The Story Behind the Song “Mucho Más”

“Mucho Más” (Much More) is my first single, to be released on June 30^th, 2019.

Not every song has much of a story behind it. I was surprised to read that Jason Mraz wrote his hit song “I’m Yours” in only 15 minutes while he was playing around with a reggae riff. There wasn’t really much else to say about the song. Now, I love that song, so, I have to admit it isn’t the time you put into it nor the story behind it that makes a great song. Jesse Canon talks extensively about this subject in his book Processing Creativity, it’s all about emotional resonance.

“Mucho Más” isn’t the first song I wrote. I’ve written lots of bad songs, most of which I’ve now forgotten how to play and don’t care to remember, and I’ve also written some good songs I still hope to record. However, due to the circumstances I found myself in, as well as Bolivia’s current situation, the country I’ve been living in for about 14 years now, “Mucho Más” got prioritized over my other songs.

This song was written in the middle of an identity crisis, and has been key in helping me work through it, and find myself again. In short, one year before writing this song, my wife and I had started a business called Immerse, which had the mission of providing fun and meaningful learning experiences for children and young people that would awaken their creative abilities. Our mission statement was beautiful and we were in love with it. However, since we really didn’t know how to get started, we took an old tool out of the bag, English. We knew that there was a big demand for English as a second language and since I’m a Gringo, native English speaker, there were already plenty of people begging me to teach them the language. I had taught English before and never really enjoyed it. So, I was hesitant to go back to teaching English, but after convincing myself that I could do it differently outside of the school system, we finally launched our first English learning experiences in September 2017. It was fun at first, and we did do it differently, maybe too differently for our market. Despite the creative English programs we started, I still did feel like I was being myself. It was awkward. I was passionate about our mission to provide creative learning experiences, but couldn’t see myself teaching English, no matter how creative the experience was, for much longer. Yet, everyone valued me for my native English skills. I studied to be a Spanish teacher in the US, later I taught English for five years in a private school in Bolivia. After that, I became a freelance translator, translating boring contracts and legal documents from Portuguese and Spanish into English for the next 8 years. Language skills, even to myself, seemed to be my only valuable trait.

About mid-2018, my wife met Rober Ortiz, an actor, play writer and director, and Kung Fu instructor. She invited him to do some acting and storytelling workshops for teachers at Immerse. The workshops were beautiful and also the start of wonderful relationships. In September 2018, Rober asked me if I would like to work on a theatrical/musical project with him. There wasn’t much of a financial promise, but the idea of working on a creative musical project was very seductive, especially since my English classes weren’t going too well. 

Both Rober and I believed that we could use our creative talents to benefit our society, raise awareness about issues that needed to be fixed and to inspire a healthy worldview. So, we began crafting a small theatrical work we called Blank CD. It would take place in a restaurant where there was a guest musician who was also a foreigner from the USA (me). The musician, trying to please the audience, starts out with a traditional song, “Viva Santa Cruz” but set to reggae. However, the annoying waiter (Rober) frequently interrupted the show. The musician tried to stay calm as long as he could, but eventually, blowing up, he began to complain about Bolivian culture. For this part of the play, I wrote two songs based on my own experiences, revealing typical situations foreigners go through when coming to Bolivia. For example, the vendor who won’t let you see the merchandise unless you promise to buy it; nobody at immigration in the airport speaks English; buying a pair of name brand shoes only to find out they are fake. Yet, despite all the complaining, the Gringo and the waiter end up talking about all the good things Bolivia has to offer, such as natural resources, amazing tourist spots like the Salt Flats of Uyuni, cultural diversity, food and so on. And this is where “Mucho Más” comes in to finish the story on a positive note, declaring that Bolivia is much more than what people say about it, much more than what we think.

Unfortunately, we only performed the play once for a few friends, however, the hard work wasn’t in vain. This project served as motivation for me to use my musical talent to express myself, find myself and create something that I hope will help Bolivians to realize the amazing creative potential they have. Though the song is directed at Bolivia, it’s also me. I am much more than what they say, much more than what you think.

I am extremely thankful to Rober for seeing potential in me and providing this wonderful creative experience. And now I want to do the same for others. I want to give other artists, musicians, writers, actors, photographers, dancers, etc., a creative outlet. I want to provide them with meaningful opportunities to discover and develop their creative talents because I believe that Bolivia is “Mucho Más”.