Thousands of people filled the Plaza de la Paz in the Chilean capital during the Thousand Guitars for Víctor Jara concert, which resumed in person after two years of restrictions due to Covid-19.
Around twenty artists took part last night in this tribute to the famous singer-songwriter and emblematic figure of the Nueva Canción, murdered in 1973 by the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.
Songs like El cigarrito, I remember you, Amanda and Plegaria a un labrador were performed during the concert organized by the Cultural Society of the Municipality of Recoleta.
Artists such as Magdalena Matthey, Roberto Márquez, Pancho Sazo, Francisca Gavilán, Carmen Linqueo and Manuel García attended the event.
For the first time, Víctor Jara’s Citizen Choirs will be performed, conducted by troubadour Francisco Villa and the Ibarra Roa brothers.
Jara was an artist with strong social and political commitments and supported the People’s Unity government under President Salvador Allende, who appointed him cultural ambassador.
After the coup of September 11, 1973, he was arrested while on duty at the State Technical University and subjected to long tortures until his assassination on the 16th of the same month. According to the autopsy report, his body had 44 gunshot wounds.
“This is an act of remembrance, reparation, truth and justice,” said community mayor Daniel Jadue.
Jadue thanked the guitarists, the artists and everyone who made this tribute to the singer and composer possible in the 90th year of his birth.
The Mayor urged all Chileans to keep working to build the country they have dreamed of so much, recalling that today it is a matter of achieving a new constitution to replace the one in force since the dictatorship.
Today we meet again with this act of love after a long time without being able to see each other’s faces, said the Communist Party activist, with a view to the abolition of the mask requirement from this weekend.
The concert ended with the emblematic song The right to live in peace, composed by Jara to condemn the war against Vietnam, but of which several versions have been written, including a more recent one condemning the oppression during the 2019 social outburst and expresses aspirations for structural changes in the country. (Latin Press)