Author: Juan Castro

Andrés O’Farrill is a rocker in his forties who is stuck. He is stuck profession- ally, personally and worse: musically. He went from being a talented musician to composing shitty songs for pop artists and giving guitar lessons to a ten-year-old boy. The only thing that seems constant in his day is the persistent call from a mysterious contact on his cell phone: EGO.

After being rejected by Romina’s music producer, Damián, and after Anuar, his landlord, changes the lock of his door, leaving him out, Andrés is left lying outside his apartment. Something unexpected changes everything when Tito, his friend and owner of the Par de Ases Bar, tells him that the legendary music producer Tessa Martel is looking for new talent around the City for the night.

Without a second thought, Andrés arrives at the Par de Ases Bar, accompanied only by his guitar. On the stage, he sings a pop song, and although he has a privileged voice and plays very, very well, he doesn’t look comfortable. His performance suddenly ends when a fight breaks out at the bar.

Moving on from the bar, Andrés finds himself in a crowded area filled with musicians who have the same thing in mind as him: performing for Tessa Martel. After a couple of missed attempts on making it to the list of an open-mic, Andrés meets Los Cuchis, a band formed by Carmen, Rigo and Santo, who are looking for a guitarist who knows how to read music. With them he ventures to find a bar where they can play; however, they are all full.

After some time looking for bars to play, Los Cuchis gave up, making Andrés go back to look for Tessa Martel by himself. In his odyssey, he gets into endless problems: he loses his guitar, gets his ass kicked, he gets robbed, left behind on the streets with a Teporocho, and he even ends up in jail. It is in jail, at his lowest point, where he calls the only person who has been looking for him all night long: EGO.

EGO stands for Emmanuel González O’Farrill, his former bandmate and cousin. Emmanuel is now a famous musician known as EMA. After being released from jail, Andrés reaches the end of EMA’s concert, who invites him to play the encore, the last two songs.

After the concert, they get to the after party of the concert and this is where Andrés realizes that Emmanuel is still the same person, the person who left him behind, the same person who took his opportunity to play with Tessa Martel away, ten years ago. Andrés leaves the party with no idea where to go from there.

He ends his night, as usual, in a bar. There, he runs up with an unrecognizable Romina, who goes from being a pop-star sensation to a more down to earth singer and songwriter. They talk and Romina makes him see that music does not depend on whether you are famous or if it sells, it exists and that should be enough. Andrés finds comfort in her words, and after he tells her about his night, Romina reveals what Andrés had wanted to hear all along: that Tessa Martel is in that same bar where they are standing. Andrés gets up and goes directly towards the stage. But after a few chords, Tessa Martel leaves the bar. Petrified, Andrés cannot believe that she left. But he composes himself, straightens up, and plays the best song he’s ever played in his life.