Victor Jara

Today in class we discussed Victor Jara in more depth. I enjoyed this lesson because although we had some content on him before, I don't think I truly understood the importance and relevance of this man, especially to our course, until today. There were several things in particular that I found to be the most interesting. First, although it doesn't have to do with Victor Jara himself, I was very intrigued by learning more about Che Guevara. I had heard of Che, but was not aware of the impact he had on Latin America as a whole. The death of Che Guevara had such a powerful effect on the people of Latin America and the music that came from it showed how many people his actions reached. I also really liked listening to Victor Jara's music. I personally believe you can read a million books on an artist, but cannot truly understand them until you see their art. Today I felt like I understood the appeal and importance of Victor Jara and his music much better. I appreciated the English translation as well and though the lyric to his songs were so powerful. To me, one of the most impressive aspects was that even though he sang about a serious subject, his songs still were catchy and upbeat tunes. My having good music behind serious lyrics, music can reach a broader audience and appeal to even more people. I though out of everything in the presentation, being able to analyze his songs was the most important and interesting part of the whole lesson.