Our Violeta

Violeta is for Chile, like Homero is for Greece. In our country, her figure represents a major milestone in terms of identity. Violeta, as no one,  was able to unravel, learn, discover, interpret and disseminate the “Chilean way”. In an intense work discovery of the Chilean national identity, in a short time of research, she could identify the most intimate forms of identity of our people.

Violeta Parra was born in San Carlos on October 4^th, 1917. She comes from a large family of known and prominent artists, including the anti-poet Nicanor Parra, who was the great promoter of the artistic career of his sister Violeta. Furthermore, there are other siblings like her sister Hilda and her brothers Roberto, Eduardo, Lautaro. All of them are known as Chilean folklorists, and we can’t forget her youngest brother Oscar, who developed the circus’s art as a clown.

Violeta’s figure is, in many cases, controversial. She was a brave woman who always said the truth with her head up. This confrontational manner earned her the displeasure of many and also the recognition of some others. Her artistic and musical compositions are a clear example to understand her life’s vision.

Her artistic career is recognizing all over the world and much people in Chile are proud of her character as a Chilean artist, but there is something that really bothers me… San Carlos, her hometown, can’t dimension the importance of this incredible woman. It seems like sometimes we forget this fact. The things that this town has made are to repair her birthplace, and old red house located in Roble Street #531 where they hope to build a museum that remains her work; and to organize a music festival every year for her birthday. Even so, San Carlos has failed in establish her symbol as a fundamental icon of our local identity.

Some sancarlinos get upset when other people say that Violeta was born in San Fabian (a small town near to San Carlos) or Chillán (the capital of the Biobío region) but what do they expect? They just remember her name when foreign people ask for her… There is nothing that shows people who came from other cities that San Carlos is, eventually, the Violeta’s hometown! We don’t do anything to express our proud of being part of the history of this great artist. There is nothing that distinguishes us from other cities…  My position is that as inhabitants of the city of San Carlos, it’s our duty to be worry about our uniqueness as the Violeta Parra’s hometown. She is one of the most important artists in Chile and she was born here! I think that if we strive of make this possible, we could be a very important, interesting and charming city, full of tourists, photographers, amateur artists and journalists who want to know even more about Violeta Parra, her story, her music, her life.

Why don’t we start painting the most important constructions in our city, like municipality building or the post office building for example, violet color? Maybe we can use the melody of her most famous song “Gracias a la vida” (Thanks to life) every time that the church bells start ringing when is midday. Moreover, we can restyle the streets using paving stones like the old times and put antique types of lampposts along the streets. There are a lot of talented painters, kids and teenagers around that could paint and represent, in huge walls, Violeta’s life or paint her looms and the pictures that she made when she was alive. We all can participate in this, together, as proud citizens. I don’t know… several things come to my mind when I start talking about this; I can thing in numerous possibilities to raise our identity as a town but… there is nothing wrong with dreaming.