Jack's Spanish Fluency Journey
Buenos días, amigas. ¡Otra miércoles, otra canción! Esta semana, os traemos Danna Paola’s”Agüita” (“Water”).
What is “agüita”? Well, I looked it up several places, and for several reasons. And I got several answers! A couple of interesting ones were “tea”, which is evidently true only in Chile, and “dough”, which is what the word means in Andes. However, the most popular translation was, of course, water, which is obvious when you read the lyrics in context, as well.
Buenos días, amigas. ¡Otra miércoles, otra canción! Esta semana, os traemos Julieta Venegas’ “Eres Para Mí” (“You’re Made For Me”), con Anita Tijoux a su lado.
Another accidental find! Mi jefe (my boss) and I often send each other new or old favorites on YouTube during the workday. A few days ago, he was sending me some favorites of this from Noelia (¡hermosa voz, esa chica!) and from La Oreja de Van Gogh, when I saw this young lass lurking in the suggested songs sidebar. Something about the expression on that face convinced me that I’d be sorry if I didn’t at least give the song a try. Very glad I did. Read More
Buenos días, amigas. ¡Otra miércoles, otra canción! Esta semana, os traemos HA-ASH’s “Pedazos” (“Pieces”).
In the past few months, my library of Latino music has broadened and deepened at the same time. I’ve been exposed to more and more artists and duos, and I’ve dived into the “deep tracks” with some of my favorites (e.g., Paty Cantú and Lu). When put my music app on shuffle, though, and the shuffle eventually dishes up a HA-ASH tune, I almost always feel compelled to push the replay button a few times before moving on.
¡Otra semana, otra canción! Esta semana, nosotras tenemos Chino y Nacho’s “Andas En Mi Cabeza”, con Daddy Yankee.
How fun is this one!? Our small town has about 3 restaurants. Three, that is, that are not taco or hamburger chains. (Even those are scarce.) Our favorite is run by a Mexican-American family, and they recently hired a young waitress who struck up a conversation with my wife and me about various Latino groups we all like.
¡Otra miércoles, otra canción! Esta semana, tenemos Danna Paola’s “Agridulce” (“Bittersweet”).
¡Esta es una de mis canciones favoritas! So, why am I just now sharing it? Well, my only source for Danna’s videos used to be her “Vevo” channel on YouTube, where she boasts a total of… wait for it… 4 (four, cuatro) videos! They’re all fantastic, mind you, but what a small sampling of this chica’s work!
Today I got curious and just started cruising YouTube for her other songs. Read More
¡Otra miércoles, otra canción! Esta semana, tenemos Jenny and the Mexicats’ “Tanto Tiempo” (“So Long”)
¡Qué chévere, amigas! This song is upbeat, it’s happy, it’s lovely. It’s hilarious! Jenny and her boys dance among lyrics and musical notes flying about the screen, while telling a story of having waited for someone for so long, and finally encountering them at a party, where they danced, evidently.
Now, there really isn’t much more to the story than that, folks. If you’re looking for anything more thick-plotted, I’ll try my best to find you something soon. But isn’t that a fantastic feeling, though: after waiting tanto tiempo to see someone you love — be it a family member, una novia/novio, or even a good friend — and finally encountering them? Read More
¡Otra miércoles, otra canción! Esta semana, tenemos Jesse & Joy’s “Mi Tesoro”.
Here’s another sweet love song from one of my favorite couple of hermanas (the other being HA-ASH, of course). It’s fun to listen to, fun to watch, and fun to learn with, inasmuch as the lyrics flash across a window full of psychedelic colors and shapes. (Sorry, all you old-timers — no bouncing ball to follow here.)
The tune is upbeat, and Joy’s beautiful voice takes it over the top. Read More
¡Otra semana, otra canción — “Un Año Sin Lluvia”, de Selena Gomez!
Selena Gomez, whose initial claim to fame was, as I understand it, a role as one of the annoying little tag-alongs of the purple dinosaur whom those of us without kids hated to see dancing across the TV screen. But I won’t hold it against her, at least so long as she keeps cranking out hits like this one.
As far back as 2011 or so, I can recall seeing and hearing some of her music videos and being wowed by her vocals. I have to admit that I was never all that enthralled with the lyrics to songs like “Love You Like a Love Song” and “Hit the Lights”. (Some were all right; others I found downright silly.) But, I did (still do) enjoy the music, and pretty much everything else about them.
What I didn’t know is that Señorita Gomez had recorded anything in Spanish. Read More
¡Otra semana, otra canción! Amigas, esto es “Duele”, de Lu.
This is yet another post I had sitting in my drafts folder for some reason, but hadn’t gotten around to sharing. (Before long, I’m going to end up running out of those and have to start scouting again!) I know that I’ve been sharing a lot of Paty Cantú lately.
There are several good reasons, one of which I will share: I have received a few of her CDs recently for birthdays, etc., and I’m absolutely taken with her voice! Bear with me. I’ll eventually give you a bit more variety. Read More
¡Otra semana, otra vídeo de música: Sin Bandera’s “Que Lloro”!
I don’t know why this was still sitting around in my drafts drawer. Since September of last year! It’s a lovely song. Sad — “y no te vuelvas si no quieres que lloro por ti, que lloro sin ti” — but beautiful, all the same.
So many of the beautiful songs are sad, and vice versa. Not sure why. Anyway, Read More
Buenos días, amigas. Otra semana, otra canción… ¡”Ojalá”, de Paty Cantú!
We’ve been sharing a lot of songs from Ms. Cantú recently (well, within the past several posts, at least), and I honestly don’t see any reason to stop. Esta chica is one phenomenal talent, and I love that I can pick up on her lyrics well enough to understand many of them. (I have a harder time comprehending what Elton John’s singing, and he’s supposedly recording in English.)
This is another of her sad-but-beautiful ballads from her Corazón Bipolar album (originally). I love the way her voice builds from a sweet, tender almost-whisper at the beginning to… Well, just listen and try to describe it as she begins the coro… Read More
