Here is a rare interview of Víctor Jara by Nicomedes Santa Cruz, done just a few months before Jara was killed. They are both important people, and if you do not know about them it is easy to find out.
I never saw Jara in person and it is not easy now to find a recording that is clear in both sight and sound. But the remnants always show a life so different in tenor from that of his death. Here you see pictures mainly of Santa Cruz, but you also hear Jara’s gentle voice.
Santa Cruz’ “Canto del pueblo” begins:
El canto es como un pañuelo [Song is like a handkerchief]
que enjuga el llanto a la vida [that dries life’s tears]
cuando esta es paloma herida [when it is a wounded dove]
que no puede alzar el vuelo. [that cannot take wing and fly.]
Puede el canto ser consuelo [Song can be a consolation]
que mitigue la aflicción, [that assuages affliction]
mas nunca resignación [but it is never resignation]
para el pueblo que lo escucha, [for the people who listen]
puesto canto que impide lucha [since a song which impedes struggle]
no es verdadera canción. [is not a real song.]
Axé.
