Víctor Jara

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After joining the choir at the University of Chile in Santiago, Jara was convinced by a choir-mate to pursue a career in theater. He subsequently joined the university's theater program and earned a scholarship for talent. He appeared in several of the university's plays, gravitating toward those with social themes, such as Russian playwright Maxim Gorky's The Lower Depths, a depiction of the hardships of lower-class life.

In 1957, he met Violeta Parra, a singer who had steered folk music in Chile away from the rote reproduction of rural materials toward modern song composition rooted in traditional forms, and who had established musical community centers called peñas to incorporate folk music into the everyday life of modern Chileans. Jara absorbed these lessons and began singing with a group called Cuncumén, with whom he continued his explorations of Chile's traditional music (working as a guitarist and vocalist from 1957 to 1963). He was deeply influenced by the folk music of Chile and other Latin American countries, and by artists such as Parra, Atahualpa Yupanqui, and the poet Pablo Neruda. In the 1960s, Jara started specializing in folk music and sang at Santiago's La Peña de Los Parra, owned by Ángel Parra. Through these activities, he became involved in the Nueva Canción movement of Latin American folk music.

In 1966, Víctor released his first album homonymous, by the record company "Demon", being the only album released under this label and the Víctor Jara's first solo work, the album would later be re-released under the titles Canto a lo humano and Sus mejores canciones, and in 2001 an reissue on CD by Warner Music Chile was released, with the original title. This version on CD also included five bonus tracks, four of which are songs by Víctor Jara along with Cuncumén.

The album includes some Jara's versions of some Latin American folk songs, such as; "La flor que anda de mano en mano", and "Ojitos verdes", two Chilean folk songs, "La cocinerita", an Argentinian folk song, or "Ja jai", a Bolivian traditional. The authorship of this album, as well as its singles, was in the hands of Camilo Fernández, owner of the Demon record company, from its launch in 1966 until 2001, when he recently transferred the rights to the widow of Víctor Jara, after years of profiting from the album (as well as with others from Patricio Manns, Isabel and Ángel Parra, among others) without ever financially rewarding its authors or family.

In 1967 released their second album homonymous, this album apart from the controversial song "The appeared" includes Jara's covers of some folk songs from Chile, Argentina, Bolivia or Spain as; «Despedimiento del angelito», «Ay mi palomita», «Casi, casi», «Qué alegres son las obreras» or «Romance del enamorado y la muerte». Also, the album was subsequently released under the name of Desde longuén hasta siempre with a variation of different covers. In 1968, Jara released his first collaborative album entitled, "Canciones folklóricas de América" (Folkloric Songs of America), with Quilapayun. In 1970, he had left his theater work in favor of a career in music. His songs were inspired by a combination of traditional folk music and left-wing political activism. From this period, some of his best-known songs are "Plegaria a un Labrador" ("Prayer to a Worker") and "Te Recuerdo Amanda" ("I Remember You Amanda").

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