Lucha de Gigantes (Antonio Vega/ Nacha Pop cover) 8/365

This week I'll be recording songs in Spanish for my 365 Songs series.

This beautiful song was written by the late Antonio Vega while he was still in the band he formed with his cousin Nacho Garcia Vega, Nacha Pop.  I first remember hearing it, though, by a group named Fiebre on the Amores Perros soundtrack. Their cover was very dynamic, percussive, fitting for the movie. I better understood this song after watching a documentary on Vega’s life based on recorded interviews where he spoke about his love of the stars, space, camping out.Unfortunately, he was also a heavy drug user, had problems with heroin and other substances.

Antonio Vega is responsible for one of the most famous songs in Spanish pop, "La Chica de Ayer" which was Nacha Pop's first hit way back in 1980. He also wrote songs like "Se dejaba llevar" which was also popularized by Spanish flamenco fusion greats Ketama on their 1995 live album De Aki a Ketama with Antonio as guest vocalist. Other great Antonio Vega tunes which I like are "El sitio de mi recreo" (here's a link on youtube to a recording I made of this one with my friend Cosco. We have a duo playing Spanish pop generally from the 80's and 90's), "A trabajos forzados", "Una decima de segundo"... Check out his live set Básico (links to Spotify) which is career spanning. 

For this recording I plugged the guitar, tuned down half a step, through a Boss CE-5 (chorus) and a BF-3 (flanger). Vocals through a Shure SM7b. Everything to a Mackie Onyx 820i with reverb from the Boss RV-2 stompbox. Recorded straight to Photo Booth on a Mac.Vocals are a bit loud for my taste so next time lower.


Here's Antonio's live version from Básico.

8/365 Lucha de Gigantes - Nacha Pop / Antonio Vega (first appeared on Nacha Pop’s 1987 album, El Momento )