State Champ Radio Vina del Mar Festival
Maria Becerra shone brightly as she kicked off the final night of the 63rd Viña del Mar Festival, delivering a performance filled with dance choreographies and hits that were enthusiastically sung along by the Quinta Vergara audience.
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Dazzling in a white denim outfit, the Argentine star — who took the place of Peso Pluma after the Mexican artist canceled — opened her performance with the furious thump of “Perreo Furioso,” backed by a rock band consisting of a bassist, guitarist, drummer and keyboardist, and an Argentine trap beat. She then ignited the vibe with an invigorating cumbia, “El Amor de Mi Vida,” which she originally recorded with Los Ángeles Azules. For more than an hour, she ran through hits including “Corazón Vacío”, “Ojalá” and “Piscina.”
Later, she received sunflowers from fans as well as Silver and Gold Gaviotas, the event’s top award, which she dedicated to her parents. “Thank you so much, really. What an honor to receive this,” she added.
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The atmosphere became more serious when the Argentine singer read an emotional letter she wrote in response to the recent fires that affected the Valparaíso region.
“I want to take a moment to remember that all of us here have taken the commitment to help Viña rise again, after the tremendous tragedy they had to face. I witnessed the burning hills that showed in the marks of the fire, that less than a month ago, there were houses there. I listened with great fear to the story of a mother pulling her little child out of the fire,” she read.
She continued, “I was moved by the story of the female doctors from the small health clinic who climbed the hill beyond what we saw … It’s very sad to see how the fire swept away years of work. Life projects, memories, and above all, the more than 100 people who lost their lives. That’s why, today, I want to ask for a big round of applause for health workers, police officers, volunteers and firefighters. And to all of Chile, I want to tell you that my heart is with you. Our hearts are with every person who today is defying fate.”
Becerra, 24, was honored as a “Visionary” at the inaugural Billboard 2023 Latin Women in Music gala.
Following the performance by La Nena de Argentina, rapper Trueno — featured on Billboard’s list of the 50 most essential Spanish-language rappers of all time — took the stage to close out the event. Armed with intoxicating bars, the wordsmith opened with “Hoop Hoop” and continued the night with “Trueno: Bzrp Freestyle Sessions, Vol. 6,” “Buenos Aires en Llamas” and “Freestyle” before closing with “Dance Crip.”
Later in the evening, he also received his Gold Gaviota and Silver Gaviota awards.
The Viña del Mar 2024 Festival kicked off on Feb. 26 with Alejandro Sanz and Manuel Turizo. They were followed by Andrea Bocelli and Miranda! on the 26th, Maná and Men at Work on the 27th, Mora and Anitta on the 29th, and a Chilean night with Los Bunkers and Young Cister on March 1 before closing on Friday.
If you missed Friday’s performances by Maria Becerra and Trueno, or want to relive them, you can watch them below.
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Eight years after his last performance at Viña del Mar, Alejandro Sanz has once again won over the “monster” of Quinta Vergara on Sunday night, when he opened the 63rd edition of Viña’s International Song Festival.
The Spanish singer/songwriter delighted the event’s 15,000 attendees by performing live hits including “No Es Lo Mismo,” “Lo Que Fui Es Lo Que Soy” and “Deja Que Te Bese,” to name a few.
The set began with a video of Sanz, on the large screens at the back of the stage, narrating the beginning of his autobiographical song “Bio” before appearing live — dressed in black, with white sneakers and dark glasses — accompanied by a band that included about a dozen musicians among instrumentalists and backup singers. “Viña roars!” he yelled before starting singing.
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Sanz later greeted the audience in the Chilean coastal city: “How good to see you!” he said to the “monster,” as the festival’s audience at the Quinta Vergara is known as. “What a joy to return to this stage after a few years. This is a very special night for all of us here; I hope it is for you too. We are going to do absolutely everything to make it so.”
And they did not disappoint. For almost an hour and a half, Sanz and his band delivered hit after hit.
One of the most emotional moments came from “Looking for Paradise,” originally recorded with Alicia Keys, which Sanz performed this time with one of his backup singers. The artist dedicated the uplifting bilingual song to the volunteers working to help the victims of the fires that left 120 people dead and more than 15,000 homes affected earlier this month in Viña del Mar. “I want to dedicate it to them with all the love in the world and thank them. It is from those people that we, as humanity, can really nourish ourselves, because they are people who selflessly give everything,” he said. “So this is for you. ¡Viva Chile!”
Some of the songs that inspired a sing-along among the fans were “La Fuerza del Corazón”, “Cuando Nadie Me Ve,” “Quisiera Ser”, “Mi Soledad y Yo”, “Y, ¿Si Fuera Ella?” and, of course, “Corazón Partío,” which the audience belted with Sanz wholeheartedly. Later, they awarded his art and his solidarity with a Silver and Golden Gaviota Awards, the highest honor awarded to the guest artists, as per the intensity of the audience’s ovation.
But Sanz wasn’t the only international star who performed on the opening night of the event. Colombian singer Manuel Turizo followed him with his Viña debut, performing an eclectic, colorful set that included ballads, urbano and tropical music, with songs from “Desconocidos” and “Déjala Que Vuelva” to “Vagabundo” and his biggest hits, “La Bachata” and “El Merengue,” which undoubtedly lit up the crowd. Turizo also received a strong ovation from the “monster,” and went home with his first Silver Gaviota Award.
Manuel Turizo performs during the 63th Viña del Mar International Song Festival in Viña del Mar, Chile on Feb. 26, 2024.
JAVIER TORRES/AFP via Getty Images
The Viña del Mar Festival 2024 takes place all week at the Quinta Vergara Amphitheater and can be seen outside of Chile on the Star+ streaming platform and the festival’s YouTube channel.
The celebration continues Monday (Feb. 26) night with performances by Andrea Bocelli and his son Matteo Bocelli, plus Miranda! as the second act. Maná and Men at Work on Feb. 27; Mora and Anitta on Feb. 29; a night devoted to Chilean artists with Los Bunkers and Young Cister on March 1; and for the finale on Feb. 2, Maria Becerra, who took the place of Peso Pluma after the Mexican artist canceled his Latin American tour last week. Trueno will be the second artist of the night.
If you missed Sunday’s performances by Alejandro Sanz and Manuel Turizo, or want to relive them, you can watch them here below:
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Despite controversy early this week, Mexican star Peso Pluma will indeed perform at the 2024 Viña del Mar International Festival as previously announced. His participation was confirmed in an official press release sent by festival organizers on Thursday night (Jan. 11).
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“Following the controversy generated in reference to Peso Pluma’s participation in the upcoming edition of the festival, organizers of Viña del Mar International Festival state the festival will not censure or discriminate,” read the release; a festival representative also confirmed to Billboard that Pluma’s performance will go on as scheduled.
The “controversy” the press release refers to is a letter written by René Lues, a Viña del Mar council member, to Viña Mayor Macarena Ripamonti Serrano, asking to cancel Peso Pluma’s performance at the festival during the last week of February. In the letter — published in several media outlets in Chile — Lues says a column written by scholar Alberto Mayol made him, “reflect very much about the music and lyrics of the so-called corridos tumbados, where artists explicitly exult the violence and confrontations of organized crime and corruption, drug dealing and drug cartels: all this together with the ostentation and ambition for money, jewelry, luxury, cars, guns, a life that particularly seduces young people into believing they can easily and quickly achieve everything by ignoring the law.”
It continued, “It’s the so-called narco culture that artists like Peso Pluma put a sound to and validate from their place of great privilege. For this reason, and despite the fame of this musician, considered one of the most popular in the music industry, and his millions of followers, I believe it’s not appropriate to use the channels, resources and public spaces to promote this genre of music and songs linked to drug dealers […] Drug dealing is the biggest tragedy we have in Chile and Viña del Mar and it’s the generator of all forms of delinquency that today overwhelm our country and city.”
However, festival organizers resisted the call to take Peso Pluma out of the lineup, explaining in their statement that, “The biggest Latin festival in the world celebrates the diversity of all artists who step on this stage. Music is universal and describes different realities.”
The release also ticked-off Pluma’s many recent achievements, including winning Artist of the year at the Billboard Latin Music Awards in October. “Viña del Mar also recognizes new musical genres and is expecting a successful close to its six nights where music and talent from different artists will continue to be the pillar of the biggest Latin music festival in the world,” organizers said.
The Vina del Mar International Festival will take place from February 25 through March first in Viña del Mar, Chile. The festival — the longest-running in the Spanish-speaking world — will feature Peso Pluma as its closing act.
See the full lineup here. Headlining performances will stream live on Billboard.com in the U.S.
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