Fleeting One of the things that gives Gustavo Santaolalla his je ne sais quoi is the element of surprise within his music. Often times, he’ll have a verse section that is slightly minor keyed, and emotionally ambiguous (perfect for film). Santaolalla will then proceed with […]

Tazarine Tazarine is a song by Argentine composer Gustavo Santaolalla, from his 2006 Academy award winning soundtrack for Babel. Babel was directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu. The multi-narrative drama features interwoven stories taking place in Morocco, Japan, Mexico, and the United States. The song is […]

The Apology Song The Apology Song (Si Puedes Perdonar) was composed by Gustavo Santaolalla for the 2014 animated film ‘The Book of Life’. It’s a beautiful ballad about the power of forgiveness and redemption. The song is sung by Diego Luna, who voices the character […]

Brand New Day ‘Dear Child’ is a German thriller series on Netflix. The plot revolves around a mysterious woman’s escape from her harrowing captivity — which points investigators towards the dark truth behind her unsolved disappearance 13 years earlier. The series has an astonishing 100% […]

Dreamscapes Dreamscapes is sparse fingerstyle guitar piece by multi-instrumentalist composer, Gustavo Santaolalla. This motif is from the soundtrack of Dear Child (Liebes Kind) a German thriller series on Netflix. The limited series is about a 13 year-old missing persons case being reopened when a woman […]

Forsaken The Last of Us HBO is one of the best series you’ll ever watch. It was pitch perfect. Of course, the music was integral to the games experience — so naturally Gustavo Santaolalla was brought back for the HBO series. Forsaken is minimalist piece […]

Un Divague Un Divague (a ramble) is the final song from Gustavo Santaolalla’s Narcos: Mexico soundtrack. The sparse instrumental piece is actually played on an electric guitar. However, for my arrangement, I felt it would be more accessible on an acoustic guitar. It’s a fun […]

Memoria Memoria is a pretty motif from Gustavo Santaolalla’s Narcos: Mexico soundtrack. He’s actually playing an electric guitar that’s doubled with a violin. Given that dynamic, Memoria sounded better on a nylon string, as a lone guitar performance. You might also like to play… (some […]

Wild Life When the Surf Comes Up is a motif by composer Gustavo Santaolalla. The piece is from, Wild Life, a documentary directed and produced by Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin (Free Solo). The film follows conservationists Kris Tompkins (CEO Patagonia) and her husband […]

Epilogue It’s funny that an Epilogue is a conclusion because it was my very first blog post in 2011. Intellimusica was a weird idea then, and I’ve winged it ever since. This is a full redo of that initial post. Gustavo Santaolalla’s music is where […]

Amor y Paz On March 24th (2020), at the beginning of the pandemic, Gustavo Santaolalla posted this short piece to his Instagram and YouTube channel. So far as I can tell, he’s calling it Amor y Paz (Love & Peace). It was a musical offering […]

Haven Haven is a little gem by Gustavo Santaolalla. It’s from HBO’s The Last of Us. I have no idea which (if any) episode this song was used in — but it did make the soundtrack, and it’s a beautiful composition. Haven is actually played […]