'Zorro' soundtrack comes to life: 'It's a Story of Bravery'

In December 2023, Juanes released a track called “Nacimos Solos” (We Were Born Alone) that perfectly combined his signature rock sound with a heavy Western-influenced melody. It was the first cut from the upcoming Zoro series, premiering on Prime Video this Friday (January 19) in the US and Latin America and January 25 in Spain.

A second track titled “Si Me Llevas Contigo” (If You Take Me With You) was released last week, joining the mighty forces of Carin Leon, Keith Urban and Rosario Flores.

Both songs, as well as the full original soundtrack, were edited by Grammy Award-winning producer Julio Reyes Copello.

“That's what I really love. I love scoring films,” he says Advertising sign. “I have done several films and series. Actually, I started my career making music for television in Colombia and now I feel like it's a good time to go back to it. I've been preparing all my life to be flexible and do relevant pop songs and also score movies. I think it's an interesting time for me to continue doing these kinds of projects.”

Released exclusively by Universal Music Latino, the soundtrack also collaborated with label president Angel Kaminsky.

“Though in recent years, UML has been involved in major sync licenses such as J Balvin with 'Agua' for Spongebob Squarepants, Fast & Furious series, as well as Karol G with Puss in Bootsthis is the first time Universal Music Latin has worked on an original project so comprehensive with such a wide variety of talent crossing genres, languages ​​and influencing cultural norms on such a large scale,” he notes.

Below, Copello and Kaminsky share with Advertising sign more about his transfer Zoro soundtrack of life.

How did this opportunity come about—to create the “Zorro” soundtrack and release it under UML?

Copello: I was contacted by Secuoya, the Spanish production company that made 'Casa de Papel', they had been working on this project for a while. One of his promoters, Sergio Pizzolante, who is Secuoya's producer in America, had been talking about this project for some time, and when it finally got the green light and started shooting, he called me.

We set out to do what we really dreamed of, to make a soundtrack for this story that would truly honor Zorro's story, which is the only one that unites three cultures: Mexican, Spanish and American. It's a perfect setting and the timing couldn't be better with everything going on [Latin] MUSIC. I think it was a very special situation.

Kaminski: When Julio showed me what he was working on, I understood what he was doing, I knew exactly where he was going with the fusions of English, Mexican and Spanish sounds. Julio mentioned to me that an old friend of over 20 years and passionate music lover, Sergio Pizzolante – President of Secuoya, was the mastermind behind this whole thing and it made me even more motivated to do this.

How did you find inspiration to bring the soundtrack to life?

Copello: I'm from the generation that saw the first 'Zorro', so it's a story that has been with me for many years. There is one part that I have always found fascinating and that is that it is a story of bravery. I wanted to take advantage of that to make a soundtrack that condemns this energy of not even being afraid of death. This is DNA, when life confronts one with survival and adversity, it has the ability to bend and be very strong. So I tried to capture that passion in everything.

Did you create original songs for the soundtrack?

Copello: All songs are original. We had an amazing song camp with young composers very close to my home [recording studio], House of Art. We actually spent a whole weekend talking about all the stories and characters from the series, and that's why so much magic came out of it.

What else can you share about the creative process of the album?

Copello: We have been working on it since March 7, 2023, when we recorded the first track with Carin Leon, Rosario and Keith Urban (“Si Me Llevas Contigo”). The vocal recordings were very complicated because all the artists had to agree. For example, Morat recorded in Paraguay. Carin had to record remotely in Mexico. Keith Urban in Nashville. Rosario in Spain. But the core of the instrumentals was recorded in Miami.

I started with a guitar riff, then I wanted to mix it with sounds from Spain, so I hired a flamenco dancer and we put her in the studio with a tablado (wooden platform). All the percussion playing underneath is a flamenco dancer. Then we recorded guiros, electric guitars and well, all three [musical] cultures are extremely important.

Then we wrote lyrics with Joaquina and my engineer, Natalia Schlesinger. We shaped it, we experimented, and it ended up being a multifaceted collaboration.

The soundtrack features famous artists, such as Juanes, but also up-and-coming actresses, such as Joaquina. How did you go about selecting the talent?

Kaminski: I had the pleasure of working with maestro Julio Reyes Copello and had the crazy idea of ​​bringing together three icons from completely different worlds like Carin Leon, Keith Urban and Rosario Flores and bringing GRAMMY award winning acts like Juanes, Luis Fonsi, Morat, Joaquina and Adrielle Favela.

Copello: This was a titanic task because it's hard for these kinds of releases to not coincide with artists' personal releases, but it was possible thanks to the Universal team and Angel Kaminsky who were fundamental to this and helped me recruit talent. We had a dream list [of artists] and we managed to conquer at least 90 percent of [wish] list we had.

What do you think this project represents in the talents involved?

Copello: We've all embraced this project, not just the creative part, but I think it's a great way to release music nowadays because it will have a permanent feedback. The music will attract viewers and the viewers will listen to the track. And since this will continue on visual platforms, then it will be an eternal feedback loop. Hopefully, it will bring the results that other successful soundtracks of series like “Stranger Things” had. This is what we all hope with this project, to become something big and very important.

Kaminski: From a Latin cultural landscape as entertainment purveyors, to be able to work with a legacy household name that spans generations of Latin culture like Zorro to be able to bring in artists to do the soundtrack is a rewarding experience that we are very proud of.