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NEWS / March-April 2011 Photos: Gardner Hamilton / Mauricio Cancino
Viña del Mar
festival By Jayne Scarman Reporting by Ben Angel
S
ome wooed, some were booed and others caused a riot. Demonstrative as ever, ‘El Monstruo’ or ‘The Monster’ -the moniker by which the audience at the Quinta Vergara amphitheater is known and feared- were quick to pass judgement at the 52nd edition of the Viña del Mar International Music Festival. Largely benign for most of the week, the crowd drew little blood until the penultimate night, when comedian Ricardo Meruane was booed off stage after only 17 minutes. Forced to follow Sting, with the audience still baying for more encores, his jokes fell flat and he sounded his own death knell with the fatal comment “Sting is coming back... but in three years.” Also feeling the fickle hand of fortune, compatriot Oscar Gangas saw his career resurrected after being torn to shreds by El Monstruo back in 1998. Like many of the comedians on the bill, Gangas frequently relied on homophobia -dubbed by fellow Chilean comic Maurico Flores as “national humor”- and was awarded a standing ovation. On to music, and the seaside garden city of Viña was treated to performances from high profile international acts such as veteran Brazilian crooner Roberto Carlos, Dominican Bachata bad boys Aventura, Puerto Rican soap star and singer Chayanne and Venezuelan balladeer Carlos Baute. In the contests, where up and coming artists from around the world are given the opportunity to showcase their talents, prizes went to a fiddler from Canada and a Chilean protest singer. Sierra Noble beat off stiff competition to scoop the International award with her song “Try Anything”. While Chile’s entry, “De Pascua Lama”, inspired by the resistance to the unpopular Barrick mining project and performed by Valentina Sepulveda, won the Folklore Competition. Not the only ones with an agenda, rap act Calle 13 blistered onto the stage with ‘fuerza mapuche’ emblazoned on frontman Residente’s shirtless back. Using their space in the spotlight to speak out against everything from the lack of Chilean artists in the line-up (bringing on their own guest stars to address this) to US anti-Hispanic immigration policy, the band caused a mini riot in the amphitheater which led to live transmission for that night being cut. Probably the surprise of the week was Sting, who swept away ‘El Monstruo’ with orchestral arrangements of some of his greatest hits. Backed by the magnificent Orchestra Sinfonica de Chile -who the British guest star met for the first time a few hours before curtain call- his crowd pleasing show earned him the highest prize of the festival, the golden seagull. On Twitter, Sting became the number one trending topic worldwide during his performance, seeming to suggest that all eyes were once again on Chile. The set included a poignant version of They Dance Alone, the artist’s “tribute to history”, referring to women dancing cueca with photographs of their loved ones who disappeared during the dictatorship. Quinta Vergara sang along and cheered when Sting uttered the memorable lyrics: “Hey Snr. Pinochet, you sowed a bitter crop”. And so, with a moment’s silence to remember the earthquake, which brought last year’s event to an abrupt halt, the Viña del Mar festival drew to a close, leaving some artists scathed and some victorious, and ‘El Monstruo’ asleep in its lair for another year.
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