This playlist is a tribute to my wonderful mum – one of the biggest influences on my music taste. Ana Diaz is a legend. A strong outspoken Colombian woman with a great sense of humour.

I have tried to capture some of the great musical gifts she has given me and some of her stories and chat about Colombia. Not sure it will make sense to anyone that isn’t a Colombian Yorkshire lass that grew up in Catalunya… Or in fact anyone that doesn’t speak Spanish… So I have translated parts below for those that want to follow some of the fruity lyrics to the songs and our ramblings. 

Cucurrucucú Paloma – Caetano Veloso
“They swear that that pigeon is nothing more than her soul” 

La Llorona – Chavela Vargas
“You want me to love you more, if I have already given you my life, crying woman, what else do you want? Do you want more?”

Mum: “they would tell you these stories of a woman who lost her child […] and she went out every night crying for her son from door to door for them to return her child […] so at night you would hear her crying”

Cancion para el Viento – Perota Chingo
“Today I saw the wind, I saw it free, and I fell in love”

Enero en la Playa – Delafe y las flores
“I serve you a lager, it’s summer and the sun is shining, it’s the Catalan coast”

La Tierra del Olvido – Carlos Vives
“Like the sea waits for the river, like this I wait for your return to the land of olvido”

La Pollera Colora – Wilson Choperena
“Hear my people dancing this tasty Cumbia with their red skirt”

Mum: “when they ask you what music represents Colombia, Cumbia is the music”

Yo Me Llamo Cumbia – Chico Cervantes
“I am called Cumbia, I am the Queen where I go, there isn’t one hip that is still where I am”

Despacito – Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee
“I want to be your rhythm, show my mouth your favourite places”

El Gran Varon – Willie Colon
“His father never spoke to him, he abandoned him forever, you cannot correct nature, branch that is born bent will never straighten”

Suavement – Elvis Crespo
“Softly, kiss me, I want to feel your lips, kissing me again”

Pedro Navaja – Ruben Blades
“His hand always in the pockets of his coat, so that they don’t know in which one he carries the knife”

La Vida es un Carnaval – Celia Cruz
“You don’t need to cry, life is a carnaval, and the sorrows go when singing”

La Mucura – Lucho Bermudez
“The water jug is on the floor, mum, I can’t cope with it”

Mum: “all my friends and everyone in Caracoli used to [balance water jugs on their head], and it was a mountain to climb from the river to your house, because there was no water”

El Ano Viejo – Tony Camargo
“I don’t forget last year, because it has left me really good things, it left me with a goat, a black donkey, a white mare and a good mother in law”

La Banda Borracha – Alfredo Gutierrez
“What’s happening is that the band is drunk”

Canta y No Llores – Tuna Decana de Madrid
“Sing and do not cry, because singing become happy, my darling, the hearts”