Bossa do Anjinho, Julio Santillán and Francisca Almeida.

Bossa do Anjinho.
Julio and Francisca.
Film, music and art.

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about the piece.
Julio wrote this song the day his friends’ twins were born, right after he came back from the hospital. He imagined they were the little friends of his stillborn son, Alejandro. Part of the inspiration came from Chico Buarque, a Brazilian songwriter who often writes as a woman. The watercolors were painted by Francisca, Alejandro’s mother, as a healing activity. About half of the paintings are reproductions of (or inspired by) watercolors from the book The Tao of Watercolor, by Jeanne Carbonneti. Julio took pictures of the watercolors, recorded the song (with an amazing singer and friend, Ana Rossi), and made the video while Francisca was away in a business trip to make her a surprise gift. Here is an approximate English translation of the lyrics:

Bossa of the little angel

I forgot to feel all the pain
that was left by the illusion you were bringing

I forgot to cry, to understand
that you are not here and are only a remembrance

I was deprived to offer you the warmth
of this voice that names you

I’ll keep for another time
my advices and motherly fears

They will grow up and one day will know them,
the ones that are and will be your friends

It is difficult to understand what justice decided
to take you away forever



about the artists.
Julio Santillán, Argentine, 37, is a professional musician now based in Barcelona. Francisca Almeida, Brazilian, 35, is a scientist. They met in NYC where their first and only child, Alejandro, was stillborn at exactly 40 weeks, on December 30th 2008. Ale had been planned and the pregnancy was mostly healthy except for a few bleeding episodes between weeks 14 and 16. Despite tens of tests and an autopsy the doctors couldn’t explain Ale’s death. Julio has contributed to Still Life 365 before with an instrumental piece, Piedrita de rio.

Piedrita de Rio, Julio A. Santillán

Piedrita de Rio, Julio A. Santillán
piece written for guitar


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about the piece.
In Julio's words, "My wife and I lost our baby about a year ago. I started to write Piedrita de Rio (little river stone or little stone from the river) for Alejandro while he was growing in my wife's belly. He died at the end of the ninth month. I finished writing the piece recently and to commemorate his first birthday, I decided to put together a video. My idea was to tell the story of my son: a little stone in a mountain river that never came out of the water. It travelled stream down, until eventually reaching the sea."

about the composer.
Julio A. Santillán is a composer and guitarist from Tucumán, Argentina. His compositions combine elements from his home land folk music, jazz improvisation and classical music. He has recorded 40 CDs, including five with his ensembles. His website is at Julio Santillán.com.