STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Let's take a moment to hear a song about friendship. It's part of a series called Songs That Move You from NPR's radio show and podcast, Alt.Latino, hosted by Anamaria Sayre and Felix Contreras. Here's Felix.
FELIX CONTRERAS, BYLINE: The story behind the song this week is about what happens when a young man's dreams got derailed and how his life experiences shaped the rest of his life. But first, let me introduce you to Eunice.
EUNICE AGUILAR: Hi. I'm Eunice Aguilar, and the song that moves me is "Amigo" by Roberto Carlos.
(SOUNDBITE OF ROBERTO CARLOS SONG, "AMIGO")
CONTRERAS: It was written in the late 1970s by the Brazilian songwriting team of Erasmo Carlos and Roberto Carlos. And even though they share the last name, they're not related. They had a setup like many songwriting teams do - one person writes the lyrics, and the other person writes the music. And in this song, Roberto was looking back at their history of many successful pop songs in the Latin music space, so the lyrics are basically a meditation on his friend's character, the things that made him such a stand-up guy. And Ana, we have another one of those songs with deeply emotional lyrics and sentiments set to a very nice, danceable beat.
ANAMARIA SAYRE, BYLINE: Felix, you know that's my favorite kind of song.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "AMIGO")
ROBERTO CARLOS: (Singing in Spanish).
SAYRE: Those lines - you are the brother of my soul, my true real friend.
CONTRERAS: Eunice says the song's lyrics about character, loyalty, selflessness could have been written about her dad.
AGUILAR: That's why that song, man, it just gets me, like, straight in the heart. Every single time I hear it, I cry.
CONTRERAS: Octavio Guzman Aguilar, Eunice's father, he was born 84 years ago in Cochabamba, Bolivia. He was the oldest of eight siblings. And when he was a teenager, he had dreams of becoming an engineer. Eunice says he was fascinated by all things mechanical. He even had his eye on either Germany or Brazil to study. But first, he moved to the U.S. to live with an older stepbrother to save some money for school.
SAYRE: Such a common immigrant experience, even now.
CONTRERAS: Then Octavio's dad died, and the family lost their main source of income and the housing that was supplied by the railroad company that he worked for. So his dreams of going away to study took a back seat to bringing his mother and his siblings to the U.S. And all of a sudden, he became the head of a household.
AGUILAR: That was the expectation that my grandmother put on my dad, being the oldest male child. And it was kind of just, like, an automatic thing. Like, well, you're the next person in line. That's how we're going to survive.
CONTRERAS: There's a line in this song that speaks to how these life challenges can build character, as they did for her dad, Octavio.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "AMIGO")
CARLOS: (Singing in Spanish).
CONTRERAS: The lyrics say, in certain difficult moments in life, we are looking for someone to help us find the way out. And for 10 years - between 1963 and 1973 - her dad was the man of the house providing that way out.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "AMIGO")
CARLOS: (Singing in Spanish).
CONTRERAS: The lyrics continue, I remember that together we had very hard times, and you didn't change, no matter how strong the winds were.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "AMIGO")
CARLOS: (Singing in Spanish).
CONTRERAS: Eunice said that there is one line in particular in the song "Amigo" that speaks volumes about how she sees her dad. It says, (speaking Spanish).
SAYRE: Although you are a man, you still have the soul of a child.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "AMIGO")
CARLOS: (Singing in Spanish).
SAYRE: That line means so much when you think about what it means in Eunice's dad's life but also what it means for so many others who had to give up being young in order to take on the responsibilities of being an adult.
CONTRERAS: And in this context, the line seems to suggest that the soul of a child is always there somehow, some way, maybe right on the surface, maybe buried deep in a place within. And Eunice says that despite giving up on his own dreams, her dad remains young at heart, loves to dance and loves to listen to music like this song "Amigo."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "AMIGO")
CARLOS: (Singing in Spanish).
INSKEEP: Felix Contreras and Anamaria Sayre, the hosts of Alt.Latino, a podcast and radio show that takes a weekly look at Latin music and culture. You can find it online or on your local NPR station. And they want to hear about a song that moves you, just as "Amigo" moved Eunice Aguilar. Write to them at [email protected]. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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