Pongo en tus manos abiertas ("I Put Into Your Open Hands") is the fourth studio album by Chilean singer-songwriter Víctor Jara, released in June 1969. It was the third release of the Jota Jota record label, created by the Communist Youth of Chile to publish recordings by artists of the Nueva canción chilena such as Quilapayún, who collaborated in the musical accompaniment of some songs.
For this album, he composed and sang more politicized songs than his predecessors, with some like "A Luis Emilio Recabarren" in which he pays tribute to the founder of the Communist Party of Chile or "Preguntas por Puerto Montt" in which he condemns the massacre perpetrated in that city and the Minister of the Interior, Edmundo Pérez Zujovic. It has been the most praised album of his career, being considered the fifth best Chilean album by Rolling Stone magazine.
Background
During 1968, he visited different places in the United States, in New York, he offered a recital on a hispanic television channel while in California, he visited the campus of the University of California, Berkeley close to San Francisco and University of California, Los Angeles. During his performances he exposed his "Marxist vision" of Latin American reality and also used a projector that allowed the audience to see the lyrics of his songs in English. In England, he was invited by the British Council to carry out activities related to theater directing. "Te recuerdo amanda", one of the songs on the album, was written during this time.
Recording
Pongo en tus manos abiertas was recorded when he returned from his works in theatrical productions in England. It contains a much more direct political proposal than that of his predecessors, which he was able to carry out without problems on the then Jota Jota label (later known as Discoteca del Cantar Popular, "DICAP"). It was created by the Communist Youth to grant production and dissemination spaces to groups and soloists of the Nueva canción chilena. Among the first works done on that label is X Vietnam (1968) by Chilean group Quilapayún, who would participate in the recording of the album. In ""Móvil" Oil Special", they embody the students who star in the song and also contribute to its Son cubano rhythm while in "A Cochabamba me voy" they provide choruses that mark their Guaracha rhythm.
Composition
In this album, like his predecessors, Jara maintains the tradition of composing five of his own songs, "A Luis Emilio Recabarren" is one of them and is dedicated to the founder of the Communist Party, Luis Emilio Recabarren. "A desalambrar" is a song which criticizes the labor exploitation of poor peasants by rich landowners and foreign corporations. "Camilo Torres", originally titled "Cruz de Luz", is a tribute song to the Colombian priest Camilo Torres Restrepo which, like "A desalambrar" were composed by the Uruguayan singer-songwriter Daniel Viglietti. Jara also sang the Latin American lullaby, "Duerme, duerme negrito" collected by Atahualpa Yupanqui. "Juan Sin Tierra" is a tribute song to the Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata written by Jorge Saldaña.
"Preguntas por Puerto Montt" is a song that condemns the Massacre of Puerto Montt perpetuated in March 9, 1969 in which they died 11 men, women, and children. In it, he also directly accuses the then Christian Democrat interior minister, Edmundo Pérez Zujovic for having ordered the massacre. While he was performing "Preguntas por Puerto Montt" in a presentation at the Saint George school in Santiago, he was attacked and beaten by students from said establishment.
In ""Móvil" Oil Special", he makes a play on words with the American oil company Mobil and Grupo Móvil, who were "feared special squads" of the Carabineros de Chile. The phrase "mata tire tirun din" is a play on words with the nursery rhyme "mandan dirun dirun dan". "If I Had a Hammer" written by Lee Hays and Pete Seeger was retitled "El Martillo". "Zamba del "Che"" is a tribute song to the Argentine guerrilla leader Che Guevara composed in 1967 by Rubén Ortiz Fernández. "Ya parte el galgo terrible" is a Sergio Ortega's composition for Pablo Neruda's play, Fulgor y muerte de Joaquin Murieta. "A Cochabamba me voy" is a "greeting to the guerrillas in Bolivia."