Throwback Thursday 10/21 – “Dime Que No” with Ricardo Arjona

A little late but we’re here with our Throwback Thursday post. This week’s artist is none other than Ricardo Arjona. One of the biggest artists in Latin music history, Arjona is our first Guatemalan artist to be featured in this series.

Ricardo Arjona, Man of Mystery

Ricardo Arjona was born Edgar Ricardo Arjona Morales in 1964. He was born in Jocotenango, Guatemala. His early life is something of legends. He began his musical career at the age of 12, winning a contest with an original song composed by his father. His athletic skills are almost more impressive. Arjona was a member of Guatemala’s National Basketball team and for a while, held the record for most points scored in a game by a Guatemalan with 78. He apparently loves soccer as well. As a elementary school teacher, he would spend a large portion of the day playing soccer with his students.

In terms of his musical career, it’s a story of stops and starts. While he won that contest at 12, he decided to launch a real career at the age of 21. His first album performed very poorly. Arjona abandoned music to become a teacher only to try again at the age of 24. His first few albums were not overly successful. His big breaks came in the early 1990s as he became a telenovela star in Mexico. Overall, he has released 17 studio albums to date.

Dime Que No

This week’s song is “Dime Que No”. This song comes off Arjona’s 1998 hit album Sin Daños a Terceros and was the breakout release of the album. The song itself is a bit complicated but essentially tells of Arjona instructing a woman to deny him. If she does, then he will continue to conquer and fight for her. Maybe, he says, its in her best interest to turn him down.

Listening to the track, it’s hard not to sing along as it comes to the chorus. Even if you have no idea what he’s talking about, this track is hard to skip.

From 1998, “Dime Que No”.

To see Arjona live, here are his upcoming concerts

For last week’s post, click here.