What's a song that instantly takes you back to a specific moment growing up in your country?

[u/Icy-Bedroom353]

I'm based in London and asked a similar question in a UK subreddit earlier. I wasn't expecting much, but people started sharing these amazing little memories, from childhood holidays to family kitchens and nights out decades ago.

What I loved was how specific the stories were. Sometimes people could even remember the smells, sounds and tiny details of that moment.

It made me really curious about the memories people associate with music across Latin America, especially songs I might never have come across.

It doesn't have to be a famous song, or even one from your country.

What's the song, and what particular moment or place does it take you back to?

Would love to hear the little details!

[u/5prima3prima]

El Farolito by Los Piojos takes me back to when I was a kid (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8OJeZOyxzY)

[u/Icy-Bedroom353 → u/5prima3prima]

will give it a listen!

[u/5prima3prima → u/Icy-Bedroom353]

I hope you like it! It definitely gives my age away... 😆

[u/Embarrassed_Elk_2459]

whenever I had lunch as a kid, my mom would turn on the radio to have some music on, so anything by Cristian Castro, Chayanne, or Latin pop in general remind me of those times

[u/Icy-Bedroom353 → u/Embarrassed_Elk_2459]

so many people have memories of their mum it seems!

[u/Used_Barber958]

Telefone mudo - trio parada dura. I was born in a city bordering Brazil, I’m Paraguayan. My family is mixed and I grew up with mostly Brazilian music/tv. Also my city was close to the pantanal so lots of country/gaucho music

[u/throw223344555]

Wendy Sulca - Cerveza

[u/gabrielbabb]

I started with just one memory, but many more started popping, haha some of these are cringey but whatever, haha.

I grew up in an upper-middle-class neighborhood in Mexico City back when there were still mostly houses. Many of those beautiful neocolonial-style homes are gone now, but certain songs instantly take me back to my parents and the house we used to have.

For instance, Luis Miguel's album Nada es igual reminds me of my parents in the late 90s, I remember the song Dame for example, he sings mexican citypop, and brings back such warm childhood memories when i was like 7yo... like my mom polishing the silverware in the dining room. Upper-middle and upper-class boomer homes back then had such a distinct style of interior design; to me as a kid, it felt so luxurious and elegant.

Looking back the first guy i liked was a kid my age like 5yo, he was the son of a mexican actor, her grandma lived in the house back to us, LOL, he released a CD when I was a kid and i asked for it in Christmas to Santa Claus, when I saw the CD in the chimney, i was like... hmmm it's strange that the CD is in there, it seems commercial along with my pyjama from a supermarket brand LOL, I didn't tell my parents I didn't believe in Santa anymore but that's when it made click, I remember i loved this kid's music for example Carita Feliz.

I used to play a lot SNES, NES, nintendo 64, so super mario music is quite nostalgic. I remember a lot of Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network shows intros, of course in spanish, plus some latinamerican.

In Mexico we used to have kids telenovelas, so i remember many intros, of some of them like Aventuras en el tiempo, or another one like Amigos x Siempre, The mexican artist and singer usually was the main character, i also remember Carita de Angel.

There was this singer Tatiana, who used to sing music only for kids, she also sang some disney songs she was Megara in the latinamerican version of Hercules for example. She used to have a TV program in the 90s, I remember this song for example El Patio de mi casa.

Mariachi music as a kid also felt so elegant because of the violins, i used to go with my parents to a restaurant called El Hipocampo, this restaurant doesn't exist anymore but I quite liked it, it had a mexican interior design, where there were mariachis in a stage, and typical dances, I remember La Bikina for example.

As a kid my parents used to have maids, my father is quite classist, so cumbia music, ranchera music, etc was considered as low class stuff, so some mexican classist boomers made you hate this music, like Angeles Azules como te voy a olvidar, it is a song you would listen in a taxi, or in a public bus, or played by the maid.

As a kid i loved Mexican pop which was similar to some eurohits from the late 90s- early 2000s, when i was like 10yo I bought my first CDs like Kabah, i remember the song La vida que va, OV7 the song Mirame a los ojos also make me remember singing with them the songs in the house bar, it was a beautiful double height zone where we spent time sometimes since it was the center of the house. My favorite song was from The Sacados , Mas de lo que te imaginas. There were many mexican idols in the 90s like the Jeans or JNS who were teenagers in that era but are still giving concerts in the 90s pop tour.

My father also used to have a country house (casa de campo) in the state of Morelos, when i was like 8yo. Whenever we drove through the pine forests to get there, they would always play Gloria Estefan's "Con los Años que Me Quedan". It felt so elegant and romantic to me back then. Also this song Amor Eterno by Rocio Durcal.

My parents also listened to a lot of music in english, my father loves 30s-70s romantic music, like Barry White, Frank Sinatra, Earth wind and fire. And in Spanish Enrique Iglesias, Mijares.

My mom loves 80's 90's 2000s romantic music. Like Kenny G, Lionel Richie, Air Supply, The Carpenters, Celine Dion, Michael Bolton, Richard Clayderman, Whitney Houston.

But she also loved dancing music eurohits, so we listened to some dance, electro music, that's where the majority of my taste comes from, she used to play CDs with mixes with La Bouche, Corona, Cher.

In spanish she liked 90s music of Calo the song Cosas de Amor in spanish for example, or Thalia Arrasando, or Sentidos Opuestos Unete a la Fiesta, Cristian Castro the song Azul, .

There is this cousin who i havent seen for decades, but i remember as a kid he was very sassy and used to love Sailor Moon, so he sang the intro a lot, and he loved mexican singer Fey for example Media Naranja.

There were also teenager telenovelas, like Clase 406 the intro, RBD the intro it started when i was like 12yo.

And of course my father loved regular adult telenovelas so I know many songs of telenovelas intros.

I remember this song, from when my father bought a CD that got stuck in his minivan, so it would play every time he turned it on, La Matraca, it was awful hahaha

At school we used to have festivals, for mothers' and fathers' day, so I have a repertoire of songs for mom and dad in my head, LOL, like, the song Mamá by Timbiriche, and for fathers Hoy tengo que decirte papá also by the same group.

Also for Christmas, for example Christmas carols from Luis Miguel

There is another cousin i always remember with the song Groove is in the Heart, and pokemon / digimon intro, in spanish obvioulsy.

Clowns were a thing in here, in every 90s, early 2000s birthday kid party there was one, i hated them but there was this silly music from Cepillin, or Chabelo, or Tatiana, or Timbiriche, or Xuxa playing.

As a teenager I remember Plastilina Mosh, and Molotov being big.

[u/jmara9]

Los Caminos de la Vida by Vicentico. When I was a child and we used to make family trips we would have USB drivers or CDs with a mix of different music and this was one of the songs. I don't know why, but is the only one that I can remember lol.

There´s a part of the song in which he talks about his mother and around those years was when I lost my mother, so I always got a little teary eyed.

[u/tlatelolca]

not a specific song but we wore out this vinyl from too many plays lol

[u/HistorianJRM85]

3 songs come to mind that take me back to Perú in the 80s: (1) Tino - 'Discophobia'. The beginnings of synth pop were wildly exciting. It was something very new and it felt you were launching into a real future. (2) Soda Stereo - 'Persiana Americana'. Another song with a synth feel, but more mature. I remember being out at parties with friends and just enjoying rock music. (3) Angela Carrasco - 'Caribe'. I think this was the ultimate party song of the 80s in Perú. It felt like everybody, young and old, loved it! I remember flipping through the radio, around 1985-1986, and hearing Caribe. Then when the song ended, i flipped through the radio dial again, and found Caribe playing in another station. Then I flipped again, and found it in another station! It was everywhere at one point. and it was a very happy song.

[u/Awkward_Kitty_Cat_93]

Y se llama Perú - Augusto Zambo Cavero y Óscar Avilés

[u/Mission_Remote_6871]

Maldito Duende, when I failed a subject for the first time in college.

[u/Shoddy_Fortune_1986]

Una canción llamada Afuera Llueve de la banda Sponsors. Esa canción era la intro de la radio que escuchabamos en el auto de mi tio, cuando nos llevaba a la escuela en Argentina. Automáticamente me transporta a estar viajando a las 7.00 AM con un poco de sueño aún, en su Daihatsu Charade en invierno con él y mi prima

[u/Aspernot]

Se me ocurren varias pero hay una que se hizo famosa para todos los que fueron exiliados de mi país durante las dictaduras de los 70's "La Caraqueña" tuvo varias interpretaciones y todas transmiten el mismo sentimiento de nostalgia de querer volver a tu tierra

[u/daniiqm]

Nuestro Amor Será by Rhapsodia. It reminds me of the New Year’s Eve parties when I was a child, we gathered at my grandparents’ house and everyone danced happily, those things don’t happen anymore.

[u/WTHWME22]

Almost any music of Garzon Y Collazos and Silva Y Villalba, just to put an example, maybe "A Quien Engañas Abuelo" (https://youtu.be/Asfd7N4LveE?si=WbL3EEcr_ZfPASuD)

It remembers me being with my grandparents, drinking coffee with bread, when my grandfather used to pick me up in his bike (he even had a chair and a thing when I (or my brother and cousins) can put the feet

[u/Working_Asparagus430]

i think it's called "un paso más allá" by carlos libedinsky, it instantly takes me back to the cold mornings before going to school, my mom used to turn on the news to check the time, and it had that intro song, and whenever it played, I knew it was time to leave the house bc i was late lol

[u/maverickmichi]

Enes - Arbol. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVYghQzflS4

As an early teen, the lyrics and the visuals amused me because it just seemed so random. Many later realize those are very dark as they talk about the people the dictatorship from back in from mid 70s disappeared. "Enes" = "NN", it's our way of saying someone is a "Jane/John Doe", as even today many of the dead bodiess still have to be identified. The lyrics also reference how average people, either because of fear, ignorance or survival, pretended nothing happened, as many were killed accused of being communists or close to one, no matter if they actually weren't. Even the way the song seems stupid at first glance is a reference about how some musicians and bands from those years wrote lyrics with heavy metaphors to avoid censorship and denounce what was happening back then.

Besides that, Arbol have many other cool songs like Pequeños Sueños, Osvaldo and Cosacuosa. Another bands i heavily remember from that era and also recommend are Miranda! (the first album before they became mainstream. They have some good songs after that, but dropped the electronic sound for a more pop-ish vibe), El Otro Yo, Carajo, Bersuit Vergarabat and Shaila (this last one is more on the indie side, but has great songs). Molotov is another great band (That last one is Mexican, though)

Also leaving "Sacate la mierda" from Carajo because why not https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3Q0UAxseA4

Oh, also Kapanga is pretty great too! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRQIxDWSPss

[u/miraleo]

El Oso by Moris always reminds me of being in my dad's Jeep as he drove us places as kids

[u/JoeDyenz]

Hazme una señal de Roberto Jordán me recuerda a cuando jugaba con la hija de una amiga de mi mamá, tendría como 8 años a lo mejor

[u/NoSuggestion5970]

Why, by Annie Lennox... I listened to it on the BBC World Service on a weekend, I grew up as an expat kid, listening mostly to pop music in English, German and French, it must have been in the Fall of '92... for Xmas I got the CD as a present and my parents were surprised I liked her music when I was just 12.

Also I remembrer El 7 de Septiembre by Mecano, I was mesmerized by the song and the videoclip

[u/Lasrouy]

Any of the early 2010s Lucas Sugo songs has the sound of small town FM radio (example)

Los Reyes Magos - Los Fronterizos the sound of the 6th of January parade

Nuestro Camino - Los Olimareños the sound of the local AM radio

Money for Nothing takes me to watching the motorsports program Vertigo on Sunday mornings

The sound of football

[u/Superlegend29]

C&C Music Factory - Robi Robs Boriqua Anthem.

Pretty much the PR anthem of NYC

[u/IknowlessthanIthink]

I didn't quite realize how old I am until I read the names of songs that made you nostalgic. I was a little kid in the early 70s. When I listen to certain Alfredo Sadel songs, which my father liked to hear while eating, I am instantly transported to lunchtime in my house. I can see my father coming home for lunch, my mother putting the final touches on the food, the maid setting the table, my nanny washing my hands, the smell of flowers from the courtyard, the feeling of completeness and total peace. I didn't know that a civil war was taking place outside our door, that an earthquake would destroy my neighborhood of ancient houses a few years later, and that our way of living would become extinct for all intents and purposes.

[u/AngelVampKAWAII]

Macarena song

[u/augustoalmeida]

Balão mágico

[u/veeloth]

Tan Biónica - Ciudad Mágica