victor jara

te recuerdo, amanda,
la calle mojada
corriendo a la fábrica
donde trabajaba manuel.

la sonrisa ancha,
la lluvia en el pelo...

**

i remember, amanda
the street wet,
you running to the factory
where miguel worked.

the wide smile
the rain in your hair...


luís sent along this beautiful video, created for victor jara's te recuerdo amanda. jara was a favorite of the chilean working class in the 60s & 70s. he regularly performed at demonstrations and marches, and his songs came to be anthems for unidad popular, the coalition of left organizations & parties that brought socialist salvador allende to the chilean presidency in 1970. in 1973 allende was overthrown by a cia-sponsored coup orchestrated by fascist augusto pinochet, and a dirty war was unleashed on chilean workers, organizers, activists, students, left intellectuals, cultural workers, and others. victor jara was arrested with thousands of suspected dissidents the day after the coup, taken to the chile stadium, tortured, and executed three days later. he was defiant throughout, writing poems and singing songs of resistence until his last moments.

jara's mother's name was amanda, and his father's manuel. this is an approximate translation of his introduction to the song: this song is called te recuerdo amanda (i remember you, amanda), and it talks about the love between two workers... the same ones seen on the street, sometimes without realizing what exists in their souls... two workers, in any factory, in any city, in whichever place in our continent.


te recuerdo amanda : victor jara




gracias, luís, for sending this :)