To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the coup, the cast directed by Rodrigo Díaz will present a program entirely dedicated to the composer and theater director, including premieres of arrangements for his songs.
In the early hours of September 11, Víctor Jara (1932-1973) left his home and went to his workplace, the State Technical University (UTE). He had a special activity scheduled for that day: to sing at the opening of the exhibition For life… always!, which would be headed by President Salvador Allende.
Of course, those plans were cut short by the coup d’état and the military assault on the university itself, which ended with the exhibition being destroyed and professors, students, and officials detained. One of them was Víctor Jara, who became one of the first victims of the newly installed dictatorship.
For this reason, the singer-songwriter and theater director is an emblematic figure for the current University of Santiago de Chile (Usach) and has positioned himself as a central name in its activities to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the coup d’état.
Its relevance can be verified once again with the Víctor Jara choir, the concert that the Usach Madrigal Choir will offer next Wednesday, September 6 (7:30 p.m.) at the Aula Magna Theater, with free tickets that were available through the Portaltickets system and they sold out more than a week in advance.
“It was a duty for Víctor Jara to be present at this commemoration and give him recognition with a program like this,” says Rodrigo Díaz, director of the cast. “His figure of him summons a lot, there is affection and people like it. It is undeniable that he is one of the most important artists in Chile, along with Violeta Parra, and his creation is fabulous, with an innate talent and a lot of work, because it was a short but fruitful life. Few people have that ability, ”he underlines.
In its concert, the Usach Madrigal Choir will address more than a dozen songs that were composed or performed by Víctor Jara, such as “Manifesto”, “El cigarrito”, “Let life fly”, “Duerme negrito” and “I remember you Amanda ”, in arrangements by musicians such as William Child, Cirilo Vila, Nicolás Aguad, “Chicoria” Sánchez and the Spanish Emilio Solé.
Among them there will be two premieres by the musician and academic Winston Moya: an arrangement for “El arado”, which the Usach Madrigal Choir itself recorded during the pandemic and a piece entitled “Cuarenta y cuatro”, whose title alludes to the bullets that were found in composer’s body
An arrangement for “Paloma quiero contarte” will also premiere, one of Víctor Jara’s first creations: “I love that song. It has a lot of poetic singing”, describes Rodrigo Díaz. “I entrusted it to Simón Sotomayor, who was my student at the University of Chile and is now a choir director. I asked him for Víctor Jara’s guitar to be present but not to distort it, because that sometimes happens with arrangements. This time it was well done.”
For the director of the Usach Madrigal Choir, the program addresses various dimensions of Víctor Jara’s work: “I considered the arrangements that already existed, those that I would like to exist and also the strengths of our group”, he points out.
“For example, the arrangement of ‘Vamos por ancho camino’ is difficult, an amateur choir can’t do it. The arrangement of ‘Duerme negrito’ is emotional, with great tenderness. There are songs like ‘Manifesto’, related to his social commitment, and others that show the folk side of his first stage”.
