| Sing To Me The Dream: Un Canto Solidario | |||||||||
| CULTURAL RESPONSE | |||||||||
| In the months and years that followed Chile's 1973 coup, a powerful solidarity movement began to grow. I remember being at an anti-war conference in Washington, D.C. (still working to end the war against Indochina) when someone announced, “Allende’s been murdered!” I was 24 years old, only just beginning to discover the world. I did not know who Allende was nor was I quite sure where Chile was. But the response of people around me was filled with such shock and grief I knew that I had better find out. Thus began my relationship with Chile. In my travels around the world I met many exiled Chilean artists including Inti Illimani, Joan Jara, Quilapayún, Grupo Raiz, and Quique Cruz (who is also known as Claudio Durán). I worked with La Peña Cultural Center in Berkeley, California to keep the spirit of Chilean resistance alive and to educate people in the U.S. about the Pinochet dictatorship. These collaborations inspired me to write the song Hay Una Mujer Desaparecida, which was to become an anthem of solidarity for U.S. communities. (I am so moved when I listen to the version of Hay Una Mujer Desaparecida that is part of track 12 called Medley. Within a few notes the whole audience is singing, reminding me of the powerful solidarity movement that existed in the U.S. at that time.) Our work on Chilean issues taught us about other injustices in Central and Latin America. And, in turn, that work revealed truths about our own government, the CIA participation in the overthrow of lawful governments, murders of indigenous people—not only in the United States but in all of the Americas—the activities of United Fruit Company, the secrets, the lies, and the abuse. It taught us the meaning of solidarity. And clearly an essential part of the solidarity community was the cultural response that prompted the many cultural events taking place all over the country. In San Francisco, Glide Memorial Church was a strong base of support. The Reverend Cecil Williams took an outspoken stance on peace, justice, poverty, prisons, racism, sexism, gender issues, and international solidarity. The church was filled to capacity every Sunday. I did one concert there for Chile Solidarity with the women's jazz ensemble, ALIVE!, and another with Daniel Viglietti of Uruguay and U.S. singer/songwriter, Phil Ochs. The feminist dance company, Dance Brigade, and Grupo Raiz—a folk ensemble of Chilean musicians (and one gringa!) who lived in the S.F. Bay Area—performed in collaboration both in the U.S. and in Central America, modeling the important work of solidarity across issues and art forms. The formation of La Peña, which created a home for solidarity cultural work as well as a gathering place for Chilean exiles, was hugely important —not only in the work to oppose U.S. foreign policy in Central and Latin America but also as a major cultural force for all social change activists in Northern California. The people of La Peña consistently worked (and continue to do so) to gain visas and financial support for artists to enter the U.S. and present their work. Redwood Records, my record company at the time, also brought in artists from around the world (in particular Central and Latin America), sponsoring tours, recording and distributing recordings, and promoting cultural collaborations. Along with concert promoter, Jeanne Bradshaw, Redwood Records produced the 1984 tour with Inti Illimani and me. |
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| THE SONG - Hay Una Mujer Desaparecida A group of women working in the San Francisco Bay Area were organizing a campaign to find the missing women in Chile. They asked women from around the city to write letters of inquiry on behalf of a missing individual, saying “I have a friend in Chile and I haven't heard from her in some time, she doesn't return my calls. I am trying to find out what has happened to her.” The letters were put on “well respected” letterhead coming from doctors, lawyers, professors, business people, artists, labor organizations. The organizing committee of the campaign asked if I would write a song about the missing women. I was living in Los Angeles at the time and my landlady was a woman from Cuba. One day I asked her, “How do you say in Spanish ‘There is a woman missing in Chile?’” I then wrote the mournful melody to call out the names of the missing women and added “ . . . hay una mujer desaparecida . . .” to the cry. At one point, some Chilean friends said they thought the song was too depressing and that it needed hope. So I added the part at the end that says “ . . . a spirit lives in Chile, new lives, new songs are rising up.” The song became better known when Ronnie Gilbert and I recorded it. Sometimes Chilean exiles would come up after a concert and say they recognized one of the women named—a chilling reminder that the song was about real people. When I went to El Salvador to sing at a peace concert, I added a section, which called out other other countries where loved ones were missing, falling into the hands of violent dictators. There are several versions of the song Hay Una Mujer Desaparecida, two of which are presented on Sing To Me The Dream: Un Canto Solidario. Track 12 (Medley) is an a cappella version that I sang in 1984 at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco. Track 15 is performed with pianist Adrienne Torf and Chilean multi-instrumentalist, Quique Cruz. That version also appears on the double CD, Simply Love: The Women's Music Collection. I recorded the song with Ronnie Gilbert live at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco, and that version is available on the CD Lifeline Extended. Last but not least, the first time I recorded the song was on a record called Imagine My Surprise. However, that version is no longer available. |
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Historia de la Canción "Hay Una Mujer Desaparecida" Fue alrededor de 1976, un grupo de mujeres en el Área de la Bahía de San Francisco, realizaban una campaña urgente para buscar y encontrar a las mujeres detenidas políticas desaparecidas en Chile. A tres años del golpe militar que derrocó al presidente Allende, la represión de la dictadura militar estaba en su máximo apogeo, operando bajo la impunidad torturando, asesinando y desapareciendo a miles de chilenos, entre ellos mujeres embarazadas. |
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