His Hands Were Gentle Selected Lyrics of Victor Jara

Friday 30 March 7:30 pm. at Bolivar Hall 54-56 Grafton Way London, W1T 5DL to commemorate and celebrate the life and work of legendary singer and song-writer Victor Jara. We hope also to be able to show an excerpt from the film ‘Companero: Victor Jara of Chile’ as well, based on an interview with Victor’s wife, Joan Jara, made by Martin Smith and Stanley Forman in 1975.
Foreword by Joan Jara, Preface by Emma Thompson, Introduction by Martín Espada.
Translations by Martín Espada, Eduardo Embry, John Green, Joan Jara and Adrian Mitchell.

Admission is free.

Information: www.smokestack-books.co.uk

Man is a Creator/ El hombre es un creador

Like lots of other children
I was taught to sweat,
I didn't know what school was,
didn't know how to play.
They dragged me out of bed
early every morning,
and alongside my Dad
I grew up as a worker.

Because I was pretty handy
I got by as a carpenter,
a plasterer and a brick-layer,
a plumber and a mechanic.
Hey! It would have been useful
to have had some sort of schooling.
That would have been one more thing to use –
Man as a creator.

I can build you a house,
I can lay down a road,
make wine that tastes good
and keep a factory smoking,
I go down to the depths of the earth
I conquer all the peaks,
I walk among the stars
and carve furrows all over the earth.

I learned the language
of my masters and bosses,
they killed me over and over
for daring to raise my voice,
but I get up off the ground again
helped by the hands of others.
For now I'm not alone.
Now there are so many of us.


Translated by Joan Jara and Adrian Mitchell

Gentileza de Eduardo Embry

Salud