With his guitar in hand, he sang resistance songs at every strike and student action: Who is Victor Jara?
Victor Jara was a Chilean folk artist. He grew up in a poor family and learned to sing and play the guitar at a young age from his mother, who was a single earner for his family
In his songs, Jara talked about the troubles, poverty, love, and faith of his people. The emotions he expressed and shared every time he touched the strings of his guitar were universal. Many of Jara's songs were acts of rebellion against injustice, tyrants, and plunderers.
Victor Jara, who became the voice of the Chilean people with his songs, gave many concerts for the benefit of Unidad Popular, a movement that united Salvador Allende and left-wing parties. Immediately after the fascist coup on September 11, 1973, he was detained along with thousands of others and tortured to death in the Chilean Santiago Stadium.
Jara entered the Theater School at the University of Chile and started directing plays with success. Meanwhile, he joined the University of Chile choir and composed his first compositions there. Jara, with his guitar in hand, was singing resistance songs at every strike and student protest. His voice had already gone beyond the borders of Chile and reached all over the world.
Víctor Lidio Jara Martínez (28 September 1932 – 16 September 1973) was a Chilean teacher, theater director, poet, singer-songwriter and Communist political activist. He developed Chilean theater by directing a broad array of works, ranging from locally produced plays to world classics, as well as the experimental work of playwrights such as Ann Jellicoe. He also played a pivotal role among neo-folkloric musicians who established the Nueva canción chilena (New Chilean Song) movement. This led to an uprising of new sounds in popular music during the administration of President Salvador Allende.
When Jara was brought to the Chilean Santiago Stadium, he touched the strings of his guitar to raise the morale of the thousands there, even though he knew he would be killed. He wrote a song for the thousands in the stadium.
We are five thousand people here
In this tiny part of the city.
We are five thousand people.
Who knows how many more of us are in the cities and the country?
All alone here Ten thousand hands sowing seeds
And who runs the factories...
The world learned about Jara's last moments from Pravda correspondent Vladimir Chernisev in Chile: “Victor Jara died with a song on his lips. They brought him to the stadium with his guitar and his companion, whom he never leaves with him. And he started singing. Other detainees began to sing along to the melody despite the guards' threat to open fire. Then, on the orders of an officer, the soldiers broke Victor's hands. He no longer played the guitar but continued to sing in a weak voice. They smashed his head with a rifle butt, cut off his hands, and hung them in front of the stands as an example to other prisoners.” Victor Jara's dead body was found in a street four days later. He was subjected to severe torture and his body was riddled with bullets. Jara was 39 years old.
In his book, The Unfinished Song, his wife Joan Jara described Victor, who was both his love and his comrade, with great love and passion, starting from their meeting to their struggle within the Popular Unity led by Salvador Allende.
In the note that Victor Jara gave to someone who was with him in the last hours of his life when he knew for sure that he would be killed, he told him that he loved his wife Joan more than anything in the world, and to be brave and continue his struggle. Victor's message was passed from hand to hand and was delivered to his wife and daughters the day before he left Chile.