Color esperanza — Diego Torres (2001)

Why it's in this book

Color esperanza comes in June, with Waka Waka, for the end-of-year concert. In class both are played with the same loop of four chords: C, G, A minor and F, the I–V–vi–IV family. It is the loop that comes up most in this book: Love Story, Anti-Hero, Perfect, Stay and drivers license live there too. To be clear: the record has more chords than those four, especially in the verses, and it is in G. In class we play a reduced version, moved to C, using the loop. In the room with no instruments we sing it with body percussion, and in the chorus the second voice sings a third above on "saber que se puede". In the ukulele room, the four chords. And in the music room the whole band plays it.

Why this song

You may have sung it as a small child without knowing it: Cantajuego, the Spanish children's group, made a version for kids. Or you may have heard it in 2020, when dozens of singers recorded it together during the pandemic.

The question on this page is: what makes a chorus something everyone sings? Here the answer is in the way it rises.

Historical context

Diego Torres is an Argentine singer. In 2001 he released the album Un mundo diferente ("A Different World"), and "Color esperanza" ("The Colour of Hope") was on it. It came out as a single in January 2002.

Three people wrote it: Torres himself, Coti Sorokin and Cachorro López, who also produced it. It was recorded in three cities: Buenos Aires, Madrid and Miami.

Foto: Carlos Figueroa Rojas, CC BY-SA 4.0, vía Wikimedia Commons

Diego Torres in 2018, at an awards show in Chile.

Argentina was going through a very hard economic crisis at the time, and the song came out right in the middle of it. It was number 1 in Argentina.

After that, the song stayed alive. In 2013, a group of Spanish singers recorded it to support the fight against breast cancer, and that version was number 1 in Spain. In 2020, during the pandemic, dozens of artists recorded "Color esperanza 2020". All the money raised went to the Pan American Health Organization.

Musical characteristics

A chorus that rises. Listen to the verses: the voice is calm, almost speaking. When the chorus arrives, the melody goes up and the song opens out. That contrast is what makes the chorus stick in your head.

Four chords in a loop. In class we accompany it with C, G, A minor and F, one after another, again and again. A series of chords that repeats like this is called a loop. It is the same loop as Waka Waka, which is why we play them together.

What the record has. The record is richer. The verses go through more chords: B7, E minor, D minor, G7. Those extra chords give the verse its questioning feel. In 1º ESO we start with the loop and leave the rest for when it is in your fingers.

From G to C. The record is in G major. In class we move it to C, because the ukulele chords are easier in C. Moving a whole song to a different pitch is called transposing. If you sing along with the record using the class chords, it will not fit.

Two voices. On "saber que se puede", a second voice sings the same words a third higher. It is the distance that lets two voices sound together without clashing.

Facts: G major on the record and C major in class, 4/4, 101 beats per minute, 4:27.

Guided listening

Play the music video. In the first verse, notice how calm the voice is. How many instruments can you hear?

When the first chorus arrives ("Saber que se puede"), listen to the melody rise. Compare the energy with the verse.

In the second verse, try singing the chorus in your head before it comes. If you get it right, it has already stuck.

At the end, when the chorus repeats, count how many times it comes back. Notice whether voices or instruments are added in the last rounds.

Trivia and curiosities

• It was recorded in three cities on two continents: Buenos Aires, Madrid and Miami. One singer's song, made in three places.

• In Spain it had two lives: the original reached number 11, and the 2013 "Por ellas" version reached number 1. Sometimes a song does better the second time round.

• The 2020 version was made to raise money during the pandemic. The same song served an economic crisis in 2001 and a health crisis twenty years later.

• Cantajuego has its own version. You may have sung it long before you knew who Diego Torres was.

Classroom activities

• The loop. On ukulele: C, G, A minor, F. One chord per bar, four downstrokes. When it works, sing the chorus on top.

• Two songs, one loop. Play the loop without stopping and sing the chorus of Color esperanza over it, then the chorus of Waka Waka.

• The third. Half the class sings "saber que se puede" with the melody. The other half sings a third above. Put them together.

• Band. In the music room, the whole band: drums with a pop beat, ukulele bass on the lowest note of each chord, keyboard and ukuleles on the chords. Get it ready for the concert.

• Transposing. With the record playing, try the class chords. Do they fit? Now play G, D, E minor and C. What about now?

Key vocabulary

• Chorus — estribillo
• Loop — bucle: una serie de acordes que se repite
• Transposing — transportar
• Third — tercera: la distancia entre dos voces que suenan juntas sin chocar

Resources

Official music video — Diego Torres's official channel.

MTV Unplugged, to compare — The same song played acoustically, on the official channel.

Ukulele tutorial — Ukelele Tutoriales, in Spanish.

Guitar tutorial — Christianvib, in Spanish. The record's chords, on acoustic guitar.

Keyboard tutorial — EA Music. Beginner level.

Drums — SulyDrumCovers. Not a step-by-step tutorial: it is the whole song played on drums, so you can see the beat.