Pianist strikes chord of unity in Halifax’s North End

Amid widespread political and social unrest, a message of unity against tyranny could be heard in Halifax’s North End on Wednesday. 

Renowned Canadian pianist Corey Hamm brought his hour-long rendition of The People United Will Never Be Defeated to about 40 listeners at The Peggy Corkum Music Room.

The work is a piano rendition of a Chilean folk protest song called El pueblo unido jamás será vencido. Hamm, a winner of the 1992 National Chamber Music Competition said people are always “blown away by this piece.”

“Not only musically, but I think also the meaning of the title.” 

In 1975, the adaptation was created by Frederic Rzewski, a politically minded left-wing composer and pianist. At the time of composing, the Chilean folk song was being covered and reproduced by bands worldwide in solidarity against the violent military dictatorship ruling Chile. 

The chorus of the song, “The people united will never be defeated,” was originally taken from a 1940s speech by Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, a socialist Colombian who was assassinated in 1948. 

Isaac Saney, Dalhousie University professor of Black and African Diaspora Studies, said the slogan is still chanted at “progressive left-wing” demonstrations around the world, such as in anti-war rallies in support of Palestine.

“I think people are, in contemporary circumstances, once again talking about the ability of human beings to come together, and transform what are frightening circumstances for the good of humanity.” 

Hope Salmonson, a composer and tuba player with a master’s degree in music from the University of British Columbia, attended Hamm’s performance. Salmonson said that Hamm explaining the song’s spirit of unity and resistance before the show helped her experience a “story being woven rather than notes being played.” 

Salmonson said her mind went to some of the imagery “around people uniting,” that Hamm spoke about. Salmonson said that as a trans woman, there were “plenty of contemporary counterparts to that imagery.”

In an interview with The Signal, Hamm said the idea of ‘the people united will never be defeated,’ has always been relevant for people in “distant lands.”

“It’s sort of sad to me now that it actually means something in the United States and in Canada.” 

The piece features different piano styles like jazz, ’70s rock, avant-garde and folk throughout the piece, each representing different types of people. At the end of the performance, the styles are played simultaneously.

“The people become united,” Hamm said. 

“There’s so many things and more to come, sad to say,” Hamm said, “now is the time when countries and people are hopefully starting to realize they need to join — they have to fight.”