From Billboard by Sigal Ratner-Arias

Juan Luis Guerra & Sting Join Forces for ‘Genuine’ Duet in ‘Estrellitas y Duendes’...

"I had to try to sing them exactly as they were written because they're impeccable," Sting, who sings completely in Spanish, says of the lyrics.
 

Juan Luis Guerra and Sting, two of the most globally admired artists in music, surprise their fans Thursday night (Nov. 6) with a new version of “Estrellitas y Duendes” — a classic by the Dominican maestro, included on his iconic 1990 album Bachata Rosa — which you can watch above.

The sweet song — a bachata with bolero elements that expresses the pain and melancholy of a lost love through deeply poetic lyrics — returns 35 years later to unite Guerra’s celebrated sound with Sting’s unmistakable artistic sensitivity, with the latter taking on the task of singing entirely in Spanish.

“Juan Luis’ lyrics in ‘Estrellitas y Duendes’ are a master class in what one might call romantic magical realism. I had to try to sing them exactly as they were written because they’re impeccable,” Sting says in a statement to Billboard Español. “My Spanish pronunciation is hardly perfect, but the spirit in which I sang them is genuine and true.” 

For Guerra, this came as a surprise. “We recorded remotely, and what stood out to me the most is that he wanted to record it all in Spanish,” he explains separately in a Zoom interview. “It’s a somewhat challenging song, with metaphorical words that aren’t very common, and he did it impressively well. I know he put in special effort.”

In its new version, “Estrellitas y Duendes” keeps the elegant, evocative instrumentation and arrangements of the original basically intact, but it’s Sting’s voice that opens with the romantic line: “Viviré en tu recuerdo como un simple aguacero de estrellitas y duendes” (“I will live in your memory like a simple downpour of little stars and elves”). From there, both artists take turns singing the different verses in a sweet back-and-forth of their unmistakable voices.

This isn’t the first time these two music legends have collaborated in some way. In 2006, Sting invited Guerra on stage during a concert at Altos de Chavón in La Romana, Dominican Republic, to perform “Fragile” together.

Almost two decades later, Guerra was re-recording “Estrellitas y Duendes” for an upcoming album of new versions of his songs when Sting’s name came up as a possible collaborator. “We approached him, and he accepted, and for me, it was a privilege and an honour to have him as one of the greatest representations of rock in the world,” Guerra says. “Besides, we are fans of his and have always admired him.”

Sting recalls that it was his manager Martin Kierszenbaum, who is a Spanish-speaker “and, like me, a big admirer of Juan Luis’ compositions,” the one who encouraged him to lend his voice to this classic by Guerra, “one of his favourites.” They immediately recorded his part one afternoon at Night Bird Studios in Los Angeles.

Guerra notes that this happened a couple of years ago, explaining that they had to wait for the right moment to release it. Finally ready, they met in person a few months ago to shoot the music video at Power Station Studios in New York, directed by Guerra Films.

Juan Luis Guerra and Sting both have extraordinary legacies in music. The former, one of the most celebrated Latin artists in history, has received three Grammy Awards and 31 Latin Grammys. The latter, both as a solo artist and as the leader of The Police, has earned 17 Grammy Awards, as well as a Golden Globe, an Emmy, and multiple Oscar nominations.

Released on December 11, 1990 under Karen Records, Bachata Rosa debuted at No. 1 on Billboard‘s Top Tropical Albums and topped the chart for 12 weeks. “Estrellitas y Duendes,” the fifth single from the set, reached No. 3 on Hot Latin Songs in 1991.