Marta, Sebas, Guille y los demás — Amaral (2005)

Why this song

In Spain this is the song everyone sings at village fiestas, weddings and on long car journeys. The names in the title are real people. Marta is Eva Amaral's best friend from childhood. And Guille, the friend the song says she lost touch with, called the record label when he heard it so they could get back in contact.

Historical context

Amaral is a duo. Eva Amaral comes from Zaragoza and Juan Aguirre from San Sebastián. They met in 1992 in a bar in Zaragoza. She played drums in a local punk band and he played guitar in another group. They started playing their own songs together, and in 1997 they moved to Madrid and signed with a major label, EMI.

Eight years later, in 2005, they released Pájaros en la cabeza (Birds in the head), their fourth album. They recorded it in London, and it was the best-selling album in Spain that year. Marta, Sebas, Guille y los demás came out as a single on 29 August 2005 and reached number 1 in early 2006.

Photo: Pravdaverita, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Amaral is only two people, but on stage they are a full band: drums, bass, guitars and keyboards. That is exactly what we are going to put together in class.

If you have read the unit on the Madrid and Aragon movida, Amaral is what came next. Héroes del Silencio opened the way in the eighties. In the nineties and 2000s, Amaral proved that a band from Zaragoza could reach number 1 across the whole country.

Musical characteristics

Listen to the chorus and count the chords. There are four, always in the same order: D, A, B minor, G. Several notes sounding together, like a cushion under the melody, make a chord. The path those chords follow, round after round, is a chord progression.

This progression is written I – V – vi – IV, because it uses the first, fifth, sixth and fourth degrees of the D scale. D sounds like home. A pulls away strongly. B minor is the only minor chord and adds a touch of sadness. G opens the door back home. It is the same loop as U2's With or Without You, in the same key, and the loop of hundreds of pop songs. Your ear already knows it, even if you do not know you know it.

The verses use almost the same chords. So the difference between verse and chorus is not the harmony but the energy: in the chorus more cymbals come in and everything sounds a little fuller. In the bridge, the different section that arrives near the end, the loop starts on G instead of D. It is a small change, but your ear notices that something has moved just before the last choruses.

In class we play it in C major: the same loop becomes C, G, A minor, F, four of the easiest chords on the ukulele. If you want to play along with the record, put a capo on the 2nd fret.

Facts: D major, 4/4, about 103 BPM, 3:44. Form: short intro, two verses, chorus, third verse, chorus, bridge and two choruses to finish.

Trivia and curiosities

• The people are real. Marta is Eva's best friend from childhood. Guille contacted the record label when the song came out, and that is how they started talking again. A song can work like a letter.

• Written far from home. The song was written in Santiago de Chile, more than ten thousand kilometres from Zaragoza. Missing your friends is easier to write about from far away.

• Four chords, thousands of songs. The I – V – vi – IV loop is so common that comedians have strung together dozens of hits in a row without changing chords. It is not a lack of imagination: it works because the ear recognises the path and goes along with it.

• Twenty years on, still the most played. Two decades after its release, it is still Amaral's most streamed song.

• Eva started on drums. Before singing in Amaral she played drums in a punk band in Zaragoza. Singers who front a band usually know very well what every instrument is doing.

Guided listening

On the official music video linked in Resources (3:44).

• 0:00 — A very short intro: G, D, A. Five seconds and you are in.
• 0:05 — The voice comes in with the first verse. Notice how close the chords are to the chorus that is coming: D, A, B minor, G.
• 1:00 — First chorus. The harmony hardly changes, but everything sounds fuller: more cymbals come in and the mix gets a little louder. That is the difference between verse and chorus in this song.
• 2:20 — The bridge. The loop starts on G instead of D and the cymbals almost disappear. The song takes a breath before the end.
• 2:36 — Two choruses in a row until the end. Time for everyone to sing: nothing new to learn here, just energy.

Classroom activities

• Play: C – G – A minor – F on the ukulele, one chord per bar, strumming down on every beat. When that works, switch to down-down-up-up-down-up. The bass plays only the note that names each chord. The drummer has the verse and chorus grooves in the lyrics with chords in the class session.

• Sing: the chorus, the whole group. In C it sits one tone lower than the record, which is easier for voices that are changing.

• Analyse: listen from 0:05 to 1:22 and put your hand up when the chorus starts. Then explain how you knew, when the chords are almost the same.

• Create: write a verse about your own friends, with real names, and sing it over the same four-chord loop.

Key vocabulary

• Chord — acorde
• Chord progression — progresión de acordes
• Chorus — estribillo
• Bridge — puente

Resources

Official music video — uploaded by Warner Music Spain.

Ukulele tutorial — 100 Lecciones de Ukelele. In Spanish, step by step.

Guitar tutorial without barre chords — Fran Brea, Más que Guitarra school. In Spanish, with chords adapted for beginners.

Bass — Javi Bass. Bass cover with the tab on screen.

Drums — CarlosDrums. Drum cover over the recording.

• Cover image — Eva Amaral and Juan Aguirre live in Barcelona, 2008. Photo: Alberto Cabello, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons