El Movimiento de Nueva Cancion, the New Song Movement, began in the late 1950's and early 1960's in Chile, South America. It was a time when the poor farmers started to realize that maybe they did not have to live under the thumb of the Oligarchs and the Dictators. Violeta Parra was the first to sing about human rights, how difficult the struggle was to survive, and the trimuph of good over bad. The movement blossomed in the early 1970's during the populist socialist government of Salvador Allende and flourished until his assasination in 1973 when the military staged a coup and intstalled a strongman who became a dictator. Augusto Pinochet arrested and imprisoned all human rights activists, singers, poets, uniton leaders and all free thinkers. Thousands were killed while imprisoned and thousand went to live in exile but the new song movement continued and found life in Argentina, Bolivia and Uruguay. This is the story of the singers and musicians of El Movimiento de Nueva Cancion. (Term 2 Class)