Una Aventura
Grupo Niche · 1990 · written by Jairo Varela, from the album Cielo de Tambores
Two people, each with someone waiting at home, and a secret affair: Grupo Niche on why an adventure is sweeter when nobody can know.
The story
1.The rules of an affair
The singer lists what makes an affair sweeter: watching the clock together, slipping away alone, making everyone else believe there's nothing between them. And it's sweeter still when each of them already belongs to someone else.
2.In front of everyone
They can barely hold it in when they look at each other across a table. Under it, their feet touch, and a stolen kiss is always their goodbye.
3.The morning after
It's sweeter when they forget that dawn came long ago, when they blush because someone found out, and when nobody can know who sent the roses. And it's sweeter, too, when they cry because it's over.
4.Maybe never again
At the end the coro sings how beautiful it is to love like this, not knowing if there'll be a second time: minutes turning into hours, and giving everything in a single second.
Key phrases
- “Una aventura es más bonita”An adventure is lovelierAventura is an adventure and also, in love songs, an affair. The whole song is a list of what makes one sweeter.
- “si existen dueños para cada uno”If each of the two has an ownerDueño, owner, is how Spanish love songs talk about a partner. Both of them are taken.
- “los pies bajo la mesa”Our feet touching under the tableThe secret in plain sight: at a table with other people, maybe with their partners.
- “un beso robado”A stolen kissThe only goodbye they can have.
- “y no saber si habrá segunda vez”Not knowing if there'll be a second timeThe last part's chorus: what makes it beautiful is that it might be the only time.
Context
Another song by Jairo Varela, Grupo Niche's founder (“Cali Pachanguero” was his too), sung by Charlie Cardona. It's on Cielo de Tambores (Codiscos, 1990), the most successful album Niche ever made.
By 1990 salsa romántica ruled the radio, and Niche answered with its own kind of love song: polished, sophisticated, with the band's big brass sound. This one is about a secret affair, and it doesn't judge: it just remembers how good it felt.
On the dance floor
Smooth and elegant, with the famous Niche horns. A favorite for close, connected partnering.
The chorus keeps returning with “una aventura es más bonita”, each time with a new detail. In the last part the coro changes, and the song opens up: that's the time to turn.
This is our own retelling of the song, not its lyrics or a translation of them: the few short phrases quoted are there to explain what they mean. The song belongs to its writer, Jairo Varela.