Our greatest event in summer here in Chile, takes place in the fifth region, Valparaíso, but more specifically, in Viña del Mar.
The “Festival Internacional de la Canción de Viña del Mar” or Viña del Mar International Song Festival, is considered as the most important music festival in Latin America, since 1960.
This festival takes place in “Quinta Vergara” which is a big park in the heart of Viña del Mar.
Quinta Vergara Park
During this whole festival madness, lots of things change in the city. Many tourists from all over Chile and the world visit Viña del Mar, since it’s a very beautiful city, with many beaches, restaurants and events.
Every single tv channel “move” their sets to Viña and they broadcast live from the most important hotels in the coast. This causes a LOT of movement and excitement in the city. Lots of people surrounds these sets just to be close to their favourite TV hosts…
For people who actually live in Viña del Mar, February can be really stressful. The traffic jams are bigger and more often, the malls are crowded, etc.
So, this year, this Festival takes place from the 22 nd to the 27 th of the present month, but all the side-activities related to the festival start way before. People start taking about the festival on TV since the very February, 1 st.
The Festival’s “Monster” refers to the audience that judges every single show they see on stage. If they like an artist they will clap and ask for awards, given in this order: “Antorcha de Plata” (Silver Torch), “Antorcha de Oro” (Golden Torch) and “Gaviota de Plata” (Silver Seagull). If the artists are popular and made a good presentation, “the monster” will give these three awards. Sometimes the audience will give these 3 awards in a brief moment (if they’re very excited about the artist)…
Some other times, the artists receive these awards after each presentation (Yes, because artists say goodbye, they leave the stage, but if the “monster” asks for it to come on stage again, they come up and get an award. Then the artists play again, they leave the stage once again to come up once more due to the “monster’s” demands; and so on… Little by little, the artist, then, gets all three awards.
Some other times, if the “monster” does not like an artist enough… they will just clap and the artist will leave the stage… with no award. (this is rare though… they always give at least the first award.)
Some of the artists that have been present in Viña are:
Sweden: Ace of Base, (1996), A-teens (2000)
Juan Luis Guerra, Dominican Republic (1991, 2000, 2006, 2012)
Romeo Santos, D. Republic (2013)
Tom Jones, UK (2007)
Elton John, UK (2013)
Ricky Martin, Puerto Rico (1993, 1994, 1996, 2007, 2014)
Daddy Yankee, Puerto Rico (2006, 2009, 2013)
Marc Anthony, Puerto Rico (2009, 2012)
Mexico: Reik, Molotov, Maná, Luis Miguel, Juan Gabriel, Jesse & Joy, Camila.
Italy: Salvatore Adamo, Franco Simone
USA: Peabo Bryson, Pitbull, Prince Royce,Neil Sedaka, Jonas Brothers, Backstreet Boys, Faith No More, Donna Summer.
Colombia: Shakira, Juanes.
And more here…