"Color Esperanza" by Diego Torres

Hello Everyone!

Today I want to share with you a song from one of my favorite Argentine singers. His name is Diego Torres.

Diego has been singing very successfully for more than 20 years. He is also a songwriter, producer and an actor. His music is always very positive. Some of his colleagues call it the happiness pill everyone needs everyday. Diego is a classic example of a typical Argentine. He is from Italian and Spanish background and he is fluent in several languages including Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese.

His music is a combination of Latin American rhythms. He mixes pop with some other rhythms that are popular in several Hispanic countries, reggae, samba, rumba, and sometimes even including rumba flamenca.

"Color Esperanza" or "The color of hope" is a very inspiring and catchy song. It has been his biggest hit and he has had the opportunity of singing it in different languages like Italian, Portuguese and Spanish while traveling around the world to share his music and support causes that help children in need.

Diego was invited to sing this song to Pope John Paul the 2nd in Spain at the World Youth Convention in 2003. Color Esperanza became in Argentine schools a message of hope for the families and the second hymn played in all national historic holidays.

The video I share with my students is the unplugged version of the song. Diego's MTV unplugged was done in Buenos Aires in 2004 and it became a huge success selling the album and DVD and multiple sold out tours from Mexico to Argentina. In the video he does an acoustic performance of the song and also invites a group of children from "La Chilinguita" music group to perform with him. These children play the drums in the Brazilian urban percussion style, very popular in the neighborhoods surrounding Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. He also sings the chorus of the song in Portuguese on the video.

Diego, inviting them to play with him, supports the efforts of "La Chilinga" music school to help children in Buenos Aires develop their talents and appreciate their traditional music. Some of these children can't attend school because they need to work to help support their families, the music school allows them to have a space to enrich their education bringing music to their neighborhoods and communities, making it more accessible.

This song presents a wonderful opportunity to discuss the following:
-The influence of the different Latin American rhythms in countries other than  those in which they originate.
-The strong ties between Argentina and its neighbor Brazil.
-How different Argentina is from other Latin American countries because of the fact that 97% of the population is fully European with only 3% having any native (indigenous) Latin American background. That makes them have the influence of European languages and culture in their own. Someone said once that Argentines are "Europeans born in Latin America who speak Spanish with an Italian accent" =)
-You can also talk about the situation of many children in the Hispanic world who can't attend school and need to work, many times on the streets selling candy or other goods, to help their families make ends meet.

The song with its message gives us the opportunity to encourage our students to be positive and believe in themselves.

Here the video and lyrics.

This is the first song of Diego Torres that I am discussing but it will not be the last. I love his music!!!

You can access his web site here.

Thanks for your time and "Hasta la próxima"