My parents had a large collection of vinyl and my job after each party at home was to put the records back in their sleeves. That is how I first discovered The Doors, The Beatles, Bob Marley and, of course, Fania All Stars. My father also loved jazz, but that love didn’t permeate me. Perhaps if the cartoon of the three pigs and the wolf wouldn’t have had jazzy trumpets as weapons, it could have been different. I love “Take Five” by The Dave Brubeck Quartet and can listen again and again to “The Koln Concert” by Keith Jarret, but that is about it.

The love for The Beatles, on the other hand, is a family affair. My parents didn’t have specific albums. Only a compilation of 8 records that I had the fortune to find again at a flea market in Bogota. It turns out it was a very special one, as it included some different mixes of some of the tracks that were unavailable anywhere else at the time. I used to sing the songs way before I understood what they said. Later, I rediscovered the songs through their original albums and fell in love again. Still, my favorite versions will always be Hugh Marshall’s, 1980.  

I guess musical tastes are created early on and are difficult to shake. I still love almost anything from the 1960s and 1970s but there are very few contemporary favorite singers or bands that I could mention if my life depended on it. Right now, I can only think of Fleet Foxes. The Doors and Bob Marley’s songs remain recurrent hymns. It is hard to find more meaningful lyrics than “Emancipate yourself from mental slavery, none but our self can free our minds”. And Jim Morrison’s intense words literally light my fire.

Somehow I feel differently about music in Spanish. Recently I have been getting a huge kick out of Latin Party Anthems’ list in Spotify. While I fast forward many songs, there are some that I can’t get enough of. They just make me feel happy and upbeat in the privacy of my earphones. Marc Anthony’s “Tu amor me hace bien” and “Vivir mi vida” are my life elixirs. I am also obsessed with Santiago Cruz’s “Vida de mis vidas”. “Esta vida nos sigue sorprendiendo, vida de mis vidas, nos sigue regalando la alegría, nos muestra que es posible la utopía” resonates deeply with the way I want to continue embracing every day. What are your hymns?