J. Lo’s On The Floor – Remake Of Los Kjarkas Llorando Se Fue

The question on everybody’s mind: what is the On The Floor song by Jennifer Lopez a remake of? Well, we did some investigation and it turns out that the track was originally composed, performed and recorded by Bolivian group Los Kjarkas, who debuted that incredible hook in 1981 in the song “Llorando Se Fue.”

However, most people know of the track as “Lambada” or “Chorando Se Foi (Lambada)”, a 1989 song recorded by the French pop group Kaoma with the Brazilian vocalist Loalwa Braz and released as the first single from Kaoma’s debut album Worldbeat. But like a great hook, it doesn’t stop there. The song in Portuguese is a cover of Márcia Ferreira’s 1986 hit “Chorando se foi” based on the 1981 Bolivian song “Llorando se fue” by Los Kjarkas mentioned above.

Turns out the lyrics and music of Kaoma’s “Chorando se foi” are an unauthorized translation of Los Kjarkas’ orignal “Llorando se fue”. The song’s lyrics and music had been lawfully registered in 1985 by the founding members of Los Kjarkas (Gonzalo and Ulises Hermosa) in Germany’s Music and Authors Society (GEMA). Kjarkas then opened a can of legal whoop-ass on Kaoma’s producer, Jean-Claude Bonaventure, in 1991. Kjarkas successfully proved in court that Bonaventure stole the track when he gave the unauthorized copy to Kaoma for their debut and was granted royalties. In another sad chapter of music history, most of those royalties, unfortunately, never saw Kjarka’s coffers.

Prior to Kaoma’s 1989 release of the song, several covers of “Llorando se fue” had been released. The first Portuguese translation and authorized recording of the cut was released by Brazilian singer-writer Márcia Ferreira (with co-writer José Ari) in 1986. Compared to Los Kjarkas’ sad and slow Saya rhythm on their song, Ferreira’s version is the first to use an upbeat Lambada rhythm, which is how REDONE (Lady Gaga) discovered the track and updated it for J. Lo.

REDONE and J. Lo’s On The Floor is an authorized remake and will be tearing up the dance floors this Spring. Several versions will be heard at this month’s Winter Music Conference in Miami. The track is a nice comeback for J. Lo who was dumped by Sony after her last album tanked and Sony was busted for paying radio stations to play Lopez’s first single from the album in the last payola scam to come to light in recent history.