His Hands Were Gentle brings together, for the first time in both Spanish and English, the best of Vctor Jara’s lyrics, from early songs like ‘El arado’ to ‘Estadio Chile’ written in the hours before his execution there. They reveal Jara as an ardent political poet, an eloquent advocate for the peasantry from which he arose, a socialist visionary and a poetic balladeer of the highest order.

Translations by Martn Espada, Eduardo Embry, John Green, Joan Jara and Adrian Mitchell.