The Premier of Worldwide Wednesdays

On Wednesdays, I am going to write about non-English-language music in a series I will call: Worldwide Wednesdays!

I have a huge body of world music to work with, but I’m going to start with an artist from our beautiful neighbor to the south: México. 

My first semester at UC Berkeley, in 2006, I lived in a housing co-op. This particular co-op had a managed music server that was barrier-free for residents of the co-op to share and access. This is in the days before streaming, so this was an extremely valuable commodity, and one used by all residents frequently. But none more than me.

One of the artists I was introduced to that semester was a singer-songwriter from Tijuana named Julieta Venegas. It felt like stumbling across a goldmine.

Mexican music tends to be regional in its variations and genres (this is an entire academic article unto itself). Julieta Venegas was unique in that she released a traditional singer-songwriter album that could be popular across the Spanish-speaking world. Even more so, her brand of song was so excellent that she ended up becoming a crossover hit in the United States, although more in the college radio space rather than mainstream top 40. 

Her most memorable song is called “Andar Conmigo,” or “Walk With Me” in English. Its structure is very simple, but beautiful. But the essence of this song’s staying power is its raw emotionality. Ms. Venegas was imbued with the ability to convey any number of emotions through her voice and a guitar.

The best part of this song are the lyrics, which are available both in their original Spanish and in English translation at Musixmatch.

Listen to this song, and follow along with the lyrics. I promise you’ll like it, even if you don’t know a word of Spanish.