Eight months ago, when Angel
Parra stood on the stage in the
Queen Elizabeth Playhouse to
receive the standing ovation, he
said that he would return “‘to sing
again for you who have showed
your solidarity with Chile.” Last
Sunday, that pledge was triply
affirmed as Los Parra — Angel,
sister Isabel and niece, Tita Parra
— again brought Chile’s music to
Vancouver, performed this time
from the stage of the larger Queen
Elizabeth Theatre.

The crowd which had swelled
from the 500 who turned out last
January, was testament to the
solidarity that has continued to
grow. But more than that, it was a
tribute to the artistry of the Parras
who in the years since the coup,
have answered the junta’s ban on
their music by taking their songs to
virtually every continent.

And from the stage at the QE
Theatre, Los Parra showed the
richness of the Latin American
New Song — with songs by both
Angel and Isabel Parra, by their
late mother, Violetta Parra,
eer of the Chilean Song

Movement; by Victor Jara who
was murdered by the junta; by
Cuba’s leading songwriter, Silvio
Rodriguez; even one by an un-
named Chilean composer* whose
tape was smuggled out of the
country.

For two hours, the Parras
touched on the tragedy and the
hope of the continuing Chilean
struggle for independence and
democracy, in songs like Angel’s
“Song for Orlando’’ with its
haunting lines in homage to
Orlando Letelier who was mur-
dered in Washington by DINA
agents, and Victor Jara’s deter-
mined ‘‘Winds of the People.”’

But it was Isabel Parra with her
voice, her energy and her sheer
stage presence who first captured
Sunday’s audience and then held
it in the final set with her mother,
Violetta Parra’s ‘‘queca’’ — the
Chilean national dance — which
calls on the people of Latin
America to unite for their in-
dependence.

Less successful were several
original compositions by the
youngest member of the group,

Parra concert draws 1 ,500

Tita Parra, although for her it was
the first time on a major tour.

But for the audience, as for Los
Parra, Sunday’s .concert —
organized by Canadians for
Democracy in Chile to coincide
with the fifth anniversay of the

military. coup — was a reaf-
firmation of the solidarity against
the junta.

From the stage, the words of one
of Angel’s songs expressed it:

We will return to that land so
far away

That today is submerged in
grief. :

We will return, comrade, I
promise you,

Shoulder to shoulder, to build

a nation.

And from the audience, 1,500
people unanimously endorsed a
motion presented by chairman
alderman Harry Rankin calling on
the junta to release information on
the. 2,500 disappeared prisoners
and urging the federal government
to sever trade and diplomatic ties-
with the fascist regime.

— Sean Griffin

LOS PARRA IN CONCERT ..

—Sean Griffin phot? |

Canadian pianist Andre LaPlante shared second prize in the International Tchaikovsky Competition
held in Moscow this summer. Canadians will also be represented along with nearly a hundred entries
from several countries in the Leeds International Pianoforte Competition in Leeds, England. CBC-FM
will broadcast highlights of the competition September 26-28 at 9:04 p.m.

Scientists’ meeting
urges cooperation:

The 28th Pugwash Conference of
world scientists would up _ its
sessions in Varna, Bulgaria earlier
this month with an urgent appeal
for greater efforst to end the arms
race and for increased in-
ternational cooperation among
scientists.

The Pugwash Movement takes
its name from the fishing village in
Nova Scotia where the first con-
ference was held in July, 1957 at
the home of wealthy industrialist
Cyrus Eaton who assisted in
founding the movement.

The first Pugwash Manifesto
(1955) which called on scientists to

‘1812 Committee’ fights cuts in arts budgets

With the warning that in-
discriminate cuts in the arts and
communications will mean
cultural disaster’, a newly-
established coalition calling itself
the 1812 Committee has issued a
manifesto in opposition to the
recent federal government cuts
and has called for the support of
“all Canadians who share our
concern.”

The Committee, made up of 31
organizations involved in the arts,
chose the name as a reminder of
the 1812 struggle against American
invasion and because, as its
manifesto noted, “‘This is a war we
intend to win.

“Half a century of public in-
vestment is being ruthlessly tossed
away, apparently without thought
of the consequences,”’ the Com-
mittee said, in protesting the
reductions in the budgets of
several Canadian cultural agen-
cies, announced earlier this month
by secretary of state John Roberts.

Under the federal government’s
budget squeeze, various agencies
including the Canadian Film
Development Corporation, the
National Museums, the National
Film Board, the Canada Council

Black pioneers

A pictorial history of Black
pioneers in British Columbia will
be on display at the Multicultural
Society Building, October 3, 4 and 5
from 7 to 10 p.m. The address is
1254 West 7th, Vancouver. Ad-
mission is ¥free.

and the Canadian Broadcasting
Company will have their operating
funds reduced.

The CBC faces the most severe
cost-cutting since the freeze on its
1978-79 budget will force the
country’s only publicly-owned
broadcasting company to trim $71
million off its operations. Virtually
all observers acknowledge that
Canadian programming will suffer
most from the cuts.

In_ slashing budgets, the
government is prepared to let arts
organizations and Canadian
culture die, the 1812 Committee’s
manifesto declared, charging that
Ottawa “is more concerned with
the political life of a party than the
well-being of a people.

“But we are not prepared to
die,’ it said. ‘‘We are going to
fight.

“We are going to fight for the
future, for the right of any talented
Canadian to be able to develop,
work, live and serve this in this
country.”

The committee outlined three
demands, aimed at the federal
cabinet ‘as well as_ individual
members of Parliament:

e That the indiscriminate,
politically motivated cuts in
federal spending on the arts,
culture and communications, be
revoked;

e That there be no further delay
in developing a comprehensive
public policy -- in full consultation
with the creative community -- to
guide the future of the arts, culture
and communications;

PACIFIC TRIBUNE —SEPTEMBER 22, 1978—Page 10

e That in implementing this
policy, ways be found to ensure
that the public agencies are both
responsive and efficient.

Unless such action is taken, the

manifesto warned, further reduc-

tions in services to the public, in
museums, theatres, art galleries
and orchestras can be expected
along with greatly increased
unemployment among those now
working in the cultural field.
Budget cuts in the arts
traditionally have an immediate
effect on employment since the
arts are particularly labor in-
tensive with an estimated 70
percent of arts groups’ expenses
going to wages and salaries.
Especially disastrous, the
Committee warned, are the
“crippling cuts in the CBC -- our

. programs.”’

already resulted in cancellation of
its long overdue plans to increase
the production of Canadian
Cuts in existing
Canadian programming are also
anticipated.

The Committee called on all
Canadians concerned about the
arts to send letters to members of
Parliament and cabinet ministers
voicing support for the Com-
mittee’s views.

“Tt is not our money that is at
issue now; it is our right to exist
and by existing, to affirm the right
of this country to exist.”’

Earlier this month Jack Gray,.
president of the Association of
Canadian Television and Radio

‘Artists, called on ACTRA mem-

bers throughout the country to

main bulwark against the write, wire or phone their MPs and
smothering tide of foreign cabinet ministers urging that the
programming -- which have_ budget cuts be rescinded.

You are cordially invited to

and the USSR.

The reception will also greet

couver.

Ay Invitation

honor 60 years of friendship between fraternal Associations of Canada

parts of the USSR on a tour of Canada. Among them are some

outstanding attists who will perform during the program.
There will also be an art and pictorial display.

All are invited to attend this very special evening, October 4,
1978, 7:00 p.m., in the Ballroom of the Georgia Hotel, Van-

attend a reception and concert to

25 distinguished visitors from call

I

J

. Isabel (left), Angel and Tita )
3 \

E
gl

mf
act to avert nuclear war, wa
signed by Albert Einstein, Bet |
trand Russell, Linus Pauling an® |
Frederic Joliot-Curie, amoné ¢
others. There were representattill S
of 22 countries at the a
conference. t

The Varna conference voiced r
concern over the delay in thé.
signing of a U.S.-Soviet never
on limitation of strategic arms ana
came out against production an
deployment of neutron bombs.

Dr. Martin Kaplan, directol
general of the Pugwash
Movement’s general executiv®
board told a news conference at the
meeting that the movement wa
founded at a time when the world
confronted the threat of a nuclea!
war. ;

“Today,” he said, ‘humanity
faces the same if not a greater
threat. We, the scientists of dif-
ferent countries, are in the lead
those who are trying to solve thé
key problem of our time — that of
disarmament.”

USS. scientist B.T. Feld, told thé
conference: “The cooperation 9
scientists all over the world
necessary to contribute 10
disarmament, security an@
progress.”

Representatives of 40 countries
attended the Varna conference. —

2nd

Uf, “ills
; ayy
ene

EKS
with

George Hewison,
Tom O'Neill,
Chris Urbanski
and others

Refreshments,
Food,
Admission $2.

SAT., SEPT. 23
RUSSIAN HALL
600 Campbell Ave.
Vancouver — 8 p.m. |