Filling paper napkins, and notebooks every time a song flowed out. I wasn’t even allowed to have a boyfriend until I was 17 and here I was writing grown woman lyrics as if I’d already experienced the world inside out. After I wrote it, I never shared it with anyone. To this day, it’s how I’ve written every song of mine. I never wrote the lyrics, and then added the melody afterwards, or vice versa. I woke up in the middle of the night, and just started writing it all down on paper, the melody coming out of my mouth as I sang each lyric. I originally wrote it as a salsa song, cal led “La Luna.” This song was not only filled with melancholy, passion, and longing, but it was also quite sexual. We settled in Durham, NC when I was nine years old, and I didn’t leave until I graduated college. I loved Frank Sinatra and Garth Brooks as much as I loved Jose Alfredo Jimenez and Gloria Trevi.

I grew up singing at family functions, and having my dad accompany me on the guitar. I’ve always loved amazing lyrics and a good story. That’s what I wanted to sing at three yrs old! But I’ve always been that kid. The chorus lyrics sang “Y Solita Voy y Vengo, Como las Olas del Mar” which meant “and now alone, I come and go, like the waves upon the shore.” Imagine, that.

And he expected twinkle twinkle little star, or some Spanish lullaby and instead I wanted to sing “La Huerfanita,” a heartbreaking song of an orphan girl. My dad tells a story that when I was three yrs old, and he was sitting down strumming on his guitar, I walked up and asked him to accompany me, so I could sing. So, let’s start at the beginning, and we can move on from there. Thanks for sharing your story with us Ilka. Today we’d like to introduce you to Ilka Rodriguez Cortes.

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