Chile: Songs for the Resistance

First released in 1975, two years after the coup that ousted Salvador Allende, this album stands as a recklessly brave and defiant act on the part of the musicians. With people disappearing daily, songs like "Trabadjadores el Prodor" or "Carta a Mi Campanero" stood as witnesses and provocation to the acts of the new regime. Musically, this might not be the best Chilean folk album ever released — at times it seems too heavily arranged, even carefully staged and polished — but that does nothing to diminish its importance. The songs are good, powerful vehicles, strongly political pieces that are happy to stand up and be counted. More than that, at their heart they're excellent songs, and if their very specific relevance sounds dated, it shouldn't. What happened in Chile in the '70s has been repeated endlessly in other places. All of which means la luta continua, again and again, and these songs of struggle resonate deeply through the years.