| El
Sueno Existe Festival Weekend
Mae’r
Freuddwyd Yn Bodoli
A Festival inspired by
the life of Victor Jara of Chile.
 
The first festival was
held on the Weekend of 22/23/24/July 2005.
The second festival was
held on 10/11/12 August 2007
A third event is being
planned for the summer of 2009
Both festivals have been a fantastic
success, everyone had a great time with fantastic
music and political discussion.
Both festivals included a message from
Joan Jara, Victor's widow. Click Here to hear an MP3 file of
her message to the festival
Click Here for a
slideshow of photos of the festival in 2005
Click Here for a
slideshow of photos of the festival in 2007
The Inspiration behind
the festival
Over the past few years the group that
formed Mind Out For Music have arranged evening
concerts and events based on the Chilean New Song
Movement , and particularly the life and work of
Victor Jara who was a central figure in its
creation and development.
Victor Jara was a great Chilean
musician, song writer and theatre director. His
life has become a symbol of one of the most
beautiful and inspiring experiences of the
twentieth century: a new kind of democracy, in
which even the poor can participate fully to
change their lives for the better.When that
democracy was overturned by the coup of 1973,
Victor Jara was seen as such a threat that he was
imprisoned, tortured and murdered by the incoming
military junta. Yet he is celebrated still, and
with great fervour , in his home country of
Chile. Across the world there are people with
quite different national and cultural experiences
who have found that Victor Jara symbolizes their
vision, a vision that they share with his Chilean
compatriots.
This is the
origin of the El Sueno Existe festival in
Machynlleth, Mid-Wales.
We felt that Machynlleth was a
particularly appropriate venue for this
celebration in view of the Welsh nation’s
own struggle for self-determination and
independence. This has been achieved not only
through political action, but also through the
artistic and cultural activities of song, dance,
poetry, art and theatre, reinforcing and
celebrating a unique national identity.
We have no doubt that people enjoyed the
music, dance, poetry and theatre of the festival,
but we also wanted to explain what lies at the
heart of the vision that inspired us to organize
it. At a time when the US and UK governments are
telling us that violent intervention is the way
to spread freedom and democracy throughout the
world, we can gain great courage and inspiration
from Victor Jara. He showed us that there is
indeed another way - a peaceful, joyful and
inclusive way of developing and sustaining a true
democracy for all.
Links
Victor Jara Foundation: fundacion@victorjara.tie.cl
Casa Victor Jara: www.casavictorjara.tk
Mind Out For Music: mindout4music.org.uk
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