By Josefina Vera @josefinamvera
Editor's note: Josefina Vera, The increasingly popular Argentine singer-songwriter, who recently released her debut album Amor desvirtual, has kindly agreed to share a playlist of her favorite songs from Latin America. This playlist includes tracks by Fito Páez, Mercedes Sosa, Natalia Lafourcade, and even Shakira, among others. We hope you enjoy this compilation as much as we do.
1. Salt petal – Fito Páez. I love practically all of Fito's songs, but this one has a special connection for me. I've been singing it live for many years, and every time I rehearse it, I discover something new and even more beautiful.
2. Drop – Dante Spinetta. I discovered this song almost by chance during the pandemic. The lyrics and the voice had a magnetic effect on me. So much so, that I spent entire days listening to it on repeat. It was great company.
3. Peppermint – Serú Giran. This band, as a whole, reminds me of my childhood. Along with the Beatles, they were what we listened to most at home, and I suppose that's where my biggest influences come from. I feel like this song is perfect.
4. Anthology – Shakira. From her first album, from her early days as a singer-songwriter. It's the period of her music that I admire most. And this song in particular fills me with vivid imagery when I sing it.
5. Staying or leaving – Luis Alberto Spinetta. A song that's difficult to sing, to play, and to understand. So difficult, yet so simple at the same time, that it gives me great pleasure.
6. Inopportune – Jorge Drexler. It's a song that I particularly agree with in everything it says, and listening to it always makes me rethink things.
7. Why suffer? – Natalia Lafourcade. Firstly, the name caught my attention, which I think is excellent, and when I listened to the whole song, along with her voice, it seemed perfect to me.
8. Sinking – Juan Quintero and Luna Monti. A difficult song from any angle. I discovered it by chance at the music faculty, and it captivated me so much that I now feel the need to recommend it constantly.
9. Return to me – Fito Páez. It's impossible to choose just one of his songs. The chorus of this song forces me to stop, rethink, and start again. It connects me to my center in this race, and why not, in this life.
10. Everything changes – Mercedes Sosa. The best female voice in our country, accompanied by heartbreaking lyrics that inevitably move me deeply.
11. Disarm and bleed – Charly García. The piano in this song and the phrase "there is no school that teaches how to live" are a very exciting, yet timeless, combination.
12. I will never forget you – Marcela Morelo. I was very surprised when I found out she was the composer of this great folk song. I enjoyed rediscovering her in another genre.
13. One of the two – Miranda. This song seems so real to me, so colloquial, and so easy to identify with some part of it, that I always like to sing it again.
14. Things to tell you – Getting to Know Russia. A very current band that I discovered a few years ago and that captivated me. I think it's because of their strong "national rock band" feel, as we say in Argentina. And this song reminds me a lot of some Andrés Calamaro songs I listened to in my teens.
15. I don't know about eternal. – Josefina Vera. I chose this song from the 8 on my album because it's the one that best represents the singer-songwriter I want to be today, and where I feel I was able to best express my musical influences and tastes.