Televised soap operas are popular in Peru, even though they are often not produced there. Shown in the evening, they come primarily from Venezuela, Mexico and India and attract a wide following. Get in touch with the trashy side of Peru – pick up a remote control and start flicking channels for one of these three Peru soap operas.

Popular Peru soap opera #1 – Winter Sonata

A Korean soap opera, ” Winter Sonata”, whose story line is almost as complex as a Shakespearean play but nowhere near as well written, follows the blossoming of the relationship of former childhood sweethearts Joon-Sang and Yu-Jin.

Joon-Sang began his life as an introverted music student who was born out of wedlock which causes him great distress. However, one day, Joon-Sang and Yu-Jin meet on a bus to school and Joon-Sang quickly falls in love with Yu-Jin, who opens up her heart to Joon-Sang. He then gets into a car accident which causes him to suffer amnesia and erase his memory of Yu-Jin (of course). He moves to the United States with his mother and changes his name (as one would). In the meantime, everyone in South Korea is, including Yu-Jin has been told that he died.

The story (unfortunately) continues ten years later when Joon-Sang returns to Korea as a successful architect. It turns out that he works for the same firm as Yu-Jin, who is now engaged to someone else. Yu-Jim notices him and decides to postpone her engagement. The plot deepens as she tried to find out if Joon-Sang is really her lost lover…

Popular Peru soap opera #2 – Amores de Barrio Adentro

“Amores de Barrio Adentro” which is translated as ” Love Inside the Neighborhood” is a popular Venezuelan soap opera which portrays the life and political reality in a poor neighborhood.

The plot is basically a love story between a young pro-Chávez woman and a young man who is politically neutral, that is he is neither with the government nor its opposition, in a Venezuela that is highly polarized. The story depicts on the screen what has become popular in Venezuela, which is the lies of the opposition and the truth of the about the revolution, which refers to the peaceful social movement that Chávez has brought about and the opposition movement that has worked hard to remove him. The title of the program is similar to the name of the Barrio Adentro plan that Chávez undertook in 2003 to bring primary health care to the slums and poor neighborhoods of the country. In this program, close to 10,000 Cuban doctors have played a role in tending to the patients in Venezuela’ s shanty-towns.

If you want to see some creaky acting combined with shameless political propaganda, here’s your winner.

Peru soap opera #3 – King of Baking, Kim Tak Goo Inexplicably, Peruvians go potty for Korean media. This other offering, otherwise known as ” Bread, Love and Dreams”, this is South Korean drama that tells the story of how a determined young baker decides to become the best baker in all of Korea. The dreams of youth, eh?

As the eldest son of Goo Il Jong, the chairman of Geosung Food Enterprise, a company well known in the baking industry, Kim Tak Goo finds himself to be a talented baker and to be destined to succeed his father as President of the company. However, because he was the son of Il Jong’s mistress, the family plots against him so he cannot rightfully take over his inheritance. The story revolves around Tak Goo’ s resolve to become the best in the industry as he has to start his career from the beginning. Naturally, he has to overcome many trials blah blah blah.

So there you have it – 3 of the best options for watching hours of your life slide by as Korean bakers, politically indifferent (and thus probably evil) Venezuelans and conveniently forgetful architects wander in improbable and highly dramatic circles. Don’t say I didn’t warn you…

The Velvet Underground was an incredibly fluid band over time, with members moving in and out of the band. Through the years, the band had a number of different singers or vocalists who each contributed to varying degrees.

Lou Reed

Lou Reed is the primary main vocalist on most of The Velvet Underground’s songs. His vocal style is so varying and diverse that he has a few totally different sounds. To hear an example of Reed’s vocals, listen to Pale Blue Eyes, and, to hear an example of his varying vocal style, listen to Vicious for some contrast.

Doug Yule

As John Cale’s replacement in the band, Yule didn’t start off as a singer in the band, but rather as a bassist and organist, but over time he sang lead more and more frequently. Yule sang in some of The Velvet Underground’s greatest songs like Candy Says, New Age, and Oh! Sweet Nuthin.

John Cale

Vocals might not have been Cale’s primary contribution to the band, but Cale did take his turn with lead vocals on some of the band’s more experimental tracks. To hear examples of Cale’s vocals, check out Lady Godiva’s Operation, or, The Gift (a lengthy spoken word piece performed by Cale).

Maureen (“Moe”) Tucker

Best known as the band’s drummer, Moe Tucker also took her turn with lead vocals on a couple of occasions. The band only had two female vocalists who sang lead vocals at any given point at time-Tucker, and Nico. Tucker sang co-lead vocals with Reed on After Hours, and sang lead vocals on I’m Sticking With You. She also read the spoken word poem, The Murder Mystery.

Nico

Not technically a member of the band, Nico nonetheless sang lead vocals on one of the band’s albums – The Velvet Underground & Nico. On the album, Nico sings lead vocals on three tracks: All Tomorrow’s Parties, Femme Fatale, and I’ll Be Your Mirror. Nico went on to produce a lot of music in her solo career after the album.

Sterling Morrison (Honorable Mention)

While Morrison made significant contributions to the band in other ways, he did have many lead vocal lines. In fact, although he often sang backing vocals, Morrison never sang lead for an entire song. He did, however, have a lead singing line here and there. Morrison did recite one verse of The Murder Mystery, and also sang one line in I’m Sticking With You.