In 1985 at age 13 when her parents separated, Lhasa, her mother and her sisters settled in San Francisco where Lhasa started singing in a Greek cafe. She included Spanish language lessons in her high school studies. After viewing a documentary about Billie Holiday, Lhasa determined that she, too, would make a career in singing. In 1991 she traveled to Montreal to visit her sisters who were students at l'École nationale de cirque, the National Circus School of Canada, and she decided to make Montreal her home. Steeped in a Francophone culture for the first time, she sang for five years in bars, collaborating with rock guitarist Yves Desrosiers. In 1992, Denis Wolff, general manager of the independent Canadian record company, Audiogram, saw Lhasa performing, her head shaved, in front of a tiny nightclub audience. He was struck with "her personality, her charisma and her voice" – he soon signed her to the label. With Desrosiers she developed the material that eventually became her first album.
Born in Big Indian, New York, she grew up in the United States and Mexico, and moved to Montreal, Canada when she was twenty years old. After the success of her 1998 album La Llorona, which mixes everything from traditional Mexican music to klezmer to alternative rock, she moved to France. Her album The Living Road was released in 2003. In 2005 she won the “Americas” category in the Awards for World Music. She released her third and last album, Lhasa in 2009.
Lhasa de Sela died of breast cancer in Montréal, Québec, on 1st January 2010.
Abro la Ventana
Lhasa de Sela Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
de esta cama
Ahora
Abro la ventana
y entra la luz
con el viento
ahora te siento
y estas tan lejos
Si un día te vas
y ya no vuelves más
Si un día me voy
y ya no vuelvo yo
Qué largo es el mundo
es infinito
ayer te tuve
en mis brazos
y hoy
como un grano de arena
en algún suelo ajeno
estas escondido de mí
Si un día te vas
y ya no vuelves más
Si un día me voy
y ya no vuelvo yo
Qué gran silencio
todo en suspenso
que vértigo de no verte
Retumbo
Como una campana
abro la ventana
y entras tú
entras tú...
Lhasa de Sela's song, Abro la Ventana, is a heartfelt expression of longing and contemplation of distance between two lovers. The song is sung in Spanish, which adds to its emotional depth and sincerity. The lyrics depict a feeling of separation from a loved one, and the singer expresses her desire to feel her lover's presence once again.
The opening line of the song, "Ahora me levanto de esta cama" (Now I get up from this bed), suggests that the singer has been lying down, perhaps in sadness or despair. However, she then says, "Abro la ventana y entra la luz con el viento" (I open the window and light enters with the wind), indicating a sense of renewal and hope. As the singer continues, "ahora te siento y estás tan lejos de aquí" (now I feel you and you're so far away from here), it becomes clear that it is her lover she is longing for. The song then goes on to express the pain of separation, the infinite expanse of the world, and the singer's desire to be reunited with her "grano de arena" (grain of sand).
The chorus of the song repeats the following lines, "Si un día te vas y ya no vuelves más, Si un día me voy y ya no vuelvo yo" (If one day you leave and never return, If one day I leave and never come back). These lines represent the ultimate separation, the worst-case scenario that the singer is desperately trying to avoid. But despite the fear and uncertainty that comes with being apart, the song ends with a sense of hope and the possibility of reunion. "Abro la ventana y entras tú, entras tú" (I open the window and you enter, you enter), suggests that the singer's love for her partner is so strong that she feels them around her, even when they are physically distant.
Line by Line Meaning
Ahora me levanto
I am getting out of bed now
de esta cama
from this bed
Ahora
Now
Abro la ventana
I am opening the window
y entra la luz
and the light comes in
con el viento
with the wind
ahora te siento
now I feel you
y estas tan lejos
and you are so far away
de aquí
from here
Si un día te vas
If one day you go away
y ya no vuelves más
and you never come back
Si un día me voy
If one day I go away
y ya no vuelvo yo
and I never return
Qué largo es el mundo
How long the world is
es infinito
it is infinite
ayer te tuve
yesterday I had you
en mis brazos
in my arms
y hoy
and today
como un grano de arena
like a grain of sand
en algún suelo ajeno
in some foreign ground
estas escondido de mí
you are hiding from me
Qué gran silencio
What a great silence
todo en suspenso
everything is in suspense
que vértigo de no verte
what vertigo not to see you
Retumbo
I am echoing
Como una campana
like a bell
abro la ventana
I open the window
y entras tú
and you come in
entras tú...
you come in...
Contributed by Gabriel E. Suggest a correction in the comments below.