¡El pueblo unido, jamás será vencido!

January 27, 2017 3:50 PM

Need a rousing song for your marches? In 1973, Chilean composer Sergio Ortega and the folk group Quilapayún wrote the ultimate political marching song, ¡El pueblo unido, jamás será vencido! (Inti-Illimani, 2010, goosebumps start at 1m:10s) in support of Salvador Allende. After the 1973 Chilean coup the song became the anthem of the Chilean resistance and has since become a universal protest song (wikipedia).

Quilapayún (Chile, 1973 and 2016)
Unidos Podemos (Spain, June 2016)
Demonstration in Salvador (June 2013)
Demonstration in Argentina (Buenos Aires, December 2015)
Patatag, progressive Filipino band, Awit ng Tagumpay (Philippines, 1992) (sing along)
Luís Cília, O povo unido jamais será vencido (Portugal, 1974)
Demonstration in Portugal, O povo unido jamais será vencido (Lisbon, March 2011)
Protest at football match, O povo unido jamais será vencido (Maracaña Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, June 2013)
Demonstrations in Iran, بر پا خیز، از جا کن، بنای کاخ دشمن! (Iran, 1979)
Heyoka, French punk band, Le peuple uni ne sera jamais vaincu (France, 2009)
Demonstration, Occupy La Défense, Le peuple uni ne sera jamais vaincu (Paris, November 2011)
Demonstration, Occupy Wall Street, The people united will never be defeated! (New York, October 2011)
Thievery Corporation, El pueblo unido (USA, 2009)
Frederic Rzewski, 36 Variations on "The People United Will Never Be Defeated!" (USA, 1975)
Russian bonuses: a not very rousing Soviet version from 1977 and Пока мы едины, мы непобедимы! as a football anthem (Arena Khimki, Moscow, May 2014).

posted by elgilito (6 comments total)

There are few times that I want a "love" instead of the traditional mefi "favorite". This is one of them.
posted by eviemath at 4:23 PM on January 27, 2017 [7 favorites]

A stunning post. Thank you!
posted by allthinky at 5:49 PM on January 27, 2017 [2 favorites]

Shortly before the end of Pinochet's regime, there was a general loosening of the state-led repression in Chile, a sort of appetizer for democracy.

Inti Illimani and Quilapayún came back from exile, and headlined a massive, open air, free concert in one of the largest slums in Chile. I was in my senior year of high school, and I and a few of my anti-Pinochet classmates were there.

I remember the novelty of walking through a literally dirt poor neighborhood, shouting out protest slogans and songs, with no cops to be seen anywhere near the concert.

Raising a fist and singing el Pueblo Unido in the streets of a soon to be free Santiago was one of the high points of my teenage years.

So yeah, feels, and thanks.
posted by signal at 7:15 PM on January 27, 2017 [25 favorites]

The Rzewski is a fucking masterpiece. I listened to it for days after the election — its despair, its anger, its hope were what I needed to feel.
posted by pmdboi at 7:31 PM on January 27, 2017 [6 favorites]

Thanks a lot.
(and also, Charlie haden's LMO).
posted by nicolin at 2:24 AM on January 28, 2017

It honestly took me a bit to come to terms with Rzewski's variations, as famous as they are, because it always seemed to me that to abstract the original song as material for a variation also abstracted away what made it vital, since it is so perfectly tailored to be a protest song. I'm a little embarrassed that I ever felt that way, since at this point it's so obvious to me that the variations each draw from a strong well of feelings like the ones that pmdboi identifies that are anchored in the context of the original song. The variations here aren't a formal exercise, more a series of contemplations. It's a piece for the soul.
posted by invitapriore at 10:27 AM on January 28, 2017 [2 favorites]