On 27 June 2016, a jury in Orlando, USA, ordered the former Chilean military officer Pedro Pablo Barrientos Nuñez to pay US$28 million in damages to Chilean singer Victor Jara’s widow and daughters. The court found the 67-year-old former senior military officer, who lives in the US, liable for the …

Víctor Jara was a popular folk singer, and also a theatre director, poet, political activist and communist party member. He was murdered by the Chilean military – shot 44 times in the basement of an indoor stadium during Chile’s 1973 coup. 42 years later, ten of the alleged perpetrators have been called …

The Aljazeera website recently ran an article which suggested the Arab Spring has also realised the magical power of music, so much so that it is voicing its protest through different styles of music, from folk music to Hip Hop. This is how a singer like Hamada “El General” Ben …

To commemorate the Chilean singer-songwriter Victor Jara who was killed on 16 September 1973, a concert entitled ‘Last Words of Victor Jara’ is performed by pianist Steve Tromans and his band in Birmingham on 11 November 2009. The concert consists of a series of interlinked compositions dedicated to the message …

On 26 May 2009 a former army conscript, José Adolfo Paredes Márquez, confessed his involvement in the assassination of the popular folk singer Victor Jara — 35 years after the torture and murder of the renowned Chilean folk singer 54-year-old ex-soldier José Adolfo Paredes Márquez was charged over the killing …

35 years after the torture and murder of the renowned Chilean folk singer and composer Victor Jara, a retired army colonel has been charged with the killing, reported the Associated Press Judge Juan Fuentes has ended an investigation and charged the retired colonel Mario Manriquez in the case, saying the …

Music festival focuses on human rights ‘Mind Out For Music’ is a music festival for people in the world suffering human rights abuses. It opens in Machynlleth in Wales on 22 July 2005 and runs for three days The ‘Mind Out For Music’ festival features concerts with thirteen band, and will …

The widow of Chilean activist Victor Jara will participate in Freedom Highway, a festival focussing on the powerful role of music in the political struggles and liberation movements of the 20th century. (London, 19. – 22. September) Visit Freedom Higway    

Music censorship and restrictions in Chile Excerpt from A Survey Of Censorship And Restrictions On Music In Spanish America by Jens Lohmann       Victor Jara (1932-1973) – his murder transformed his music into a symbol of struggle against repression across Latin America   Introduction (excerpt) Through a most …

1960s. Brazil. Chico Buarque, Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso The Brazilian military coup of 1964 ushered in 20 years of military rule and, with it, strict censorship of broadcast music – and especially of Musica Popular Brasileira. Numerous musicians during that period spent time in exile, including Chico Buarque, Gilberto …