The Latin Institute of Music recognizes a Hispanic group for the first time in its 102-year history. “You are a catalyst for emotions,” their president told them at an event in Madrid
Mocedades shines from today with another star, the Star of the Century, the main award of the Latin Music Institute (ILM), which this Monday recognized the legendary group from Bilbao with this award during an emotional ceremony at the Ateneo de Madrid . It is the first time in its 102-year history that the ILM has awarded this prize to a Spanish band. It does this in recognition of Mocedades’ long and successful career, active for no less than 56 years, and above all “his ability to renew and update his classics”. So far only a dozen artists have a Star of the Century, including the queen of salsa Celia Cruz, the choreographer Alicia Alonso, the composers Agustín Lara and Armando Manzanero or the singer Dionne Warwick.
The act also served to pay tribute to the iconic ‘Eres tú’, which will celebrate its half-century in 2023 (Spain came second in the 1973 Eurovision Song Contest and we’ve been singing it ever since) and to promote the most recent project, an album with duets in which Plácido Domingo, Ana Torroja, David Bisbal, Gloria Trevi and the Colombian pop band Morat have collaborated. They all joined the act through a video thanking their collaboration and congratulating the group “for everything you have given to the world and to Spain with your art”, as the Spanish tenor praised them.
The sisters Izaskun and Idoia Uranga, José María Santamaría, Antonio Menguiano, José Miguel González and Rosa María Rodríguez, the six components of these Mocedades (there is another Mocedades led by Javier Garay, another one of the historical figures of the original formation ) were present at the Ateneo’s A tribute, although it was Izaskun, founder of the original cast along with her sisters Amaya and Estíbaliz Uranga, who received the biggest applause. “We’re here because she hasn’t moved,” remembers José Miguel González, singer, now also involved in production work for the group.
The Ateneo event was attended by numerous fans of the Basque team, including some more “formal” such as the former president of the Senate and former minister Juan José Lucas, a close friend of José Miguel González’s family (who is a deputy of the PP), and as an aside he confessed that “we’ve all fallen in love with Mocedades songs”.
Mexico’s ambassador Quirino Ordaz was also present, conveying the “immense affection” they feel in their country, and generally throughout Latin America, for the group led by Uranga. “Both me and my wife admire them immensely and we continue to listen to them. Mocedades’ music reinforces the values and principles of life,” the diplomat summarized.
The president of the ILM, Daniel Martín, who recently landed from Miami, wanted to emphasize that it was the first time that the awards ceremony took place outside America. So far Mexico City, Miami and New York have been the headquarters and it had never come to Europe before. Martín, an American of Cuban descent and with a great-grandfather from Bilbao, emphasized the strong presence of Mocedades in the American continent and how their melodious songs have conquered several generations. He said his parents had fallen in love with ‘Eres tú’, of which 126 official versions have been recorded in 16 languages, and parted with ‘Take me or leave me’, which made those present laugh.
Martín’s eyes grew oily as he looked at the sextet, which he defined as “warriors of light”. He told them, “You are the soundtrack of humanity, your songs are sung all over the world, you are a great catalyst for emotions”. He went on to explain that they wanted to “reward a pioneering group on a polyphonic level” and their career, which has already passed its golden jubilee, “but most of all we want to recognize how they have been able to project themselves into the future. Over the past ten years they have shown that new music can be made by saving the classics and at the same time creating new classics”, emphasized the president of ILM, who emphasized that “as long as love lasts, there will be Mocedades”.
And the truth is that after more than 600 concerts on both sides of the Atlantic in the last decade, the band of ‘Amor de hombre’, Maitechu Mía’ or ‘Dónde estás corazón’ returns with a new album (‘Infinito Duets’ ). , living up to the saying “renew or die”. Under the direction of Jacobo Calderón, son of the legendary composer Juan Carlos Calderón, who catapulted Mocedades with ‘Eres tú’ and turned it into a hymn sung by Il Divo, Calamaro or Luis Miguel, Mocedades has modernized the group’s classics and his repertoire renewed with versions by other artists. “Innovation is the most important. During our tours in Latin America, we notice that more young people come to the concerts because they know us through Morat, Gloria Trevi or David Bisbal. We are getting closer to those generations by adapting classic themes and recording unpublished songs,” emphasizes José Miguel González.
The group is preparing to start a new tour in March through Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Venezuela… with Izaskun at the helm. At the age of 72, only his knees give him problems getting on and off planes. “But not to go on stage. We’re coming off a two month tour and I’m going to sing without a chair. My knees are normal, but my head and throat are not,” said Izaskun, “very proud” to receive the Star of the Century. “They tell us that we are the soundtrack of their lives and it is true that many have fallen in love on us and on ‘Eres tú’».
– Do you have the thorn of second place in the Eurovision song contest with a song that became a world hit?
-Well… it’s true, but we beat Cliff Richard, who was the best at the time!
Izaskun does not want any controversy, either with the partnership they have formed with Plácido Domingo (“he is a good friend and has behaved very well with us”), nor with the “other” Mocedades, (“put what you want, but no one here says which one is the real one”). Although the one that appears on Spotify with 1.6 million followers is the one she commands.
The act naturally concluded with ‘Eres tú’ sung on the piano by the six members of Mocedades, with the whole Ateneo standing to applause and the bravos flooding the room. It’s you? Yes that are they.
Source: La Verdad
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