Commi
the People

ts, hy

a

By Mike Glick

tment to

“mene

Voc, Jara’s La Poblacion is the story
the squatters who lived in the shanty
em and around the big cities in Chile.
i. lives, their dreams. and their strug-
ble es told in this record both by the peo-
an ees, in poetry and narrative,
Songs by Jara.

as Ictor Jara’s songs, in this record as
ex Where, are not the stuff of fantasy,
in “pt those flights of fancy that serve as
‘piration to change <eality. He was very
_sclous of the need to use culture to
Ne t imperialism. In a symposium in Casa
Italia, Americas, with Daniel Viglietti and
N composer Luigi Nono, among oth-

/ he said: ‘‘Our duty is to give our people
in cbons to fight against -this (cultural
Perialism—MG); to give our people its
fol centity so they can identify with the
tie which is, after all, the most
~~ vhentic language a country has, to make

WORLD MAGAZINE

our people understand their reality through
the protest song, to understand the. reality
of their friends as well as their enemies,
and through music — without the labels of
‘classic’ or ‘popular’ — to help our people
unmask the world around them, to trans-
form it, not with paternalistic prophecies,
but together with the people.”

La Poblacion is the story of workers —
dispossessed — who emerged with new
hope during the years of the Popular Unity
government in Chile. Victor’s songs of the
squatters could only have been written
through an intense personal interaction
with them. This is not the method of a
‘star’? but of a people’s singer, committed

to the future of the workers and campesinos.

Musically, ‘“‘En El Rio Mapocho’’ is
perhaps the best cut on the record, mixed
as it is with the sound of the elements and a
chorus singing in a windy, sighing har-

Victor Jara

mony. ‘‘La Toma — 16 Marzo 1967” tells of
the taking of land by the squatters and
effectively mixes in a narrative by the
villagers, recreating the event. “El Hom-
ber es un Creador” (Man is a Creator) is a
boasting children’s song. One can almost
see a little child, strutting about, chest
out, tooting a kazoo, singing of his pride in
the work he can learn to do. Compare
this to the defeated children one sees in the
streets of many countries!

Victor said of his life under Popular
Unity: ‘‘I am a man happy to exist at this
moment, happy because when one puts
one’s heart, reason and will to work at the
service of the people, once feels the happi-
ness of that which begins to be reborn.”

Because Victor acknowledged his debt
to his people and shunned the life of a
“star” (in the Hollywood sense), he gave
them (and us) something more lasting than

_ Victor Jara and family.

a hit song to dance to or a catchy tune to
whistle. His songs helped unify his people,

collectivize their dreams and project them,

as a reality to be fought for. Victor said
this himself:

“If a musician is a _ revolutionary
worker he will project in his work what-
ever moves our people in times of great
social change. This will be done without
paternalism or elitism, but will stem from
and be fused with the working class and
campesinos. I see this as the only way we
can build a new culture and do away with
old schemes.”’

L. Poblacion reflects Victor Jara’s
committment to his people and their com-
mittment together to build a new society
without exploitation. Despite fascist re-
pression today, and the murder of Jara
himself, the spirit and the years ot Popular
Unity cannot be erased from the hearts and
minds of the Chilean people. Their strug-

_gle is far from dead. Nor is Victor Jara

dead. Through his life and in his songs he
fights today with his people for a free
Chile.

The record, manufactured in the Feder-
al Republic of Germany, comes with the
words to all the songs in Spanish and Ger-
man, and also includes a 12-page booklet
with photos, quotes, and information on the
life of Victor Jara. The Daily World, which
is selling the record ($7.30), is making an
English translation of the booklet and
songs, and promises to mail it to purchas-
ers who buy the record before the transla-
tion is ready. The supply, I understand, is
limited, so get your order in now. Write
to Daily World Record Department, 205
West 19 St., New York, N.Y. 10011.

Santiago Stadium after September 11, 1974.

Photo: Pahl-Rugenstein-Verisg, Kohn

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—JULY 25, 1975—Page 3