A courageous and premonitory cantata
Violeta Díaz-Corralejo | Spain, EU | 11/11/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Some years before Pinochet's dictature the group Quilapayún created this cantata where they warned the dangers for the chilean democracy."
Seminal South American Work
Rodrigo Silher | Florida, USA | 10/31/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Cantatas, compositions mixing instrumental and recitative elements, are associated with cultured music. The Chilean composer Luis Advis Vitaglich used this style of music with two interesting twists: first was combining the sounds of traditional Andean instruments, violencello and double bass; second was thematic: this cantata is not religious but social. This work (narrated by the late and celebrated Chilean actor Hector Duvachelle) describes a terrible event in Chilean history: the massacre of striking nitrate miners and their families (yes, wives and children) in 1907 as they sought refuge in a school (Santa Maria). This work is considered one of the most important recordings in Latin American music history by many musicologists. Solemn, seemingly erudite and tragic but, in all truth, hopeful and rather accessible (narration and songs are in Spanish, however)."