Inti Illimani
Viva Chile!

The story teaches us that it is difficult to make music and politics: at best, the result is admirable songs with a banal text or vice versa. But history also teaches us that for the greats, like Inti Illimani, rules like this have no value. In fact, Inti Illimani is not just the group that performed and recorded “El Pueblo Unido […] ”, a song that risks being their caricature. They are one of the most important and prolific formations in the international music scene, constantly evolving and capable of renewing themselves with originality from folk songs to revolutionary anthems, from the simplicity of tradition to the opulence of symphonic instrumentations.

 

The year 1973 is perhaps the most important in their artistic journey. In Chile, the advent of Pinochet's dictatorship dramatically ends the democratic season and forces the group into exile in Italy. Here, their first internationally oriented album will be released: Viva Chile. Besides Fiesta de San Benito, the fascinating opening track, the album features an alternation between revolutionary songs and instrumental pieces. This arrangement of the tracks gives the album such variety and lightness that it makes it practically perfect, devoid of weak points.

Among the revolutionary songs, Canción Del Poder Popular, with its solemn and incisive progression, and La Segunda Indipendencia, built on folk guitars in waltz time, stand out. To Venceremos, imbued with socialist rhetoric, Rin Del Angelito offers a counterpoint, a sweet epitaph ending with a beautiful accelerando.

The instrumental pieces deserve a separate discussion, though brief, they are very expressive. The melodies are repeated and interwoven with few essential variations, while the instruments are those of the Andean tradition: flutes and guitars supported by the deep beat of the bombo.

This is not politics, it is art. Sincere art, capable of moving us and bringing us closer to a people, their culture, and their sufferings. Because this time, no se trata de cambiar un presidente: it's about making music, evoking the past, and expressing one's hope for a better future.