For those who weren't able to be in Victoria last month to hear Doug.
Stewart (left), Tom Hawken (centre) and Neil Bryson (on bass) sing the
“Socred Blues,” it has now been put out as a record by the Concerned
Citizens Association with Bargain at Half the Price singing “Roll the

Protest On” on the flip side. Available at several centres including the

a cnet

People’s Co-op Bookstore, the UFAWU Hall at 138 E. Cordova, the
Tribune office and the IBEW Hall at 4220 Norland in Burnaby, it sells

for $1.50.

—Sean Griffin photo

RECORDS

Songs for a people's struggle

Only two months before Chile
was to celebrate the third an-
niversary of the election of the
Popular . Unity government,
folksinger Victor Jara told the
newspaper El Siglo of his dream

for establishing a new cultural

policy for his country.

He envisaged a huge congress of
singers, writers, artists and poets
who had dedicated themselves to
the cause of the Chilean revolution
and who would come together at
the time of the anniversary to
create a new. cultural ministry.

That dream was never realized.
In the same week that the Chilean
people commemorated the victory
of Salvador Allende and Popular
Unity, a fascist junta seized power
in a bloody military coup. Victor
Jara, himself, was taken prisoner
in the national stadium in Santiago
where he was murdered after

soldiers had broken his fingers and,

beaten his voice into silence.
Victor Jara lived only four days
after the fascist junta, but the
cultural awakening which he had
done so much to begin and-was so
great a part had already begun. A
decade before, Jara, together with

others like Violeta Parra, Patricio
Castillo and Sergio Ortez, had
shaped a new Chilean Song
Movement, which sought to
overcome the domination of Latin
America culture by U.S. and
European commercial music and
to voice the aspirations of the Latin
American people in music native to
their continent.

Like Manos Hadjiidakis and
Mikis Theodorakis of Greece,
creators of the New Song took their
material from Latin American folk
music and infused it with a new
content, often drawn from the work
of contemporary poets. The
movement came to life all over the
continent — in the songs of Daniel

~ and their

Viglietti of Uruguay, Grupo Taone
and Noel Hernandez of Puerto Rico
and Expresion -Joven of the
Dominican Republic — but it found:
its greatest expression during the’
years of the Popular Unity
government in Chile.

Foremost in the. publishing and
recording of the Chilean New Song
was thefirm, Discoteca Del Cantar
Popular (DICAP), the recording
company of the Chilean Young
Communist League. After the coup
the company managed to salvage
the precious tapes and many were
turned* over to the progressive
West Germany company, Plane,
which has begun issuing them
along with new recordings by
performers active in the new song
movement.

Several of these albums are now
available in Vancouver and if they
pose some problems for English-
speaking’ listeners — the songs
themselves are in Spanish while
the liner notes and translations are
in German — they demonstrate the
musical richness of the New Song
and its vitality even in defeat. _

Although not one of Jara’s first
records, La Poblacion, originally
published by DICAP in 1972, repre-
sents a further evolution of the new
song and Jara’s attempt to explore
a single theme through several
songs. Based on his own ex-
periences among the ‘‘poladores’’
— inhabitants of the shantytowns
that lieon the outskirts of virtually”
every major city in Chile — it
portrays the struggles of the people
to establish a home for themselves
children. The
‘“‘nobladores;” squatted on the land

illegally during the Frei regime,

resulting in many~ clashes with
police, but the solidarity of
workers and students together with
members of the left parties in
parliament turned the squatters’
actions into a mass struggle that
culminated in the recognition of
their rights which were later
guaranteed by the UP government.

Written and put to music by
Jara, and performed by various
singers including Violeta Parra
and Jara himself, La Poblacion
comprises a musical history of the
‘‘nobladores’’ ending in the
militant ‘‘March of the
Pobladores’’ and the lines,
‘‘Poblador, companero,
poblador/Now history is with
yous

PACIFIC TRIBUNE~MARCH. 19, 1976—Page 10

ome tho) Of Gt

HOR AIR SA VMI T OG

EL PUEBLO UNIDO
JAMAS SERA VENCIOO

More expressive of the varied
interpretation of the new song and
of Jara’s artistry as a composer is
another of his albums, Victor Jara
Presente, Volume II. Expertly
recorded by Plane, the album
reveals the diversity of the new
song, including many of Jara’s own
works as well as several composed
in collaboration with Pablo Neruda
and Patrico Castillo. Two in-
strumentals utilizing folk’ in-
struments and weaving folk
themes and rhythms into a
uniquely new composition are also
on the record. \

Even the translation of a few
lines of Jara’s songs underlines his
deep commitment in his music to
the Chilean people and to their

struggles. ‘‘The movements of the _

people call me/ The movements of
the people sustain me/ Fill my
heart. ...’’ he writes in his song,
The Movements of the People. And
it was that commitment that the
junta strove to destroy.

Another group which would
certainly have suffered the same
fate as Jarahad members not been
-out ofthe country at the time of the.
coup, is Quilapayun, whose latest
record El Pueblo Unido Jamas
Sera Vencido comprises not only a
manifesto of anti-fascist struggle
but also songs of great power and
beauty .

One of the most prolific of the
new song groups, Quilapayun
recorded an album with Plane in
1972 celebrating the beginning of
new life under the government of
Salvador Allende. The latest
album, unlike the earlier one which
was alive with jubilation, is un-
mistakable in its tragic tone. But if

there is tragedy there is also hope”

and militance in their songs.

The album opens with a sombre,
powerful, hymn _ to Salvador
Allende but it is the second cut —

. Elegy to Che Guevara — to which

you will return again and again.
Sung without words in tight, rich

harmony that begins softly and
gathers in intensity, it is one of the
most hauntingly beautiful choral
pieces in the music of any people.

The last song which begins as a
chant of the words from _ the

- album’s title (El Pueblo Unido

Jamas Sera Vencido— nothing will
conquer a united people) is ‘the
testament to the New Chilean
Song. Like the struggles of the
people which gave it life, it will
survive, despite the fascist
darkness. And it will flourish.

+ The records as well as others by
Isabel and Angel Parra and the
Chilean group, Aparcoa, are
available at the People’s Co-op
Bookstore, 353 West Pender in
Vancouver.

—Sean Griffin

CJVB radio
application
not decided

The March 1 meeting of the
Canadian Radio and Televisiol| .
Commission in Vancouver ‘has
reserved its decision on the licencé
renewal application of Vancouvél
radio station CJVB. :

Complaints to the commission @
blatant pro-apartheid and_ racist
programming were brought fol
ward by the South African Actiol
Coalition against station presidetl
Jan Van Bruchen.

Van Bruchen visited South
Africa last fall on official spot
sorship of the racist Vorstel
regime and since has aired #
number of talks on his visit.

The Commission appearel
concerned that Van Bruchen ha
refused to give SAAC more thal

_ two, four-minute periods for ?@
“political reply.”

Many people had EN
Mi

about the broadcasts but only 0
or two had actually filed objectio
to the application for the renew
of CJVB’s broadcasting licencé

SAAC chairman, Zayed Gami
presented arguments in support
the objection, with the Coalitid
promising to maintain pressure
its demand for equal time to rep)
to the broadcasts.

Van Bruchen’s editorials, 1
which he attempted to justi
apartheid and racism on the bas
that ‘‘blacks are very primitive
the white man’s way of thinking
were originally aired in Novemb'

- and December of last year. Th
were immediately protested *
both the CRTC and the B.C. Humé

Rights Commission by a number
groups including SAAC, the B&
Peace Council, members
Vancouver’s Chinese communi
and the Vancouver and Distr
Labor Council. An indication ¢
how much faith the CRTC placed
Van Bruchen’s integrity is sho
by the fact that the commissi
requested that SAAC provide th
with tapes of the editorials |
guarantee that Van Bruchen
not alter the tapes he provided.

Some sale specials...

THE FUTURE OF
SOCIETY ...”
reg. 3.95 NOW 1.25

PEOPLES...
50 prints in folder,

INSTRUMENTS

reg. 10.95 NOW 6.95

ANNUAL STOREWIDE

BOOK SALE

Bae

nee y Canadiana, art and children’s books,

MAN, SOCIETY, AND
THE ENVIRONMENT...
reg. 3.95 NOW 1.50

ANCIENT MASKS OF SIBERIAN

text... reg. 24.95 NOW 9.95
RUSSIAN FOLK MUSICAL

2 records boxed with text .

PEOPLE'S COOPERATIVE BOOKSTORE |

353 West Pender St., Vancouver

socio-economic, technical books,
records, prints, stamps and
handicrafts all at 20

to 80% discount, |

Friday March 19

to Saturday

685-5836