Víctor Jara An Illustrated Song - By Pableras García

Víctor Jara

An illustrated song

Pableras García

Those who know me know that I have a good memory for certain facts, therefore I perfectly remember the day I came across Joan’s book. It was a Saturday of August 2010. That day I had woken up in the armchair at Guillermo’s house, a good friend. We probably had coffee to wake up fully, as I tend to think I was hungover; in fact, I’m almost sure of that. The concrete thing is that we both went to have lunch at the Mercado Central and then I accompanied him to see some books on San Diego Street, two emblematic places in Santiago.

Surely I did not intend to buy any book. My thing, at that time, was to clear my thoughts in the best possible way, so it is likely that I thought of reading as an excellent medicine to distract myself, but with one requirement: I imposed myself on reading things that would lead me to reflect. And what better than a title as suggestive as the one that narrates the life and work of one of our most famous and beloved artists: Víctor Jara.

That reading was seed in fertile ground, since my personal history and interests have always been linked to the “left-wing” side of life. Why? There are times when I question it. ¿Had my grandfather influenced me with his love, his stories, his work as a laborer and his socialist militancy, as well as a strong rejection of the military world? ¿Or was it my father and his stories about the experiences he lived in the short period that Unidad Popular lasted? Or maybe my mother, the person who left a mark on me with her love, daily dedication, and for being the first one to teach me how to draw, and understand certain things? Or it could have been the records from the Dicap (Popular Song Disco) ,that my dad kept or rather hid, in a piece of furniture? I remember that those records powerfully caught my attention with their colorful covers with drawings, where the figure of

a little bird perched on some guitar strings stood out. I also remember our family trips by bus, and I am referring to those old buses about to be dismantled, painted in bright colors and full of decorations or stickers, and on whose routes I could see the murals of Villa Francia. I always found them beautiful, however I noticed something sad in them, which later led to the understanding that these images were prescribed for denouncing a brutal dictatorship, a brutality that I was able to witness on more than one occasion with my child’s eyes; because yes, I was an eyewitness of beatings inflicted on students, when I went with my mother downtown Santiago. After all everything is mixed, everything adds up and influences; On some occasion I saw a black and white photograph where a man was hugging a guitar tightly. That’s how I knew who Víctor was and it was those images that later led me to his music.

But I have to resume my encounter with the book about Victor’s life, written by Joan, since reading it blew my mind, it moved me to tears. In those paragraphs I learned about his difficult childhood, his shortcomings, his father’s absence, the impressive figure that was Amanda, his mother, from whom he inherited music from and was the family pillar through tremendous efforts. For the same reason it hurt me to read about his tragic end. I was also captivated by the struggle waged by Víctor to study and how he finally manages to stand out at the Theater School of the University of Chile; his first musical steps with the Cuncumén ensemble and the fact of having shared experiences with another huge contemporary figure, great Violeta Parra. But it also reveals another of his powerful aspects, his great political and social commitment to the people of Chile, without neglecting, of course, the love given to his loved ones, especially his wife

and daughters. That is why as I read I was breathless, as the epic story of a man unfolded before my eyes, a Chilean of humble origins, who did shine until his beautiful light was abruptly and violently extinguished. As soon as I finished reading, I thought about the possibility of illustrating Víctor’s songs, although I immediately wondered if this work had already been done. And I started to investigate. And no, no recognized illustrator had noticed his transcendental figure; I saw some drawings and paintings scattered on the internet, I also discovered a few designs, flyers, or a poster of some cultural event of a political nature, but nothing more, there were no illustrations of his singing. So I came to the conclusion that I had to rise to the challenge in my own way, and I decided to illustrate his songs, first by listening to them in detail one by one, to later select a few and start to bring this work to life.

Pableras García Santiago de Chile, 2017

We are on a wide road

Come, come, come with me

Come, come, come with me we go on a wide road, a new destiny will be born, Come along

Come, come, come with me Come, come, come with me, to the heart of the earth, we will germinate with it, Come along. hate left behind never come back continue towards the sea. Your song is river, sun and wind, bird that announces peace.

Friend, your son is on his way

Brother, your mother is on her way They go along the wide road, they are galloping in the wheat, They are on their way

Come, come, come with me Come, come, come with me. The time of the wind has come bursting the silences, Come along hate left behind never come back continue towards the sea. Your song is river, sun and wind, bird that announces peace.

I do not sing just for the sake for singing nor because I have a good voice, I sing because the guitar has sense and reason. It has a heart of earth and little dove wings, It’s like holy water sanctifies glories and sorrows.

Here my song settled As Violeta said, Hard working guitar smelling of spring

That it is not a guitar for the rich nothing that looks like it my song is one of scaffolding to reach for the stars.

That the song makes sense when it beats in the veins of the one who will die singing the true truths.

Not the leaking flattery nor foreign fame, but the song of a market to the bottom of the earth.

There from where it all comes and where it all begins I sing that he has been brave it will always be a new song it will always be a new song It will always be a new song.

The houses of the upper neighborhood*

Houses of the upper neighborhood with bars and front garden, a beautiful entrance of fences and a front yard waiting for a Peugeot.

There are pink, green, white and light blue, the houses of the upper neighborhood all made with ticky tack

And the people of the houses they smile and visit each other. They go together to the supermarket and they all have a TV.

There are dentists merchants, landlords and traffickers, lawyers and tenants and they all wear polycron.

They play bridge, they drink dry Martini and the children are blonde and with other little blondes They go to high school together.

And his daddy’s little boy then he goes to university beginning his problematic and social intricacies.

Smoke joints in Austin Minis, play with bombs and politics, murder Generals, and he’s a gangster of sedition.

*This song (“Little Boxes”) belongs to the North American folk singer and activist Malvina Reynolds. Translated into Spanish as “Cajitas”, this version by Víctor Jara was highly celebrated by the author.

Prayer to a Labrador

Get up and look at the mountain where does it come from the wind, the sun and the water. You who drives the course of the rivers, you who sowed the flight of your soul Get up and look at your hands to grow give it to your brother. Together we will go bound in blood, today is the time which can be tomorrow.

Deliver us from the one who dominates us in misery. Bring us your kingdom of justice and equality. Blows like the wind the flower of the ravine clean like fire the barrel of my rifle. Finally your will be done here on earth.

Give us your strength and your courage when fighting. Blows like the wind the flower of the ravine clean like fire the barrel of my rifle.

Get up and look at your hands to grow give it to your brother. Together we will be bound in blood, now and in the hour of our death. Amen.

Ramona Parra Brigade

Chilean boy, glow of the new brigade, the streets of the town wake up with your clarity.

Your brush is the song that paints the blue of the sky, that fills the country of light, love and brotherhood.

young comrade, what do you build hope, you light up the walls with red cry of freedom.

your path hides night and pain, longing and value. Lying there you stayed, of dust and blood. The flower that you left grew writing the air, writing the air Comrade, go ahead!

Cai Cai Villa

In this composition, the musician collects the figure of Caicai Vilu, mythological being belonging to the Mapuche cosmogony, which is represented in the form of an oceanic serpent (actually half snake and half fish) possessing power to dominate the sea and everything related to it. Generally Caicai Vilu appears next to her equally powerful enemy –its symmetrical reverse–, Trentren Vilu, terrestrial serpent, whose confrontations are the reason of the current physiognomy of the Chiloé archipelago, according to one of the many versions of the myth that exist.

Instrumental piece from 1972, which was included in the posthumous album Manifesto, released in 1974 in an English edition made by Joan Jara in the studios Abbey Road in London, and that he used as a basis the recovered recordings for the album “Tiempos que cambian” “Times that change”, the one that was left unfinished after the coup and Victor’s subsequent murder.

fragile as a kite on the roofs of Barrancas

The boy Luchín played with his little purple hands with the ragged ball with the cat and with the dog, the horse was looking at him. In the water of your eyes the green light bathed, he was crawling at his young age with the muddy pot, with the ragged ball, with the cat and with the dog, The horse was looking at him.

The horse was another game in that small space and the animal seemed to liked that job with the rag ball, with the cat and with the dog and with wet Luchito

If there are children like Luchín that eat earth and worms, let’s open all the cages so that they fly like birds, with the rag ball, with the cat and with the dog and also with the horse.

Don’t give me the story of indolence

It’s been a while since I waited for you to spin around Bumblebee that stings and stings without consequence runs out of buzz and lancets.

If the mountain does not come, walk towards it

Recabarren’s goals are the stars.

What a beautiful thing it is to be a volunteer building neighborhood parks building bridges, houses and roads

Moving on with our destiny. Yes!

Give him a peasant shovel, give him the plow

These are better times for your sowing. Give the mine a hammer, give it a miner

Give more roof to the houses of the workers.

You , companion who sweetens the whole earth

Don’t give speculators a break.

The rich man gambles entirely for his own defense He confuses democracy with insolence.

To talk about socialism, study Lenin the revolution is not a game for the bourgeoisie.

If the mountain does not come, walk towards it

Recabarren’s goals are the stars.

What a beautiful thing it is to be a volunteer building neighborhood parks

building bridges, houses and roads

Moving on with our destiny. Yes!

How nice it is to be a volunteer

Ficha catalográfica

096 García, Pableras

741.092 Víctor Jara. Un canto ilustrado

780.92 Santiago, Ocho Libros Editores

861CH 2018, 1ª edición, 17,5 x 27 cm, 48 pp. / Ilus.

© Pableras García

© Ocho Libros Editores

Primera edición de 1.000 ejemplares, impreso en los talleres de B&B Impresores en enero de 2018

Inscripción RPI 286.226

ISBN 978-956-335-367-9

Impreso en Chile / Printed in Chile

Textos Víctor Jara

Ilustraciones Pableras García

Edición, diseño y producción de originales

Ocho Libros Editores

Director editorial Gonzalo Badal

Director de arte Carlos Altamirano

Editora general Florencia Velasco

Diseño editorial Michel Contreras

Postproducción Gustavo Navarrete

Corrección de textos Edison Pérez

Arzobispo Casanova 36, Providencia, Santiago, Chile

Fono (+056) 02 335 1767 / www.ocholibros.cl

Libro impreso en Chile. Apoyamos la industria gráfica nacional y contribuimos a la disminución de la huella de carbono en el mundo.

Prohibida la reproducción total o parcial de este libro por cualquier medio impreso, electrónico y/o digital, sin la expresa autorización de los propietarios del copyright.

Este libro se terminó de imprimir en enero de 2018 en los talleres de B&B Impresores.

Para su composición se utilizó la tipografía ScalaSansLF en sus variables

ScalaSansLF Regular, ScalaSansLF Italic, ScalaSansLF Bold, ScalaSansLF BoldItalic

Para el título se utilizó la tipografía Llanquihue Display