- Rodolfo Chikilicuatre
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Rodolfo Chikilicuatre 
Background information Birth name David Fernández Ortiz Born June 24, 1970 Origin Igualada, Barcelona, Spain Genres Reggaeton, comedy Instruments Singing, toy guitar Website Official website Rodolfo Chikilicuatre[1] (born 1972 in Buenos Aires, Argentina[2]); is a Spanish comedic character played by David Fernández Ortiz (24 June 1970 in Igualada, Barcelona, Spain) and first introduced in the Spanish late night show Buenafuente as an improvisational act. Rodolfo was interviewed as the inventor of the vibrator-guitar. The character rose to fame after he was later presented by the show's host, Andreu Buenafuente, with a song called "Baila el Chiki-chiki" (Dance the Chiki-chiki), a parody of reggaeton music filled with jokes and political references, and the show's host decided to enter the song into the Spanish selection process for the Eurovision Song Contest 2008, Rodolfo landed Spains best placement since Eurovision Song Contest 2004.
Contents
Eurovision Song Contest 2008 and "Baila el Chiki-chiki"
For the Eurovision Song Contest 2008, the Spanish broadcaster RTVE decided to make the song selection process more democratic, so, in an agreement with MySpace, a webpage was created where the general public could vote for any of the artists who were interested in participating, possibly discovering new talents. Any aspiring singer could upload a video to enter the contest. The top 5 voted videos, along with 5 more entries selected by a jury, went to a televised final where the Spanish Eurovision Song Contest 2008 entry would be chosen.
David Fernández as himself
More than 530 songs were submitted, the comedic act of Rodolfo Chikilicuatre and his "Baila el Chiki-chiki" song among them. The song was heavily promoted by the late show "Buenafuente" and the TV Station LaSexta where the show is broadcasted, and ended up being selected by a landslide, earning 56.28% of the votes, well ahead of the second place, which earned only 14.6%.[3] The winner was chosen through text messaging.[4]
This selection has been met with a certain degree of controversy, as many considered it a gimmick song,[5] and not worthy of representing Spain. It has also met controversy because Rodolfo Chikilicuatre is a comedic act, with no prior songs, and was backed by a private show (Buenafuente) and a private TV station (LaSexta). RTVE stands by their choice of voting system.[6]
On March 11, 2008, Rodolfo announced some changes to the lyrics of his song to comply with the rules of the Eurovision Song Contest, thus removing partially the names of the politicians included in the song (José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Hugo Chávez and Mariano Rajoy). Even if Chávez's name was completely removed, a reference to a previous incident with the king Juan Carlos I of Spain was kept. A non-political reference to Serbia was added.[7] The song was also made longer, as the original was considered too short, going from 1:20 to 2:56 minutes, and several verses in English were added.[8] The new version was presented on March 14, 2008.[9]
He has sung the "Chiki-Chiki" theme with other performers: King Africa, Tata Golosa and Dustin the Turkey.
During the final contest of the Eurovision 2008 on May 24, 2008, the song "Chiki-Chiki" reached sixteenth place with 55 points, together with Albania.
Singles
Year Title Peak SPA GRE SWE FRA 2008 "Baila el Chiki-chiki" 1 1 12 20 See also
References
- ^ "Chiquilicuatre" means "busybody", "good-for-nothing" in Spanish. Chiquilicuatre and chiquilicuatro at the Diccionario de la Real Academia Española.
- ^ Rodolfo's Bio
- ^ Chikilicuatre cambiará la letra del 'Chikichiki' · ELPAÍS.com
- ^ Eurovision Song Contest Serbia 2008|News - Exclusive: Spain Decides: Through MySpace!!!
- ^ Eurovision Song Contest Serbia 2008|News - The Eurovision gimmick songs
- ^ ABC.es: gente-ocio - tv-radio - TVE da su «apoyo con todas las consecuencias» a Rodolfo Chikilicuatre como representante de España en Eurovisión
- ^ Cadena Ser article on the new lyrics
- ^ New lyrics to Baila el Chiki-Chiki
- ^ Eurovision 2008 site at RTVE
External links
- Official website (in Spanish)
- TVE's Eurovision 2008 website (in Spanish)
- Eurovision's Spain country profile
- Site at Tumblr
- Pictures at the Flickr account of El Terrat producing company
- Buenafuente website (in Spanish)
- LaSexta website (in Spanish)
Preceded by
D'NASH
with "I Love You Mi Vida"Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest
2008Succeeded by
Soraya
with "La noche es para mí"Categories:- Spanish Eurovision Song Contest entrants
- Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2008
- Satirists
- Fictional singers
- Comedy characters
- Spanish television personalities
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