Mauricio Redolés Raises Concerns in Open Letter to SCD President Over Exclusion from Pulsar 2025 Festival

Original article: La carta abierta de Redolés al presidente de la SCD por su exclusión de la Feria Pulsar 2025

Mr. Rodrigo Osorio
President of the Society of Authors Rights (SCD)

Dear Mr. Osorio:

After several unsuccessful attempts to privately convey my thoughts regarding the Pulsar Festival, and since I have been denied access to your institutional emails by the Corporate Affairs department, I am compelled to express my concerns through this Open Letter.

For months, I have sought participation in this year’s Pulsar Festival, marking 50 years since I first performed in front of a small audience. That initial performance took place at the Public Jail of Valparaíso, where I was held as a political prisoner at just 20 years old for defending democracy in Chile.

As a result of this situation, I underwent brutal torture at the Naval War Academy and was imprisoned in various locations, including the Lebu ship, Silva Palma Barracks, and the concentration camp of Colliguay. I was eventually airlifted to Naval Hospital, where I spent a month recovering from my injuries, returning once more to the Silva Palma Barracks and Colliguay, all of which were torture and interrogation centers—even the Naval Hospital.

After four months of this “artistic tour,” I was sent back to the Public Jail of Valparaíso in April 1974. A year later, in May 1975, during the commemoration of May Day, I was invited to participate in a small event organized by political prisoners of the Communist Party, where I performed three songs. This was my first time as a popular music performer.

To commemorate these 50 years, I have requested to participate in the Pulsar Festival 2025. I communicated this to the organizers, and on September 3, I received a response from an SCD official stating that I had already participated four times in the Pulsar Festival (of which I only distinctly remember three occasions with my band and a fourth participation in a talk with Horacio Salinas about the work of Patricio Manns). However, this is my first request to perform at the Pulsar Festival to celebrate my 50 years in music.

Furthermore, this official cited the existence of a Committee that defines the programming based on proposals from record labels, winners or nominees of the Pulsar Awards, and established artists as a selection criterion.

This brings forth several questions regarding their response from September:

1. It would be beneficial for transparency to know how this Committee is selected and who comprises it.

2. Which record labels are invited to make proposals? The label that publishes my music, BETA PICTORIS, established in 1998, has released eight of my albums yet has never been invited to make proposals. What about artists without a label?

3. I believe it’s important to remind this official and her Committee that this year at the Pulsar Awards, I received two nominations for my album REDOLÉS LAVANDA.

4. Regarding being an established artist, it’s particularly complex for me to self-assess. I would simply highlight a couple of facts:

4.1. Three years ago, the National Music Promotion Council honored me with the National Music President of the Republic Award 2022, for Popular Genre.

4.2. Rolling Stone magazine selected my album ¿Quién Mató a Gaete? (1996) as one of the fifty best Chilean albums of all time, and it was also featured in the book “200 Rock Albums from Chile” (Ocho Libros).

Whenever possible, I have participated in the Pulsar Festivals by renting a stand through my record label—this year marking my fourth time—where I have had to present spontaneously amid the noise, straining my voice to accommodate the crowd of followers eager to see me.

At 72 years old, I am a survivor of all those who fought for freedom in a democratic Chile. How many composers, authors, and performers like me remain to share their experiences from that era? Many peers have passed on; I am still here. I believe I deserved more respect for my request to be present at this grand celebration of the Society of Authors Rights.

I maintain an excellent relationship with the SCD and am always available to serve as a jury in contests, conduct Poetry Workshops, and participate in extended sessions at the National Congress advocating for our rights, promptly paying my share from live shows. It’s worth noting that in my last three concerts at the Nescafé de las Artes Theatre, I have earned nothing. Yet, I have incurred over $400,000 in copyright fees (for which I am the composer and author of 95% of the songs performed), thus I am not a newcomer to this organization’s activities.

In line with my 50 years of performing, I organized a tour independently with a group of 14 individuals through various cities in the central-southern part of the country (Rancagua-Talca-Concepción). The Ministry of Cultures, Arts and Heritage supported me in a tour through the Metropolitan Region, where we held concerts in the municipalities of Lo Prado, Pudahuel, San Joaquín, and La Granja, in addition to a major concert at the Centro de Extensión del Instituto Nacional in downtown Santiago.

In October, I was invited by the Association of Publishers from Spain to participate in the Book Fair for Publishers in Madrid, making me one of the only guests from Chile to join this event alongside Chilean artists residing in Spain.

We also performed at the Berlín Café in Madrid and the Jamboree Jazz venue in Barcelona, as well as concluding a celebration of Chilean literature at the University of Padua in Italy, showing that I am still active, possibly qualifying as an “established artist,” a condition mentioned in the official’s email regarding my potential participation in Pulsar.

Last weekend, I was invited to present my book “MAURICIO REDOLÉS 50 YEARS OF SINGING AND RECITING 100 POSTERS,” at the FURIA GRÁFICA in GAM (Book Fair with an emphasis on visual arts). However, when I requested the opportunity to present this same book, which compiles 100 posters representing my 50 years of artistic career at the Pulsar Festival 2025, I was informed that I could only opt for an acoustic musical format at the stand and not both things.

After expressing my frustration about not being considered for one of the largest celebrations of Chilean music, I received a response stating that now we could present my latest book at the stand (which is only two by three meters and without sound!). Thus, I am left with no choice but to sing and recite, the surviving voice of the past, accompanied only by an acoustic guitar at the Pulsar Festival.

I was told there were no available slots for me to perform on stage with my band, the same group with whom I recorded the album that was nominated, as I mentioned earlier in two categories for the Pulsar Awards. However, I learned a few weeks ago that two new bands were added to the musical program—“If they were invited at the last minute, why weren’t you?” some musicians ask me. I ask myself the same thing.

Mr. Osorio, I am not one to complain often, but I write this now simply to express my discontent, asking you to reconsider the decision made by the Committee regarding my participation in Pulsar 2025.

I await your response.

Sincerely,
Mauricio Redolés.