Our Hearts are Full of Banners: Political Re-Signification and Permanence of a Latin American Song

Abstract

http://dx.doi.org/10.5007/2175-7917.2014v19n2p152

Facing a context of confrontation and growing ideological polarization that divided Chile in the early 70s, one of the main ways found by leftists to express their desire for change and, at the same time, getting closer to the people, was through artistic and cultural expressions, particularly the music. This paper analyzes the song El alma llena de banderas (known as Our Hearts are Full of Banners in the English translation), written by the singer-songwriter Víctor Jara, one of the leading voices of the Nueva Canción Chilena movement, in honor of Miguel Ángel Aguilera, a late communist activist. Murdered by repressive forces during a strike in 1970, in Santiago, Aguilera was killed just a few months before the elections that were eventually won by Salvador Allende. We seek to interpret the meanings of Jara’s song at that time, relating it to the historical, political and social context in which it was created, and realize its possibilities for re-signification and appropriation in new Latin American circumstances.