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Birth
Victor Lidio Jara Martinez was born on September 23, 1932. His father was Manuel Jara and his mother was Amanda Martinez. They were farmer. Victor was born in Lonquen, Chile. -
Working child
On May 22 1938 Victor Jara had to work as a child. He had to work with his siblings. They had to get firewood. They also had to chop down small trees with an axe. Then they had to take care of the pigs that they raised. -
Dad Leaves
On June 17th 1940 Victor Jaraś father left. He left after several year of being unhappy. Victor´s dad left his mother to take care of him and all his siblings. -
Teaching
For Victor Jara´s family to make money they rented a room to a school teacher in August 23, 1942. The teacher also knew how to play the guitar. So she taught Victor how to play a few cords. -
Period: to
Family
In the 1950ś Victor Jara met Joan Turner Bunster, a dance teacher. Slowly they started dating and ended up marrying in 1965. They had a daughter Amanda, along with Joan´s daughter from her past marriage, Manuel. -
Army
Victor Jaraś mother died from having a stroke and for a few years he joined a seminary. In 1952 Victor quit the seminary and joined the Chilean Army. Victor did well and got to the rank of sergeant first class. He got identified as officer material but instead he went to Santiago. -
Choir
Victor Jara tried out for the choir at the university of Chile from seeing ads for the audition. His audition was successful and appeared on stage in Carl Orffś dressed as a monk. By the end of 1954 he made some friends among the choir´s membership. He traveled with them to the north of Chile to learn about the folk music of the region. -
Song Writing
On February 25 1962 Victor Jara started writing songs. Some of Victor´s songs were personal. Some songs were biographical. Then his songs were varied and started singing different types of songs. -
Captured
On September 11, 1973 Chilean troops under the command of General Augusto Pinochet mounted a coup against the Allende government. Victor was captured and taken to a large sports stadium. He did not have food and was sleep deprived for 4 days. His hands were broken from soldiers who told him to play guitar with his hurt hands. At some point (probaly on September 15th) he was taken to a deserted area and was shot. -
R.I.P
Victor Jara died when he was 40 years old. He died september 15th 1973. Victor died from Chilean security during the coup that deposed Salvador Allende, their countrýs elected president.