Salvadoran Refugees Audio Cassette Collection MS.2017.010

Contributing Institution: Special Collections and Archives

Title: Salvadoran Refugees Audio Cassette Collection

Identifier/Call Number: MS.2017.010

Physical Description: 0.92 Linear Feet

Date (inclusive): 1982-1983

Abstract: The Mesa Grande refugee camp was located 30 miles from the border of El Salvador in Honduras. Over 10,000 refugees lived there in 1983, mainly children, women and elderly people from the rural provinces of Cabañas, Chalatenango, and Morazán in northern El Salvador. They had fled into Honduras to escape Salvadoran Army counter-insurgency tactics that included the murder, torture and rape of unarmed peasants and the destruction of entire villages through the burning of houses and crops. Their stories are told through songs and poems which give testimony to their violent past, depict their present life in the refugee camp, and express their strong will to survive and undaunted faith in the future. Firmly rooted in oral traditions, these songs and poems represent the refugees' collective memory; they document the trauma they endured and insure that the past will not be forgotten. The material was recorded in Mesa Grande by the members of the Latin American folk music group Sabiá (Cindy Harding, Libby Harding, Mari Riddle, and Ericka Verba), who also performed for the refugees during their visit to the camp. Based in Los Angeles, the band was committed to promoting cross-cultural understanding and human rights through song. Founded in 1976 and disbanded in 1989, Sabiá was active in the U.S. solidarity movement with Central America, toured extensively throughout the United States and Canada, and recorded three albums.

Language of Material: English .

Salvadorian Refugees Audio Cassettes Collection is the physical property of California State University, Los Angeles, John F. Kennedy Memorial Library, Special Collections and Archives.

Folder title, Series, Box number, Collection title, followed by Special Collections and Archives, John F. Kennedy Memorial Library, California State University, Los Angeles

The collection is organized into two series: I: Audio Cassettes and Digital Files

The collection contains approximately ten hours of songs and poems by Salvadorean refugees, recorded in August, 1983, in the UN refugee camp of Mesa Grande, Honduras, by members of the music group Sabiá. The audio recordings are accompanied by text files containing hand-written field notes for all of the tapes, loose sheets of song lyrics, the published book and accompanying audio cassette Escuchen Nuestras Voces/Hear our Voices (Sabiá, 1984) based on the material, and miscellaneous related items. The collection also contains approximately forty minutes of songs and poems of the refugees that was recorded and sent to Sabiá sometime after their visit to Mesa Grande.

The Mesa Grande refugee camp was located 30 miles from the border of El Salvador in Honduras. Over 10,000 refugees lived there in 1983, mainly children, women and elderly people from the rural provinces of Cabañas, Chalatenango, and Morazán in northern El Salvador. They had fled into Honduras to escape Salvadoran Army counter-insurgency tactics that included the murder, torture and rape of unarmed peasants and the destruction of entire villages through the burning of houses and crops. Their stories are told through songs and poems which give testimony to their violent past, depict their present life in the refugee camp, and express their strong will to survive and undaunted faith in the future. Firmly rooted in oral traditions, these songs and poems represent the refugees' collective memory; they document the trauma they endured and insure that the past will not be forgotten.

The material was recorded in Mesa Grande by the members of the Latin American folk music group Sabiá (Cindy Harding, Libby Harding, Mari Riddle, and Ericka Verba), who also performed for the refugees during their visit to the camp. Based in Los Angeles, the band was committed to promoting crosscultural understanding and human rights through song. Founded in 1976 and disbanded in 1989, Sabiá was active in the U.S. solidarity movement with Central America, toured extensively throughout the United States and Canada, and recorded three albums.

The collection contains approximately ten hours of songs and poems by Salvadorean refugees, recorded in August, 1983, in the UN refugee camp of Mesa Grande, Honduras, by members of the music group Sabiá. The audio recordings are accompanied by text files containing hand-written field notes for all of the tapes, loose sheets of song lyrics, the published book and accompanying audio cassette Escuchen Nuestras Voces/Hear our Voices (Sabiá, 1984) based on the material, and miscellaneous related items. The collection also contains approximately forty minutes of songs and poems of the refugees that was recorded and sent to Sabiá sometime after their visit to Mesa Grande.

Series I: Audio Cassettes Inclusive Dates: 1982-1983 Arrangement: Alphabetical and there under chronological

This series includes audio cassettes of songs by and interviews with Salvadorian refugees living in Mesa Grande, a UN refugee camp in Honduras. The material was collected by members of the Los Angeles-based new song group, Sabiá (Cindy Harding, Libby Harding, Mari Riddle, and Ericka Verba) in 1983. The series contains additionally: the audio cassette "Escuchen Nuestras Voces/Hear our Voices," featuring songs and poems by the refugees produced by Sabiá in 1983; an audio cassette of an interview with international aid worker; an interview with a refugee in Mesa Grande; an audio cassette of songs and poems recorded by the refugees and sent to Sabiá after the band's visit to Mesa Grande (labeled "Savia").

Series II: Files Inclusive Dates: 1982-1983 Arrangement: Alphabetical and there under chronological

This series consists of three files: a. Tape Catalog and Notes, u.d.; b. Lyric Sheets, u.d; c. Escuchen Nuestras Voces / Hear Our Voices. One file includes handwritten catalog and notes referencing the material found on the audiocassettes recorded by Sabiá in Mesa Grande in 1983. Another file contains handwritten and typed lyric sheets for approximately 30 songs and poems. Some were produced by the refugees in Mesa Grande and some were transcribed by the members of Sabiá and friends from the songs found on the audiocassettes recorded by Sabiá in Mesa Grande 1983. A third file contains a copy of the bilingual songbook Escuchen Nuestras Voces / Hear Our Voices that accompanies the audiocassette by the same title, published by Sabiá in 1983.