He founded, in 1971, the recognized independent record label Ayuí/Tacuabé in order to promote and support valuable Uruguayan musical expressions, along with other musicians like José "Pepe" Guerra, Braulio López, Coriún Aharonián, Myriam Dibarboure, María Teresa Sande and Edgardo Bello,
He has performed the works of Cuban Nueva Trova stars Silvio Rodríguez and Pablo Milanés and Brazil's Chico Buarque and Edu Lobo and has worked with Cuban composer and arranger Leo Brouwer. His recordings are widely available, especially "Trópicos" (1972).
Viglietti was imprisoned in 1972 by his own government. He was supported by the likes of Jean-Paul Sartre as an international man of conscience, a voice for peace, and an opponent of the fascism and tyranny that plagued South America in the 1970s. Rumors about possible mistreatment against him forced the authorities to bring him out in front of television cameras to show that, in particular, his hands were fine. However, Viglietti spoke out that his treatment in police custody was much better than what other political prisoners received. He was a peer of the late Chilean poet and folk singer Victor Jara and composer and activist Violeta Parra.
Milonga del Santa Lucía
Daniel Viglietti Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Formó tu cauce llorando
Santa Lucía, cantando
Vas entre sierra y llanura
Tu voz es voz de un silencio
Lastimado por zorzales llanto de cañaverales
Silbo de pájaros indios
Entre ceibos y sauzales
Naciste de un rastro seco
Sediento estabas de cauce
Y el Arequita patriarca
Te hizo correr entre sauces
Andando siempre sediento
Del río grande y lejano
Que espera tras de los montes
Tu verde llanto serrano
Montón de luna y tacuara
Formó tu cauce llorando
Santa Lucía, cantando
Vas entre sierra y llanura
Tu voz es voz de un silencio
Lastimado por zorzales llanto de cañaverales
Silbo de pájaros indios
Lamento de piedras muertas
Que se quiebran sollozando
Montón de luna y tacuara
Formó tu cauce llorando
Indio río de azul copla
Agua dulce de ir cantando
Santa Lucía cantando
The lyrics of Daniel Viglietti's song "Milonga del Santa Lucía" describe the Santa Lucía River, which flows through Uruguay. The river is personified as it is described as singing and traveling through the mountains and plains. The first stanza speaks of the river's origin, formed by a "montón de luna y tacuara" (pile of moon and tacuara, a type of bamboo), indicating a natural and organic beginning. The river's voice is described as a voice of silence, wounded by the cries of zorzales (thrushes) and the whistling of Indian birds. These sounds evoke a sense of sadness and nostalgia.
The second stanza reveals that the Santa Lucía River was born from a dry trail and was thirsty for a riverbed. The Arequita, a legendary mountain in Uruguay, made the river flow among willows. The river is portrayed as always thirsty, seeking the distant and grand "río grande" (the great river) that awaits beyond the mountains and receives the river's green serrano (mountainous) weeping.
The chorus repeats the image of the river being formed by a "montón de luna y tacuara" and highlights the river's voice as a wounded silence, crying like zorzales in the reeds and whistling like Indian birds. The river is also described as lamenting dead stones that break while sobbing.
Line by Line Meaning
Montón de luna y tacuara
A heap of moonlight and bamboo
Formó tu cauce llorando
Shaped your channel while crying
Santa Lucía, cantando
Santa Lucía, singing
Vas entre sierra y llanura
You go between the mountains and the plains
Tu voz es voz de un silencio
Your voice is the voice of a silence
Lastimado por zorzales llanto de cañaverales
Hurt by the weeping of reed birds
Silbo de pájaros indios
Whistle of indigenous birds
Recuerdo de un sol que muere
Memory of a dying sun
Entre ceibos y sauzales
Among ceibo trees and willows
Naciste de un rastro seco
You were born from a dry trace
Sediento estabas de cauce
Thirsty for a channel
Y el Arequita patriarca
And the patriarch Arequita
Te hizo correr entre sauces
Made you run among willows
Andando siempre sediento
Always walking thirsty
Del río grande y lejano
From the big and distant river
Que espera tras los montes
That waits beyond the mountains
Tu verde llanto serrano
Your green mountain cry
Montón de luna y tacuara
A heap of moonlight and bamboo
Formó tu cauce llorando
Shaped your channel while crying
Indio río de azul copla
Indian river of a blue song
Agua dulce de ir cantando
Sweet water of going while singing
Santa Lucía cantando
Santa Lucía, singing
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
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