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 […]

Never Let Me Down Again Never Let Me Down Again, is a song by the English band Depeche Mode, who were pioneers of electronic and “alternative” music in the 1980’s. This song is from their 6th album, Music for the Masses (1987) My arrangement is directly […]

Vanishing Grace (a variation) I’ve been steeped in Gustavo Santaolalla’s music and guitar playing since 2005 when his iconic score for Brokeback Mountain was first released. The minimalism of his playing captivated me immediately. Santaolalla’s style has informed my playing ever since. Gustavo Santaolalla has […]