No todo está perdido

Not everything is lost doesn’t sound like a closing track, but rather a breath in the middle of the night. The melody stretches across a five-minute bridge that doesn’t rush the end, as if each note had to linger a little longer. The arrangement plays with layers of strings and soft percussion, but there’s something in the bass that lingers in the ear and won’t let go: it’s not a catchy riff, but a line that moves calmly, as if it knew the message didn’t need haste.

Diego Torres released it in 1994 on Tratar de Estar Mejor, his second album, and by then the sound was no longer just ballad or reggae: it was a hybrid that sounded fresh on Argentine radio at the time. The track wasn’t the most promoted from the album — the hits were Deja or San Salvador — but it ended up being one of those cuts fans save for specific moments, like when the night stretches on and it’s clear that not everything is lost. By then, Torres had already moved beyond being the kid from La Banda del Golden Rocket to become an artist who sold more than anyone in the country, with a tour that took him across Latin America and even a collaboration in Spain for the tribute to Joan Manuel Serrat. But in Not everything is lost, there’s no euphoria: there’s a voice singing from calm, as if it knew good things arrive when you least expect them.