Viña del Mar International Song Festival

The Viña del Mar International Song Festival ( _es. Festival Internacional de la Canción de Viña del Mar) is a music festival held annually during February since 1959 in Viña del Mar, Chile. It is considered the most important musical event in Latin America. [ [http://es.news.yahoo.com/23022007/159/tom-jones-ruge-segunda-noche-festival-vina-mar.html "Tom Jones 'ruge' en la segunda noche del Festival de Viña del Mar"] "Agence France-Presse", accessed February 23 2007]

The Festival features a song competition on two categories (pop music song and folk song), interspersed with performances by international music stars from around the world, encompassing such diverse genres as rock, pop music in various languages, merengue, salsa, reggaetón and others. The event takes place in the Quinta Vergara Amphitheater, and has been broadcast for Chilean television over the years by TVN, Canal 13 or Megavisión. Otherwise, it is most famous in the English-speaking world for showcasing Ray Conniff's directing skills.

Between 1979 and 1989 Leonardo Schultz and Gary H. Mason (Mason is one of the Pioneers of the Reggaeton Movement and produced "El Meneaito") teamed up to help revamp the festival and streamline its operations. They arranged for the appearance of Artists including: Air Supply, Eddie Money, Sheena Easton, Jose Feliciano (they also produced his Grammy nominated album "Escenas De Amor" in 1982, as well as the Grammy winning album "Me Enamore" in 1983), Andy Gibb, Neil Sedaka, Gloria Gaynor, Mr Mister, Krokus, Foxxy, Nazareth, and Thomas Anders to name a few. In 1988 and 1989, Thomas Anders (of Modern Talking fame) was a headliner of the festival in Viña del Mar, which was one of the first times an Artist was ever invited back two years in a row to perform.

Schultz and Mason also arranged for major international jurors including: George Martin (Producer of the Beatles), Maurice Jarre (did the film scores for Dr. Zhivago, Lawrence of Arabia, Witness, Passage To India, Ghost and many others), Manoela Torres (Mason produced her hit duet, which was written by Schultz entitled "No Me Mires Asi), Joey Travolta, Connie Stevens and many others.

In the 90's the broadcast rights to the Festival were given to Televisa, and featured prominent Mexican Artists, as well as major Latin Artists.

In 2008, American Rock music band Journey played their first concert with new vocallist Arnel Pineda at the festival. The 2008 Viña Festival was hosted by Sergio Lagos and Tonka Tomicic, and headlined by Nelly Furtado, Wisin & Yandel, and Earth, Wind & Fire.

"El Monstruo"

Traditionally, the audience attending the Quinta Vergara for a Festival each year openly demonstrates its acceptance or displeasure on the acts that perform there, be them contestants in the two competitions or established artists. As a result, Chilean media has nicknamed audiences at the Festival as "El Monstruo" ("The Monster"). Earning acceptance from "El Monstruo" usually has a direct impact on an artist's popularity -particularly that of Spanish language pop stars- on the rest of Latin America. Conversely, booing artists offstage is not uncommon.

Artist compete in the Festival's regular competitions for one of three awards: "Gaviota de Plata" (Silver Seagull), "Antorcha de Plata" (Silver Torch) or "Antorcha de Oro" (Golden Torch). However, audience response from the "Monster" may demand that one of the three awards -or, progressively, all three- also be granted to an established act as their performance progresses. An artist that "tames The Monster" by earning all three awards receives recognition as a major star by Chilean and Latin American media almost immediately after a successful performance.

Winner songs

International contest

:Before 1968, the contest only allowed chilean authors. In 2000 the contest included the best songs in the history of the festival.

Winner countries
*CHI: 20 times
*ITA: 7 times
*ESP: 5 times
*ARG: 4 times
*COL: twice
*DEU: once
*AUS: once
*CRC: once
*FRA: once
*GRE: once
*ISR: once
*NED: once
*PER: once
*DOM: once
*URU: once

Folk contest

:Incomplete list. Between 1974 and 1980 this contest was cancelled by the military government of Augusto Pinochet Before 2000, the contest only allowed chilean authors.Winner countries (since 2001, start of International Folk Contest)
*CHI: 3 times (and 35 years of National Folk Contest, between 1960 and 2000)
*ARG: twice
*PER: twice
*COL: once

References