Next year, 2021, Mexico’s immortal song, Besame Mucho will turn 90. Nearly a century has passed, this masterpiece still remains as if the nostalgia, as if the couple’s desire has never stopped inspiring.
Consuelo Velazquez, author of the song of the century Besame Mucho
Its author, Consuelo Velazquez, if still alive, would have passed the age of 100. Even though she passed away 15 years ago, the musical legacy she left behind is priceless, including the immortal love song, Besame Mucho.
Imaginary kiss
The name Consuelo Velazquez is no longer unique to the North American country, Mexico. The legacy she left behind for humanity is famous musical works, the most brilliant of which are songs Besame Mucho, a song that opened the door to bringing Mexican music outside the border and bringing the name of female musicians to the world.
Consuelo Velazquez was born in 1916, died in 2005 in Mexico. She began playing the piano at age 4, starting her career as a classical pianist at the Palacio de Bellas Artes conservatory and XEQ Radio, but later became a singer and recording musician. In addition to this song, she also composed hundreds of other works, but only Besame Mucho most famous, has the most fans.
One of the early sheet music for the song Besame Mucho
Popular with collectors
What makes Besame Mucho so loved?
First, Besame Mucho (Kiss me a lot – Kiss me a lot) is a sad love song. And that sadness was written in the bolero rhythm that had just been introduced to Mexico at that time, while samba, mambo, and tango were the music that was floating around in the Latin region. More importantly, Consuelo Velazquez was a rare female author who wrote music in the bolero mode at that time.
Second, the sadness of the song is a beautiful sadness, the eternal sadness of a pair of lovers who are about to be separated. In the song, the girl sobs “Kiss me a lot/As if tonight is the last night/Because I’m afraid of losing you/Losing you forever/Hold me tightly/To see you in my eyes/To see you so close/Because tomorrow/I will have to leave you/To be far away from you forever”…
A song with lyrical, romantic, passionate and passionate words, maybe in later times, it was a very normal thing, but in the 30s of the last century, it was a symbolic breakthrough.
When listening to the song, many people mistakenly think that these are the words of an author who has experienced life and the pain of love. But it turns out it’s not. When she wrote this song, Consuelo Velazquez was just… 15 years old, a pure girl, had never had a relationship and (as she later recounted), had never kissed anyone.
“It was one afternoon, sitting at the piano, in a mood of spontaneity that I improvised the overflowing emotions and desires. At that time, I didn’t even know how to write notes,” Consuelo Velazquez later recalled.
In that year 1931, when Besame Mucho was born, it immediately became a bomb, just like the image that shocked a generation when Brigitte Bardot wore a two-piece swimsuit in the movie And God created woman later.
Because in the 30s of the last century, Mexican society was still very conservative, parents placed their children there, respected men over women, religion determined the standards, women needed to avoid contact with men, stay away from temptation, kissing was a sin…
Yet there is a girl who dares to stand up and call for “kiss me a lot”. The bolero melody along with the passionate lyrics keep creeping in, slowly but penetrating deeply into the listener’s heart, creating a deep sadness.
Besame Mucho quickly became the thoughts and dreams of the majority of the public at that time, even though it was just an imaginary kiss of the creator. And also just equal Besame Mucho, Consuelo Velazquez became a monument, a fighter for women’s rights, a model for the women’s liberation movement of her time.
And from then on, Besame Mucho become the best Mexican song of all time, becoming the pride of the land of tequila.
Continue reading Part 2
Lesson: Kha Anh – Art Columnist
