Galpón Víctor Jara (“

Víctor Jara Víctor Lidio Jara Martínez (; 28 September 1932 – 16 September 1973) was a Chilean teacher, theater director, poet, singer-songwriter and Communist political activist. He developed Chilean theater by directing a broad array of works, rang ...

Warehouse”) is a cultural center located in

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

, in

Barrio Brasil Barrio Brasil is a neighborhood of Santiago, Chile, located to the west of the city center in the commune of Santiago and to the east of Barrio Yungay. Barrio Brasil is close to the neighborhoods Dieciocho, Concha y Toro, Yungay, and República ...

, an area of the city known for its strong artistic and cultural scene. Managed by the

Foundation Foundation may refer to: * Foundation (nonprofit), a type of charitable organization ** Foundation (United States law), a type of charitable organization in the U.S. ** Private foundation, a charitable organization that, while serving a good cause ...

, the center is named for the Chilean singer-songwriter and activist who was killed by the

Chilean army The Chilean Army ( es, Ejército de Chile) is the land arm of the Military of Chile. This 80,000-person army (9,200 of which are conscripts) is organized into six divisions, a special operations brigade and an air brigade. In recent years, and a ...

following the Chilean coup of 11 September 1973. The Galpón is a popular live venue for Chilean bands, particularly those of the

New Chilean Cumbia The New Chilean Cumbia also known as New Chilean Cumbia Rock (Spanish: ''Nueva cumbia chilena'', ''Nueva cumbia rock chilena'') is a subgenre of cumbia music that originated in Chile in the early 2000s and that largely surfaced in mainstream med ...

gypsy The Romani (also spelled Romany or Rromani , ), colloquially known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally nomadic itinerants. They live in Europe and Anatolia, and have diaspora populations located worldwide, with sign ...

and

cueca Cueca () is a family of musical styles and associated dances from Chile, Argentina, and Bolivia. In Chile, the cueca holds the status of national dance, where it was officially declared as such by the Pinochet dictatorship on September 18, 1979 ...

musical styles, such as

Chico Trujillo Chico Trujillo are a New cumbia band merging cumbia, ska, reggae and rock, among other styles. The band formed in 1999 in Villa Alemana, Zona Central, Chile, following a tour that lead singer – known as "Macha" – undertook with his then ...

Banda Conmoción ''Banda Conmoción'' are a Chilean ensemble band who mix cumbia and gypsy music with genres such as ska and cha-cha-cha. They are part of the new Latin-American fusion movement and emerged in the early nineties along with groups like Chico Tru ...

and

La Mano Ajena La Mano Ajena is a Chilean band founded in 2002 that mixes rhythms from Eastern Europe, Latin America, France and Russia, blending all these sounds in a pastiche that also unites the tendencies of each member of the band: rock, punk, Latin America ...

History

Following the return to democracy in Chile in 1990, efforts to achieve justice and recognition for Víctor Jara slowly gained momentum. In the early 2000s, the Víctor Jara Foundation campaigned to convert the

Víctor Jara Stadium Estadio Víctor Jara is an indoor multi-use sports complex located in the western part of Santiago, Chile, near the Santiago Estación Central, Estación Central and Alameda Avenue. It has a total capacity for an audience of 6,500 people. Esta ...

, where Jara was tortured and killed (the stadium, originally called Estadio Chile, was renamed to commemorate Jara in 2004), into a cultural center, but encountered difficulties from local authorities.La complicada historia del Galpón Víctor Jara
La Nación. 30 July 2009. Retrieved 13 February 2013. A solution was found in the space occupied by the Foundation itself, in

Plaza Brasil Plaza Brasil (''Brasil Square'') is located in Barrio Brasil, a neighborhood of Santiago, Chile known for its strong artistic and cultural scene. The square is bordered by Avenida Brasil to the east, Huérfanos street to the south, Compañía de J ...

, the heart of

, a cultural hub in the western part of Santiago. Galpón Víctor Jara opened there in 2003.

Joan Jara Joan Jara (born Joan Alison Turner, England, 1927) is a British- Chilean dancer, activist, and widow of Chilean icon, communist and folksinger Víctor Jara. Since his death, she dedicated herself to perpetuating the memory of him, his work, ...

, the Foundation’s founder and Jara’s widow, said at the time that “we want to be a meeting place for all kinds of artists: Chilean, foreign and those alternative artists who don’t fit in anywhere else.” In 2009, a large public funeral for Víctor Jara was held at the Galpón, with thousands of mourners gathering to honor the singer. Jara’s remains had been exhumed as part of investigations into his death. The casket was carried on a procession through the streets of Santiago and re-buried in the General Cemetery. The Galpón has been forced to close on a number of occasions. In 2010, the then mayor of Santiago, Pablo Zalaquett, closed the center because it did “not comply with the infrastructure required of a venue holding events of such a nature.” It was reopened shortly after, once the application for a new permit was in process. The venue has also been closed on a few occasions due to complaints about loud noise. This occurred most recently in September 2012, just prior to celebrations for the 80th anniversary of Jara’s birth, and calling a halt to the planned ''Cumbre Internacional de la Cumbia'' event (“International Cumbia Summit”). The center was reopened a couple of weeks later with a temporary permit, and Joan Jara remarked that “This has been such a long process. At least there exists the possibility that we can continue to develop this work, which I believe is very important for Chilean artists,” in 2013, it was closed because "it has never obtained a definitive building permit or a final resolution from the municipality of Santiago."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Galpon Victor Jara Music venues in Chile Lists of things named after Víctor Jara