Capítulo 1: ¡Hola! ¿Cómo te llamas?

Why It Matters: ¡Hola! ¿Cómo te llamas?

Welcome to the first chapter of Fundamentals of Spanish! The textbook is divided into chapters and sections, each grouped loosely around a vocabulary topic or grammar concept. In Chapter 1, we will learn the basics of saying hello, saying goodbye, and sharing some information in between. To do that, we will learn the most important verb there is: “to be.”

At the beginning of each chapter, we will offer some music to set the tone and preview the content. See if you can figure out what the song titles have in common! Then, listen to any of the songs that seem interesting to you.

Note: The lyrics are not important for now, but if you want to see the lyrics, search the band, song, and the word letra (lyrics).

Bomba Estéreo — Soy yo

Bomba Estéreo is a Colombian band founded in the capital, Bogotá, in 2005 by Simón Mejía. Their music has been described as “electro-tropical” or “psychedelic cumbia”.  (More about Bomba Estéreo on Wikipedia)

Ana Tijoux (Feat. Shadia Mansour) — Somos sur

Anamaría Tijoux Merino, commonly known by her stage name Ana Tijoux or Anita Tijoux, is a French-Chilean musician. She became famous in Latin America as the MC of hip-hop group Makiza during the late 1990s. In 2006, she crossed over to the mainstream of Latin pop after her collaboration with Mexican songstress Julieta Venegas in the radio hit “Eres para mí”.
(More about Ana Tijoux on Wikipedia)

Julieta Venegas — Eres para mí

Julieta Venegas Percevault is an American-born Mexican singer, songwriter, instrumentalist, and producer who sings pop-rock in Spanish. The Los Angeles Times praised “Her lyrics of wounded idealism and wrecked love affairs [which] extend a rich Mexican tradition of popular music imbued in bitter fatalism.” (More about Julieta Venegas on Wikipedia)

Café Tacvba — Eres

Café Tacuba (stylized Café Tacvba) is a band from Ciudad Satélite, Mexico. Their musical style covers a wide variety of genres, though it is most commonly labeled as Latin Alternative/Rock en Español. Their music has been heavily influenced by Mexico’s indigenous population and folk music traditions, but also by punk and electronic music and other bands on the Mexico City scene. (More about Café Tacvba on Wikipedia)