THE FIRST 9/11

This is not only the 50th Anniversary of the Coup, but it has an even greater poignancy for us: it was exactly 40 years ago that Vladimir joined Grand Union Music Theatre for our seminal show Strange Migration. He remained a core member of the Company, and one of its most significant artists, for the next 25 years. He died at the age of 60 in 2013 – so this is the also the 10th anniversary of that sad event.

While all the Chilean musicians naturally brought their musical heritage and with them, Vladimir also took the view that his responsibility was to make his life here as an artist, and to fashion a new identity as a British musician. For this he gained enormous respect for his courage, humanity and persistence.

What he couldn’t leave behind, of course, was the traumatic memory of his experience in Chile in the 1970s, and his deep concern and compassion for all those who suffered worse than he did. Expressing this became the lodestone of his art, what he always wrote about, For better or worse, many artists successfully exorcise their demons in this way, but others risk simply torturing themselves further.

Read the full story on Tony Haynes blog here