...because I felt like writing about the music on tv

I’ve fallen out of love with telenovelas. I’m not sure why. Maybe I grew up, and decided they weren’t very realistic. Or I grew old, and knew I would not be bothered with emotional roller-coasters I had no control over. It could be that I grew tired, of names like Dalmonella and Escondida de la Contravez, which conveniently missed my birth certificate. Whichever it is, I’m not part of the gang of giggly girls who revel in post-show analysis, and I don’t miss the days I moped in a corner because ECG had visited at the time Rosalinda was due to air. 

This…hypothesis, does not, at all, stop me from enjoying telenovela music. Word! Some songs from these three-hundred-and-ninety-two-episode-long television shows (not counting the moments of absentmindedness which cause the television channel to repeat some episodes, and the breaks to show football matches, which make telenovelas four-hundred-and-seventy-two-episode-long shows) seem to hit me hard on some soft spot, and ambush me with this surge of giddiness that just won’t go away until I hunt down the song, download it, and have it on replay. The magic could be the language—often Spanish or Portuguese, and everything sounds better in those!—or the raw passion in the singers’ voices, but these songs will have your knees on the ground, a smile on your face, and a foot in beautiful Nirvana.

Golondrinas viajeras from Soy tu Dueña (performed by Joan Sebastian and Lucero)

For some reason Lucero’s voice in this song makes me think of a very sexually satisfied woman, and I imagine her lying down on the ground, wearing a robe so long it’s the carpet of the floor she’s on, her hands raised above her in jubilation of sorts, her glowing face showing how happy she was about marriage and life. Her voice is so warm and rich and lazy and suggestive of a secret she’s not going to tell, ‘but I’ll leave you a clue with this smile in my voice,’ she seems to be saying. On top of everything, it’s a duet with a man whose voice oozes loads of experience.

This is the kind of song I imagine would fit in salsa class and cowboy bars—you know, those ones in the Westerns, with short, swinging doors and men sitting around drinking beer, wearing cowboy hats and boots with stirrups. Epic. One of my friends can sing it all. Every. Single. Word.

Hoy te vuelvo a enamorar from El Cuerpo del Deseo (performed by Diego Vargas)

Now this one is music you’d imagine will be played at a traditional, Mexican hacienda feast if ever I saw one. (What’s a traditional Mexican hacienda feast? Beats me.) It’s like a vortex—it sucks you in right from the start and makes no apologies. Those bold opening notes—I can’t say what instrument exactly makes them, it sounds like one of the horns, with accompanying percussion—are just so strong and manly and Spanish.

The song itself is sung with a lot of gusto and fervor and pure heart and strength that it’s both completely sincere in its rawness and almost daring, like there’s an underlying ‘You dare not think I’m making this up. This is me being honest right here!’

Perdoname from Corazon Indomable (performed by Camilo Blanes)

If it was possible to capture perfection and put it in a song, this would be it. Word. I remember hearing this one once when I was coming out of my parents’ room. And I was stunned silly that it wasn’t the main theme song. (I mean, Dejalo ir isn’t bad, but this one is miles better!) It’s got the right balance of passion, sincerity that is impossible to ignore, earnestness that just pulls at the stings of your heart. Go and download it. I did. Didn’t care at all about the telenovela but this song I couldn’t let pass me by.

It goes without telling (‘Oh does it really?’) that it’s a song I easily imagine people would make babies to.

Collecionistas de Canciones from Las Dos Caras de Ana (performed by Camila)

Ooh, this one. I don’t understand a word of it (surprise, surprise), but, call it a Spanish advantage, it carries me along. From the delicate strumming of strings at the beginning, to the ferocious drum banging at the end, plus that killer, fervent bridge, it is impossible, nay, inconceivable, that anyone would hear this one and not like it. It’s sweet, it’s wild, it’s imploring, it’s demanding, it’s more than just lyrics and a beat.

There are a ton of others that deserve equally honorary mentions, but those get the privilege of appearing in another post. I know. Real privilege that is. What are your favourite telenovela songs, though?