jara, she also died young and is remembered by him in his songs. This year is the 40th anniversary of her death. Silvia feels Violeta has been overlooked in musical-political history:
"She had the magic touch, an intuitive intelligence, a rare veracity, she was a great inspiration for women worldwide. But she never got the respect she deserved in Chile, she had to fight for everything, for example with the university for recognition of her work cataloguing indigenous folksongs; she tried to establish herself abroad; at home her community centre wasn't supported..."
It was Violeta who composed Gracias a la Vida, the song made famous by the legend in her own lifetime Mercedes Sosa. Mercedes herself was exiled from her native Argentina in 1978 because her songs of agrarian reform, human rights and democracy angered the repressive military regime. She has since become one of the leading, and most beloved, figures of la nueva canción.
Que me ha dado tanto
Me ha dado la risa
Me ha dado el llanto
Thank you to life
Which has given me so much
Given me laughter
Given me tears
During Pinchet's military regime in Chile - the suspension of human rights and free speech; the arrests, torture and executions - the voice of Mercedes Sosa (carried on the waves of clandestine radio) brought strength and solace in particular to political prisoners held in the stadium awaiting their uncertain fate. She became so much associated with this context that one Chilean friend of mine who experienced those times firsthand, can no longer bear to listen to her songs: a terrifying tribute.
