“There was a time when we competed with Michael Jackson for who sold more records in France.”
The phrase is not pretentious: in 1983 a cumbia composed by the Peruvian Walter León Aguilar called “Colegiala” sold more than a million copies in France.
And she deserved a gold record for that, on one of the other big names in the music industry.
But how did it happen?
This story has to do with a Peruvian composer, a famous Colombian singer and a Swiss multinational.
And the climax occurred at the legendary Olympia Theater in Paris, just as Edith Piaf, “the nightingale of France”, crowded in the 1960s. Twenty years later thousands of French shouted “Schoolgirl.”
“In this first performance we sang it like nine times. We played it, two more from our repertoire followed and then we repeated it “, Juan Carlos Díez, musical director of the Típica RA7 orchestra, tells BBC Món
The formation was then called “Rodolfo Aicardi and his Typical RA7”, including the name of the singer who would make famous “Colegiala” in all Latin America, in France, Italy and Spain.
“It’s very difficult to know why people liked it so much, because most French people didn’t know what the lyrics said, but there was a time when we competed with famous artists like Michael Jackson for whom it was easier to sell in France.” , explains Díez.
Now “Colegiala” is one of the most listened to songs during the Christmas season in Colombia, but where the song originated and how did it come to Europe to become a resounding success?
From Peru to the Olympia
In 1975, Walter León Aguilar, leader of the Peruvian musical group Els Il·usionistes, composed a song about a young man who falls in love with a schoolgirl.
The song became popular and began touring several countries. In 1980 the echo arrived in Colombia, where a decade of tropical music explosion ended.
One of his greatest exponents was Rodolfo Aicardi, a singer famous for various popular music hits such as “Cariñito”, “Adonai” and “the paperwhite“, Who sought to break barriers of gender.
And on this path he met “Schoolgirl.”
“Rodolfo loved to look for songs. He was a great performer and that’s why he was constantly looking for topics not only in Colombia, but in South America,” Diego Londoño, author of the book “Rodolfo Aicardi,” tells BBC World , the story of “the idol of old”.
At that time Díez was working as a musician in Aicardo’s orchestra.
That’s when an urgent request came to him: to record the song in the shortest possible time.
“We recorded it one afternoon. What they told us was that it had to be on the radio before the Peruvians made it famous,” Díez recalls.
“The first copy and distribution lists were pressed the other dayis“, Add.
The Colombian version, with the incorporation of instruments such as timpani and trumpets, was released in the middle of this year and was a success from day one.
So much so that it was included in the main compilations that went on the market for the Christmas and New Year festivities.
That’s how he became a December classic in Colombia, something that still lasts.
“One thing these songs had (like ‘Schoolgirl’) was that they were all listened to, old and young. And over time, as many people are no longer there and their friends and family remember them listening to these issues, ”Londoño points out.
“And what is the most nostalgic time of the year? December. Christmas,” he adds.
Crossing the pond
Although most of Aicardo’s songs were hits, “Colegiala’s” reached another level, crossing borders and continents.
“Unlike what happens now, that to duplicate a song is done with two keys on a computer, before if you wanted to make a copy of the song you had to ask the record label,” says Díez.
Over time, Aicardo, Díez and the other musicians in the orchestra began to notice that requests for copies were coming to the record label that had recorded the song from Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Spain, Italy, France …
How had they gotten this far?
Commercial with a train
It was 1982 and an advertising agency was commissioned to campaign for the instant coffee brand of a renowned multinational. It was originally aimed at consumers in Ecuador.
The song chosen for the commercial was “Colegiala”. It sounded in the background as a steam-powered train passed through several coffee-growing villages.
“Advertisers came to Colombia to record various parts of this commercial. And while they rested after filming, they listened. ‘Schoolgirl“And they decided it was the perfect topic for advertising,” says Londoño.
The Olympia Theater in Paris where Rodolfo and his Typical RA7 were presented.
It turned out that the commercial was a success in Ecuador. Then to Peru. Then to Chile. And all for the song.
In Chile, the artist Miguelo even performed it at the popular 1986 Vine Festival of the Sea.
“One day they tell Rodolfo that they will give him a gold record for millionaire sales in France, Which will play at the legendary Olympia Theater in Paris, “recalls Díez.
It turns out that in addition to the 30-second commercials for French television, the advertising agency had released a nearly five-minute version that was projected in Paris cinemas, right in front of the movies.
There the song sounded complete. The spectators of the Parisian halls had the melody recorded by virtue of hearing it in an instant coffee advertisement.
“It was supposed to be one night at the Olympia. We were going to receive the gold record and give a concert, but they ended up being three. And in full,” Díez notes.
One of those nights, they alternated with Charles Aznavour, the singer and songwriter known as the “ambassador of the song“French.
“We repeat it nine times per function, and I think its success was due to a mix of rhythm and in such a special way that Rodolfo had to sing his songs,” he points out.
“He didn’t sing. He told you what the lyrics of the song said.”
“Colegiala” not only remained in Spanish: among the many known versions, one in Italian played by Fausto Papetti and another by Sandra Reemer, a singer from the Netherlands, stand out.
Aicardo died in 2007 due to health complications, but the Typical RA7 continued to operate, especially on the basis of “Colegiala”, the emblematic subject to which they consider like his “cédula” (identity document).
“She always carried a cassette with the track of ‘Colegiala’ for the shows that he did as a soloist. And when they asked him to show his ID card, he joked and said, ‘The one with the photo or the one that doesn’t?’, In reference to the song, “says Díez.
“And since then ‘Colegiala’ is the certificate of our orchestra, our way of identifying-“, concludes the musical director.
