Café, con aroma de mujer
Encyclopedia
Café con aroma de mujer was a 1994 Colombia
n telenovela, produced by then programming company RCN TV
on state-owned Canal A
. It is probably one of the most popular telenovelas on Colombian television
. It was written and created by Fernando Gaitán
.
s and the way they were created. The story involved both typical and modern parts of Colombia, taking place in the heart of Colombian coffee
plantations and in an important coffee export company.
), a woman who works as a harvester on a plantation
and Sebastian Vallejo (Guy Ecker
), the grandson of a powerful coffee businessman. When the two meet in a coffee plantation, they begin a passionate affair. Their first encounter end with them having sex for the first time in a coffee plantation and without knowing Sebastian leaves her pregnant and travel to London next morning to continue his studies. However they made a promise, they would meet each other the next year on October (time of the new coffee harvest). But as soon as Sebastian is away in Europe Gaviota finds out she's pregnant. She, then enrolles in a so-called Model Agency with the idea of traveling to Europe and finding Sebastian. But she's fooled by the man who is secretly running an agency of prostitution and human trafficking. Eventually, Sebastian marries another woman. Gaviota decides to enter the mainly male-dominated coffee business empire. She succeeds as the first woman to work in this area. When Gaviota and Sebastian meet again, they find that their passion for each other never died.
The show is especially famed for showing a panoramic and authentic view of the culture of Colombian coffee growers and the traditional heartland of Colombia's coffee-growing highland
s.
s are popularly told about how the whole country would "come to a standstill" when the show came on the air on weeknights at 20:00. Interestingly, its competition on Canal Uno
was Las aguas mansas, produced by RTI Colombia
, which would be remade in 2003 as the successful Pasión de gavilanes
.
The main actress, Margarita Rosa de Francisco
, already popular for her roles in Gallito Ramirez (1986) and Los Pecados de Inés de Hinojosa (1988) and for being a former Miss Colombia (second place in Miss World 1985), gave life to "Gaviota", one of the most popular characters in Colombian television and Margarita's most important work. The story concerns a woman who works as a harvester on a plantation, who falls in love with the son of the plantation owner. The show is especially famed for showing a panoramic and authentic view of the culture of Eje cafetero, the traditional heartland of Colombia's coffee-growing highlands.
Sings Margarita Rosa de Francisco
reported that the success of Yo soy Betty, la fea spin-offs has led to the search for other telenovelas being planned for the United States
. While some characters remain and new ones have been added, I think that the U.S. version preserves the spirit of the original 'Betty la fea,' Gaitán says.
Cafe con Aroma de Mujer was remade in Mexico twice. First TV Azteca
produced Cuando seas mía
in 2001, starring Silvia Navarro
and Sergio Basañez
as 'Paloma' and 'Diego'. Televisa
produced Destilando Amor
in 2007, changing coffee for tequila
.
copies of the novela on DVD.
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
n telenovela, produced by then programming company RCN TV
RCN TV
RCN Televisión , is a Colombian private television network. It started as a production company in 1967...
on state-owned Canal A
Canal A
Canal A was a Colombian state-owned privately run national television channel. It was launched March 27, 1972 as Segunda Cadena, since it was the second television channel in Colombia, and replacing Tele 9 Corazón...
. It is probably one of the most popular telenovelas on Colombian television
Television in Colombia
Television in Colombia or Colombian television is a media of Colombia. It is characterized for broadcasting telenovelas, series, game shows and TV news. Until 1998 it was a state monopoly...
. It was written and created by Fernando Gaitán
Fernando Gaitán
Fernando Gaitán Salom is a Colombian TV series and telenovelas screenwriter as well as a producer.-Career highlights:Fernando Gaitán is known for weaving different histories into diverse social contexts...
.
Synopsis
This telenovela marked a difference in Latin American telenovelaTelenovela
A telenovela is a limited-run serial dramatic programming popular in Latin American, Portuguese, and Spanish television programming. The word combines tele, short for televisión or televisão , and novela, a Spanish or Portuguese word for "novel"...
s and the way they were created. The story involved both typical and modern parts of Colombia, taking place in the heart of Colombian coffee
Coffee
Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...
plantations and in an important coffee export company.
Story line
Café con aroma de mujer is about Gaviota (Margarita Rosa de FranciscoMargarita Rosa de Francisco
Margarita Rosa de Francisco Baquero also known as La Mencha is a Colombian telenovela, movie actress, singer and TV presenter.-Personal life:...
), a woman who works as a harvester on a plantation
Plantation
A plantation is a long artificially established forest, farm or estate, where crops are grown for sale, often in distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption...
and Sebastian Vallejo (Guy Ecker
Guy Ecker
Guy Frederick Ecker is an American actor better known for his work in telenovelas. Ecker became a household name in Latin America for his portrayal of Sebastián Vallejo in the Colombian telenovela Cafe Con Aroma de Mujer. A second Colombian production, Guajira also proved successful...
), the grandson of a powerful coffee businessman. When the two meet in a coffee plantation, they begin a passionate affair. Their first encounter end with them having sex for the first time in a coffee plantation and without knowing Sebastian leaves her pregnant and travel to London next morning to continue his studies. However they made a promise, they would meet each other the next year on October (time of the new coffee harvest). But as soon as Sebastian is away in Europe Gaviota finds out she's pregnant. She, then enrolles in a so-called Model Agency with the idea of traveling to Europe and finding Sebastian. But she's fooled by the man who is secretly running an agency of prostitution and human trafficking. Eventually, Sebastian marries another woman. Gaviota decides to enter the mainly male-dominated coffee business empire. She succeeds as the first woman to work in this area. When Gaviota and Sebastian meet again, they find that their passion for each other never died.
The show is especially famed for showing a panoramic and authentic view of the culture of Colombian coffee growers and the traditional heartland of Colombia's coffee-growing highland
Highland (geography)
The term highland or upland is used to denote any mountainous region or elevated mountainous plateau. Generally speaking, the term upland tends to be used for ranges of hills, typically up to 500-600m, and highland for ranges of low mountains.The Scottish Highlands refers to the mountainous...
s.
Impact
In a short time, Café, con aroma de mujer became popular among audiences of all ages and genders, to the point that anecdoteAnecdote
An anecdote is a short and amusing or interesting story about a real incident or person. It may be as brief as the setting and provocation of a bon mot. An anecdote is always presented as based on a real incident involving actual persons, whether famous or not, usually in an identifiable place...
s are popularly told about how the whole country would "come to a standstill" when the show came on the air on weeknights at 20:00. Interestingly, its competition on Canal Uno
Canal Uno
Canal Uno is the first Colombian national television channel. It started 13 June 1954 on Channel 8 in Bogotá. It is state-owned, operated by Radio Televisión Nacional de Colombia, and privately-run, with programming companies known as programadoras bidding for time slots with the Colombian...
was Las aguas mansas, produced by RTI Colombia
RTI Colombia
RTI Colombia, also known as Radio Televisión Interamericana , is a Colombian television production company. It aired 14.5 per week of programming each week in 1993....
, which would be remade in 2003 as the successful Pasión de gavilanes
Pasión de gavilanes
Pasión de Gavilanes was a popular Colombian telenovela that ran for 188 episodes, from 2003 to 2004. Written by Julio Jiménez, it was produced by RTI Colombia in conjunction with the Telemundo network and with the participation of Caracol TV company. In Colombia, it was broadcast by Caracol TV...
.
The main actress, Margarita Rosa de Francisco
Margarita Rosa de Francisco
Margarita Rosa de Francisco Baquero also known as La Mencha is a Colombian telenovela, movie actress, singer and TV presenter.-Personal life:...
, already popular for her roles in Gallito Ramirez (1986) and Los Pecados de Inés de Hinojosa (1988) and for being a former Miss Colombia (second place in Miss World 1985), gave life to "Gaviota", one of the most popular characters in Colombian television and Margarita's most important work. The story concerns a woman who works as a harvester on a plantation, who falls in love with the son of the plantation owner. The show is especially famed for showing a panoramic and authentic view of the culture of Eje cafetero, the traditional heartland of Colombia's coffee-growing highlands.
Main cast
- Margarita Rosa de FranciscoMargarita Rosa de FranciscoMargarita Rosa de Francisco Baquero also known as La Mencha is a Colombian telenovela, movie actress, singer and TV presenter.-Personal life:...
... Teresa "Gaviota" Suarez / Carolina Olivares - Guy EckerGuy EckerGuy Frederick Ecker is an American actor better known for his work in telenovelas. Ecker became a household name in Latin America for his portrayal of Sebastián Vallejo in the Colombian telenovela Cafe Con Aroma de Mujer. A second Colombian production, Guajira also proved successful...
... Sebastian Vallejo - Alejandra Borrero ... Lucia Sandoval de Vallejo
- Cristobal Errazuriz ... Ivan Vallejo
- Sylvia de Dios ... Lucrecia de Vallejo
- Constanza Duque ... Carmenza Suarez
Supporting cast
- Sílvio Ángel ... Buitrago
- Juan Carlos Arango ... Aurelio
- Santiago Bejarano ... Miguel Alfonso Tejeiros de Caballero
- Óscar Borda ... Harold McLein
- Alejandro Buenaventura ... Dr. Roberto Avellaneda
- Manuel Busquets ... Dr. Jorge Latorre
- Gustavo Corredor ... Rafael Vallejo
- Juan Ángel ... Dr. Mauro Salinas
- Luz Dary Beltrán ... Ursula
- Gloria Amparo Carmona ... Daniela
- Gerardo De Francisco ... Francisco Vallejo
- Kenny Delgado ... Dr. Victor Ángel
- Myriam De Lourdes ... Ángela Sáenz de Vallejo
- Tania Fálquez ... Martha Benavides
- Danna GarcíaDanna GarcíaDanna Maria García Osuna is a Colombian actress best known for her roles in telenovelas.The daughter of Colombian singer Claudia Osuna, Danna began her career at the age of four...
... Marcela Vallejo Cortez - Harry Geithner ... Dr. Carmona
- Claudia Liliana GonzalezClaudia Liliana GonzálezClaudia Liliana González is a Colombian actress, born 1970 in Cali.Ms González studied Architecture but decided to become an actress after taking some acting courses while at college. She started to play small roles in television until 1994, when she played Daniela Reyes in the successful RCN TV...
... Daniela Reyes - Jacqueline Henríquez ... Graciela
- Lina María Navia ... Paula Vallejo Cortez
- Haydee Ramírez ... Marcia Pontalvo
- Iván RodríguezIván RodríguezIván Rodríguez Torres , nicknamed "Pudge" and "I-Rod", is a Major League Baseball catcher...
... Reinaldo Pérez - Andrei Satora ... Arthur
- Rey Vásquez ... El Galtero
- Guillermo Vives ... Bernardo Vallejo Sáenz
- Dora Cadavid ... Cecilia de Vallejo
Soundtrack
- Gaviota
- Aroma de mujer - "Scent of a woman"
- Entre dos fuegos - "Between two fires"
- Volveran las Obscuras Golondrinas - "The dark swallows will return"
- Mal Amor - "Bad love"
- Sangra un corazón - "A heart bleeds"
- A mi pesar - "To my regret"
- As de Corazones - "Ace of hearts"
- Como si nada - "Like if nothing"
- Como un cristal - "Like a glass"
- Vuelve - "Come back"
- Café café - "Coffee - coffee"
- Ni soy río, ni soy flor - "Neither am river, nor a flower"
- Chapolera
- Inquietud - "Concern"
Sings Margarita Rosa de Francisco
Remakes planned
An article in VarietyVariety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
reported that the success of Yo soy Betty, la fea spin-offs has led to the search for other telenovelas being planned for the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. While some characters remain and new ones have been added, I think that the U.S. version preserves the spirit of the original 'Betty la fea,' Gaitán says.
Cafe con Aroma de Mujer was remade in Mexico twice. First TV Azteca
TV Azteca
Azteca, is the second largest Mexican television entertainment. It was established in 1983 as the state-owned Instituto Mexicano de la Televisión , a holding of the national TV networks channel 13 and 7 and was privatized under its current name in 1993 and now is part of Grupo Salinas...
produced Cuando seas mía
Cuando Seas Mía
Cuando Seas Mia is a Mexican telenovela produced by TV Azteca. It was the second reunion for Silvia Navarro and Sergio Basañez as protagonists.-Main cast:Silvia Navarro ... Teresa Suárez, Paloma, Elena Olivares, Margot...
in 2001, starring Silvia Navarro
Silvia Navarro
Silvia Angelica Navarro Barva is a Mexican actress who began as a contract player for TVAzteca, where she starred in the telenovelas Perla and Montecristo....
and Sergio Basañez
Sergio Basañez
Sergio Basañez is a telenovela actor. He started his acting career at an early age. Before he got leading roles in soap operas, he made special appearances in them, while he studied acting at the "Centro de Educación Artística" of Televisa in Mexico...
as 'Paloma' and 'Diego'. Televisa
Televisa
Televisa is a Mexican multimedia conglomerate, the largest mass media company in Latin America and in the Spanish-speaking world. It is a major international entertainment business, with much of its programming airing in the United States on Univision, with which it has an exclusive contract...
produced Destilando Amor
Destilando Amor
Destilando Amor is a 2007 Mexican telenovela produced by Televisa and Nicandro Díaz. It stars Angélica Rivera and Eduardo Yáñez as the main protagonists and was set primarily in Tequila, Jalisco...
in 2007, changing coffee for tequila
Tequila
Tequila is a spirit made from the blue agave plant, primarily in the area surrounding the city of Tequila, northwest of Guadalajara, and in the highlands of the western Mexican state of Jalisco....
.
DVD release
There are no plans to release the novela on DVD. There are however bootlegBootleg recording
A bootleg recording is an audio or video recording of a performance that was not officially released by the artist or under other legal authority. The process of making and distributing such recordings is known as bootlegging...
copies of the novela on DVD.
Sources
- Cronología del cine latinoamericano: 1990-2004 Original Spanish article.