Victor Lidio Jara Martinez (September 28, 1932 – September 15, 1973 ) was a Chilean pedagogue, theatre director, poet, singer-songwriter, and political activist. A distinguished theatre director he devoted himself to the development of Chilean theatre, directing a broad array of works from locally produced Chilean plays, to the classics of the world stage, to the experimental work of Ann Jellicoe. Simultaneously he developed in the field of music and played a pivotal role among neo-folkloric artists who established the Nueva Cancion Chilena (New Chilean Song) movement which led to a revolution in the popular music of his country under the Salvador Allende government. Shortly after the U.S. backed September 11, 1973 Chilean coup he was arrested, tortured and ultimately machine gunned to death - his body was later thrown out into the street of a shanty town in Santiago.Jara, Joan. Victor: An Unfinished Song, 249-250 The contrast between the themes of his songs, on love, peace and social justice and the brutal way in which he was murdered transformed Jara into a symbol of struggle for human rights and justice across Latin America.

Biography

Early life

Victor Jara was born on September 28, 1932 in the locality of Quiriquina, near the City of Chillan Viejo, south of Santiago, to poor peasants Manuel Jara and Amanda Martinez. His father, Manuel, was illiterate and wanted his children to work as soon as they could rather than get an education, so by the age of 6 Jara was already working on the land. Manuel Jara was unable to extract a livelihood from the earnings as a pesant in the Ruiz-Tagle estate nor was he able to find stable work to support his large family, so he took to drinking and became violent. His relationship with his wife deteriorated, and Manuel left the family when Victor was still a child to look for work elsewhere. Amanda persevered in raising Victor and his siblings by herself, insisting that all of them should receive a good education. Amanda, a mestiza with deep Araucanian roots in the south of Chile, was not illiterate, she was autodidactic; played the guitar, the piano and was a singer in her town, singing traditional folk songs at local functions like wedding and funerals for the locals. Jara, Joan. Victor: An Unfinished Song, 24-27

Jara's mother died when he was 15, leaving him to make his own way thereafter. He began to study to be an accountant, but soon moved into a seminary instead, studying to become a priest. After a couple of years, however, he became disillusioned with the Church and left the seminary. Subsequently he spent several years in the army before returning to his home town to pursue interests in folk music and theater.

Artistic life

Jara was deeply influenced by the folklore of Chile and other Latin American countries; he was particularly influenced by artists like Violeta Parra, Atahualpa Yupanqui, and the poet Pablo Neruda. Jara began his foray into folklore in the mid-1950s when he began singing with the group Cuncumen. He moved more decisively into music in the 1960s getting the opportunity to sing at Santiago's La Pena de Los Parra, owned by Angel Parra. Through them Jara became greatly involved in the Nueva Cancion movement of Latin American folk music. He published his first recording in 1966 and, by 1970, had left his theater work in favor of a career in music. His songs were drawn from a combination of traditional folk music and left-wing political activism. From this period, some of his most renowned songs are Plegaria a un Labrador ("A Farmer's Prayer") and Te Recuerdo Amanda ("I Remember You Amanda"). He supported the Unidad Popular ("Popular Unity") coalition candidate Salvador Allende for the presidency of Chile, taking part in campaigning, volunteer political work, and playing free concerts.

Political activism

Allende's campaign was successful and, in 1970, he was elected president of Chile. However, the US-supported Chilean military, who opposed Allende's politics, staged a coup on September 11, 1973, in the course of which Allende died (See Allende's death). At the moment of the coup, Jara was on the way to the Technical University (today Universidad de Santiago), where he was a teacher. That night he slept at the university along with other teachers and students, and sang to raise morale.

His death

On the morning of September 12, Jara was taken, along with thousands others, as a prisoner to the Chile Stadium (renamed the Estadio Victor Jara in September 2003). In the hours and days that followed, many of those detained in the stadium were tortured and killed there by the military forces. Jara was repeatedly beaten and tortured; the bones in his hands were broken as were his ribs. Reports that one of Jara's hands, or both of his hands, had been cut off, are however erroneous. Fellow political prisoners have testified that his captors mockingly suggested that he play guitar for them as he lay on the ground. Defiantly, he sang part of a song supporting the Popular Unity coalition. After further beatings, he was machine-gunned on September 15 and his body dumped on a road on the outskirts of Santiago, and then taken to a city morgue.

Jara's wife, Joan, was allowed to come and retrieve his body from the site and was able to confirm the physical damage he had endured. After holding a funeral for her husband, Joan Jara fled the country in secret.

Joan Turner Jara currently lives in Chile and runs the Victor Jara Foundation. The Chile Stadium, also known as the Victor Jara Stadium, is often confused with the Estadio Nacional (National Stadium).

Before his death, Victor Jara wrote a poem about the conditions of the prisoners in the stadium, the poem was written on a paper that was hidden inside a shoe of a friend. The poem was never named, but is commonly known as Estadio Chile.

Victor Jara's legacy

Although the military regime managed to burn the vast majority of master recordings of Jara's music, Joan Jara managed to sneak recordings out of Chile, which were later copied and distributed worldwide. Joan Jara later wrote an account of Victor Jara's life and music, titled Victor: An Unfinished Song.

On September 22, 1973, the Soviet/Russian astronomer Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh named a newly found asteroid 2644 Victor Jara, in honor of Victor Jara's life and artistic work.

An East German biographical movie called El Cantor was made in 1978. It was directed by Jara's friend Dean Reed, who also played the part of Jara.

In the late 1990s British actress Emma Thompson started to work on a screenplay, which she planned to use as the basis for a movie about Victor Jara. Thompson, a human rights activist, and a fan of Jara, considered the political murder of the Chilean artist as a symbol of human rights violation in Chile. She believed a movie about Jara’s life and death would make more people aware of the Chilean tragedy. The movie would feature Antonio Banderas – another fan of Victor Jara – as Jara himself where he would sing some of his songs and Emma Thompson as Victor Jara's British wife Joan Jara. The project has not yet been made into a film.

Victor Jara Quotes

In 1969 Victor commented about the distinction between the commercialised ‘protest song phenomenon’ imported into Chile and the nature of the New Chilean Song Movement.

Theatre work

Works directed by Victor Jara

1959. Parecido a la Felicidad (Some kind of happiness), Alejandro Sieveking
1960. La Viuda de Apablaza (The Widow of Apablaza), German Luco Cruchaga (assistant director to Pedro de la Barra, founder of ITUCH.) Instituto de Teatro de la Universidad de Chile (Theatre Institute belonging to the University of Chile)
1960. La Mandragola, Niccolo Machiavelli
1961. La Madre de los Conejos (Mother rabbit), Alejandro Sieveking (assistant director to Agustin Sire)
1962. Animas de Dia Claro (Daylight Spirits), Alejandro Sieveking
1963. Caucasian Chalk Circle, Bertold Brecht (assistant director to Atahualpa del Cioppo)
1963. Los Invasores (The Intruders), Egon Wolff
1963. Duo (Duet), Raul Ruiz
1963. Parecido a la Felicidad (Some kind of happiness), Alejandro Sieveking (version for Chilean television)
1965. La Remolienda, Alejandro Sieveking
1965. The Knack, Ann Jellicoe
1966. Marat/Sade, Peter Ulrich Weiss (assistant director to William Oliver.)
1966. La Casa Vieja (The old house), Abelardo Estorino
1967. La Remolienda, Alejandro Sieveking (redirects)
1967. La Viuda de Apablaza (The Widow of Apablaza), German Luco Cruchaga (as director)
1968. Entertaining Mr. Sloane, Joe Orton
1969. Viet Rock, Megan Ferry
1969. Antigone, Sophocles
1972. Directed the ballet and musical homage to Pablo Neruda which coincided with the poets return to Chile after being awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Discography

Studio albums

Live albums

Victor Jara en Vivo (1974)
El Recital (1983)
Victor Jara en Mexico, WEA International (1996)
Habla y Canta en la Habana Cuba, WEA International (2001)
En Vivo en el Aula Magna de la Universidad de Valparaiso, WEA International (2003)

Compilations

Te recuerdo Amanda, Fonomusic (1974)
Vientos del Pueblo, Monitor (1976)
Canto Libre, Monitor (1977)
An Unfinished Song, Redwood Records (1984)
Todo Victor Jara, EMI (1992)
20 Anos Despues, Fonomusic (1992)
Victor Jara presente, coleccion “Haciendo Historia”, Odeon (1997)
Te Recuerdo, Victor, Fonomusic (2000)
Antologia Musical, WEA Warner (2001) 2CDs
1959-1969 – Victor Jara, EMI Odeon (2001) 2CDs
Latin Essential: Victor Jara, (WEA) 2CDs (2003)
Colleccion Victor Jara – Warner Bros. (2004) (8CD Box)
Victor Jara. Serie de Oro. Grandes Exitos, EMI (2005)

Tribute albums

An Evening with Salvador Allende, VA - U.S. (1974) An Evening with Salvador Allende was a recording of the Friends of Chile benefit concert held in New York City (1974) to honor Allende, Neruda and Victor Jara. The double album appeared as a limited edition several years after the concert event; it was never reissued after its limited release. It featured Melanie, Bob Dylan, the Beach Boys, Phil Ochs and it was where Pete Seeger for the first time performed an English translation of Victor Jara’s last poem: Estadio Chile.
A Victor Jara, Raimon - Spain (1974)
Het Recht om in Vrede te Leven, Cornelis Vreeswijk - Nederlands (1977)
Cornelis sjunger Victor Jara, Ratten till ett eget liv, Cornelis Vreeswijk - Sweden (1979)
Omaggio a Victor Jara, Ricardo Pecoraro - Italy (1980)
Quilapayun Canta a Violeta Parra, Victor Jara y Grandes Maestros Populares, Quilapayun - Chile (1985)
Konzert fur Victor Jara VA - Germany (1998)
Inti-illimani perorms Victor Jara, Inti-illimani - Chile(1999)
Conosci Victor Jara?, Daniele Sepe - Italy (2001)
Tributo a Victor Jara, VA - Latin America/Spain (2004)
Tributo Rock a Victor Jara, VA - Argentina (2005)
Lonquen: Tributo a Victor Jara, Francesca Ancarola - Chile (2007)

Documentaries and films

The following are films or documentaries about and/or featuring Victor Jara:

El Tigre Salto y Mato, Pero Morira…Morira…. Director: Santiago Alvarez – Cuba (1973)
Companero: Victor Jara of Chile. Directors: Stanley Foreman/Martin Smith (Documentary) – Britain (1974)
Il Pleut sur Santiago, starring Andre Dussollier; Dirctor: Helvio Soto – France (1976)
April Hat 30 Tage. Director: Gunther Scholz - DFR (1978)
El Cantor. Director: Dean Reed; Writer: Wolfgang Ebeling – DDR (1978)
Freedom Highway: Songs That Shaped a Century. Director: Philip King – USA (2001)
El Derecho de Vivir en Paz. - Documentary DVD - Spain (2003)
La Tierra de las 1000 Musicas [Episode 6: La Protesta]. Directors: Luis Miguel/Gonzalez Cruz – Spain (2005)

References and other sources

References

Jara, Joan (1983). Victor: An Unfnished Song . Jonathan Cape, London. ISBN 0-224-01880-9
Kosichev, Leonard. (1990). La guitarra y el poncho de Victor Jara. Progress Publishers, Moscow.