Resistance anthem ‘Libre’ by Nino Bravo, kidnapped by Pinochet

“While waiting in the stands We shouted the slogan ‘Free’ to those who lined up to be interrogated for the first, second and further times. -He invited another prisoner of the Pinochet dictatorship, this time unknown, to Chornik for his “Cantos captivos” project during those terrible days at the National Stadium. “‘Freedom,’ he says, was catharsis, a mixture of joy for those who left and hope for those who stayed.” Unfortunately, the dictatorship and its civilian or military supporters “They used it for their own propaganda.”

Commemoration ceremony in April 2023 50 years have passed since his death Nino Bravo and this September 50 years have passed since the death of Chile’s president Salvador Allende, who took his own life during the attack of military coup plotters on the Palacio de la Moneda.

Two sad events united by one song, José Luis Armenteros and Pablo Herrero It turned into an immortal anthem with the voice of the Valencian artist. A hymn in Chile with two parallel lives: presented by the victims of oppression and enforced by the oppressors themselves.

An “authoritarian” version

A study written for the magazine counter blow By history graduate Catholic University of Chile, Josefina Lewin, It focuses on showing how the military regime led by Pinochet adopted Nino Bravo’s song, “replacing the meaning and political intent of its initial version with a version related to the ideology of authoritarianism.”

According to the author, the dictatorship heard in ‘Libre’ “a tribute to the feat of liberation accomplished by the Armed Forces and the expression of an ideal youth archetype: that of young people, as the song says: “They were tired of dreaming.”

In his official biography of Nino Bravo, Dario Ledesma confirms that “the Pinochet regime adopted the theme and almost turned it into Chile’s second anthem”; It also includes the following interview with one of the composers of “Libre”: Pablo Herrero speaks about this appropriation: “Just as the PP embraced ‘Liberty Without Anger’, Pinochet embraced ‘Libre’. [Es frustrante] when you see it being used for a purpose for which it was not intended. “In the case of ‘Libre’, this is very clear, because it was created to fight against everything that represents authoritarianism and oppression.”

“I never thought it could be used in this sense. -as the composer emphasized in another interview-. “I think it was clear from the first moment that this was the liberation of an oppressed person, not an oppressor.”

A Valencian in Chile

Luis Manuel Ferri was already an extremely popular figure in Chile when he died in April 1973. He appeared on stage two years ago prestigious Viña de Mar festival and has appeared on television many times singing in front of millions of people. She was one of the most famous Spanish singers and one of the best-selling albums in the South American country.

So it’s the same year, not surprising. After September 11, 1973, when the Armed Forces overthrew the Allende government and the Popular Front, Aielo artist’s songs will now be a part of Chileans’ lives. Even in the most extraordinary situations. Marianella Ubilla was a university student who was arrested for her political activities in December of the same year and transferred to the Estadio de la Concepción, which was later converted into a prison camp.

“They always organize marches, music military I guess they did this to show off what they had. -recalled years later-. We sang Nino Bravo’s song ‘Libre’ at the Christmas celebration. “The National Anthem was played simultaneously.” Years later, Marianella’s trauma was still so vivid that it was still painful for her to listen to the song. “I decided to stop suffering, but every time I hear the word ‘Free’ I feel like I’m not really free. I’m no longer physically dependent, but socially free.”

Also, for much the same reasons, listening to Nino Bravo sing was traumatic for him. Paicavi Painemal, The political prisoner of the Chilean dictatorship recalled the time he was tortured with electric shocks and mock executions at the Carabineros de Camucho police station in 1985: “They played Nino Bravo songs, especially ‘Libre’. They played it loudly in the background so my screams wouldn’t be heard too much. “I was always blindfolded.”

“When I remember torture, I immediately think of ‘Libre’,” Paicavi adds. But I barely remember the melody because I haven’t heard Nino Bravo’s songs since. The prisoners were stronger, others were weaker. I am a pigskin and I endured. That’s why I’m here.”

On Pinochet’s birthday

Quoting Professor Daniel Party, Josefina Lewin’s article notes that Pinochet never pushed for a specific genre or style of music to represent his government. The only exception was definitely ‘Libre’.

in 1974 Many singers affiliated with the regime sang Nino Bravo’s song at the end of the first anniversary celebrations of the coup. Coup. It was also reproduced at the ceremony of lighting the Flame of Eternal Freedom on the second anniversary of the coup in 1975. That same year, it was played by an army band to commemorate Pinochet’s 60th birthday.

“When ‘Libre’ was played to celebrate Pinochet’s birthday and this event was broadcast on national television networks, the song was literally associated with the image of the leader of the military regime,” Lewin emphasizes.

Arrocet version with moustache

Among these regime-related versions of Nino Bravo’s anthem, the article does not miss one that the author describes as “dramatic”: the popular (also in Spain) comedian’s version. Edmundo ‘The Zealot’ Arrocet The festival was held in Viña del Mar in 1974, where the Valencian singer triumphed in 1971 and three years later was chosen by the dictatorship to spread the positive image of the country internationally.

Although years later Bigote Arrocet repeatedly denied singing ‘Libre’ as a tribute to the dictator and his government, in the same 1974 he declared in a Chilean newspaper that Nino Bravo’s song was ‘Libre’. He brought a message that Chileans did not perceive at the time. but now – five months after the coup – he did it “Remember something that did not happen “happily” in the country.

The comedian therefore admitted that he decided to cover the song because of the “meaning” it carries in Chile.The “concept of freedom”, which was “on the verge of disappearing” during the Allende government. And when the audience in Viña del Mar ‘spontaneously’ sang the song at one of ‘Bigote’s shows, he assured that they ‘didn’t dedicate it to him’, but instead the song was ‘about the show’. People who feel “liberated and grateful,” as Lewin puts it in his article.

If ‘Libre’ became the regime’s anthem, it was because “for the new military rulers, the September 11 coup was an act of liberation, ‘Liberation from the Marxist yoke'” He points out Chilean music historians Juan Pablo González and José Miguel Varas. But they also remember what it was like in 1973, when democracy in the Latin American country was overthrown by guns. “Thousands of detainees sang Nino Bravo’s song with ‘suspicious enthusiasm’ over the loudspeakers of the detention center at the National Stadium.” After all, as historians point out, this reaction was not so strange: “Everyone wanted to be free and shared the idea of ​​freeing themselves from the military yoke.”

A rebel who is not Peter Fechter

Josefina Lewin, in her essay on ‘Contrapulso’, recalls the interpretation given to ‘Libre’ for years and relates it to the story of the worker. German Democratic Republic, Peter Fechter (at photo), A man “almost 20 years old” was shot while trying to cross the wire fence separating him from West Berlin. ““As she lay on the ground, she continued to smile and without speaking / Crimson flowers constantly bloomed on her chest.”

Lewin cites the idea formulated by the journalist Francisco Olaso: If ‘Libre’ passed Franco’s censorship, it was because the regime promoted the idea that the song Armenteros and Herrero referred to this fact and was therefore a song. Anthem against Soviet oppression.

But Pablo Herrero denied the point, that his song was never meant to reference Fetcher’s story, but rather that its message corresponded to Nino Bravo’s desires: a “rebellious” child, “ambitious in the best sense.” He was “fighting for his life”.

On another occasion, the composer brought the description of ‘Libre’ closer to the political reality of Spain by explaining that the song describes “some of the things that youth long for and that I cannot find unless I pay a price.” Herrero continued in an interview with German radio in 2019: “Then the dictator lived (…) there were student demonstrations that were suppressed by coups. Then we thought: And if someone takes it to the extreme of saying ‘all or nothing’: for me life is about jumping over what’s there. It has thorns on it and could hurt me. I know. But there’s something telling me I should jump.’ It was ‘Free’ after all.”