Before
I even heard the entirety of the first two measures I was transfixed. Immediately,
my shoulders and head began to sway along with the enchanting melody. At that
moment I wasn’t even aware that I had tuned out what was occurring on the screen
and been transported to another plane. The perfect combination of melody and
voice had overtaken my unconscious. That I did not understand every word of
Spanish was of no importance.
Later,
I tried to figure out where I had gone during that melodic few minutes. It
wasn’t exactly back to Brazil, but that was the overriding feeling. Bits of
tropical landscape – not clear or defined – swirled in my mind. I was in a place
I had once known with feelings I had once felt. An overriding sensory immersion
into happiness. Wherever the song had taken me, I needed to find the composer
and singer.
It did not take long to find a recording of the song, and a bit longer to find Amulio José Espinoza, the lyricist and singer. I then continued to search for the lyrics, to no avail. Although my Spanish is more than passible, listening to a song – which is basically a poem – is not that straight forward. Finally I found a contact email and sent off my request for the lyrics. Amulio kindly responded.
El peso de me tristeza,
Recibido al nacer
En el fondo quieto
Del agua turbia
Sueña el eco
Lentamente
Me hundo
contigo
El juego de tu mirada
Me incita a beber
Del fuego creciente
que nada juzga
Fuera del cuento
Dulcemente
Me sumo
herido
El beso de tu recuerdo
Me hace saber
si es cierto
que cerca estoy del cielo
Lejos del suelo
Lentamente
Me hundo
Tristemente
Me uno
Vencido
Music: Antti Lehtinen
Lyrics: Amulio Jose Espinosa / Marja
Pyykkö
It made perfect sense that Amulio is
from Mexico, although now resides in Finland.
I don’t know anything about the composer, Antti Lehiten, but remain astonished that someone from Finland wrote a melody that came straight from the tropics of Latin America.
It was quite surprising that this
beautiful song is part of a Finnish TV series that takes place in both Finland
and Spain. Although it really shouldn’t be. Afterall, American music is often
used in foreign series and films. And it is a great show. In the US it is
available on ACORN TV .
Many thanks to Amulio and Antti for
giving me a few moments of pure joy.
