Viña del Mar International Song Festival

The Viña del Mar International Song Festival (Spanish: Festival Internacional de la Canción de Viña del Mar) is an annual international music festival held every third week of February in Viña del Mar, Chile. Started in 1960 it is the oldest and largest music festival in Latin America, and one of the longest running music festivals in the world. It was cancelled in 2021 and 2022 due to COVID.
The festival takes place for six days at the Quinta Vergara Amphitheater, a stage that has a capacity for 15,000 spectators, and is broadcast live on radio, television, streaming and online video platforms, regularly breaking viewing records with an estimated audience of around 250 million of people. Through television, the event reaches the entire American continent, a large part of Europe, North Africa and Australia; while via streaming to the whole world. It moves millions of dollars in sponsorships, associated television programs, advertising and tourism; and it receives extensive media coverage.
Although popular and folk music competitions were the origin of the festival, during the last decades they have been relegated to the background, giving preference to guest music stars, who are the true highlight of the event. Leading latin pop, ballad, bolero and latin rock artists have headlined, alongside hundreds of others who have appeared over the past six decades on stage encompassing such diverse genres as latin R&B, latin trap, cumbia, salsa, reggaetón, bachata among others.
The origin of the Viña del Mar International Song Festival was modest. Thanks to the initiative of the mayor Gustavo Lorca and Carlos Ansaldo, director of the Department of Tourism and Public Relations of the Municipality of Viña del Mar, between February 21 and 28, 1960, a unique competition was organized, in which the contestants had to present an original song whose theme was the city of Viña del Mar; the winner would opt for a prize of 500 escudos in cash and an award called Lira de Oro. Six compositions competed, and the winner was "Viña" by José Goles and Manuel Lira. In the show, the event was animated by Ricardo García and enlivened by nine local invited artists. In February 1961, a folkloric contest was incorporated.
In 1963, Channel 9 of Television of the University of Chile, experimentally broadcast the Festival for Santiago.
At the beginning of the festival, a stage was improvised next to the Vergara Palace, a place where the audience sat on wooden chairs, or directly on the grass or dirt floor. In turn, many spectators sat They were located on the hills adjacent to the Quinta and on the tops of the nearby trees, giving the contest a provincial air.
In 1963, the architect Hernando López designed an open-air amphitheater with a paraboloid shape and crowned by an acoustic shell, receiving the collaboration of the civil builder Juan Pinto Delgado. The structure was built in stages and its design was inspired by the Hollywood Bowl, the main amphitheater of the city of Los Angeles in the United States. The roof of the stage, which helped both to project the sound towards the audience and to protect the artists of the cold Viñamarina nights, debuted in 1967. Built of wood and steel, it imitated the flight of a seagull, becoming the most distinctive detail of the construction, which over the years, became an icon of the Festival, and in the image of the contest before the world. It stood for nearly four decades until its demolition and replacement in 2002.
In the 1970s, the Festival began to spread to the masses, especially from 1971, when the broadcast rights were granted to Televisión Nacional de Chile (TVN), with coverage in much of the country.
During those same years, the political tension of the moment was strongly present. In 1970, the presidential elections were held in which the socialist Salvador Allende was elected president, which would mark the country and divide it politically, also influencing the contest. In 1971, representatives of the Soviet Union were applauded for their support of the Popular Unity (UP), while in 1972, South African Miriam Makeba was booed by the conservative sector for praising President Salvador Allende and exclaiming "long live the Chilean revolution!".
Following the 1973 Chilean coup d'etat, the dictatorship headed by Augusto Pinochet came to control the Viña del Mar International Song Festival, choosing to only promote and feature sympathetic artists, in particular those that were part of the Acto de Chacarillas in 1977. In the first years of his dictatorship, Pinochet was a decidedly regular guest at the festival. His advisor, Jaime Guzmán, was also spotted on several occasions at the festival. On one occasion, Festival presenter Antonio Vodanovic publicly praised the dictator and his wife, Lucia Hiriart, on behalf of "the Chilean youth". Supporters of the dictatorship appropriated the song Libre by Nino Bravo; the song was, ultimately, performed live by Edmundo Arrocet in the first post-coup Viña Del Mar Festival, with Pinochet being present in the audience. Beginning in 1980, when the festival had gained popularity and started airing internationally, the regime took advantage of this opportunity to promote a favourable image of Chile to the rest of the world. To that end, the 1981 festival committee had a larger budget with which to feature popular foreign artists, including Miguel Bosé, Julio Iglesias and Camilo Sesto. The folk music portion of the festival had become increasingly politicized during the Allende years, and was suspended by organizers from the time of the coup until 1980.
Between 1984 and 1989 Leonardo Schultz and Gary H. Mason, one of the pioneers of the reggaeton movement, teamed up to help revamp the festival and streamline its operations. They arranged for the appearance of artists including: The Police, Air Supply, Eddie Money, Sheena Easton, Jose Feliciano (the pair produced his Grammy-nominated album Escenas de Amor in 1982, as well as the Grammy-winning album Me enamoré in 1983), Andy Gibb, Neil Sedaka, Gloria Gaynor, Mr. Mister to name a few. In 1988 and 1989, Thomas Anders (of Modern Talking fame) was the festival's headliner, one of the first times an artist was invited back to perform two years in a row.
Schultz and Mason also arranged for major international jurors including: George Martin (the Beatles' producer), Maurice Jarre (scored the films such as Doctor Zhivago, Lawrence of Arabia, Witness, A Passage To India, and Ghost), Manoella Torres (Mason produced her hit duet, which was written by Schultz entitled "No me mires así"), Joey Travolta, Connie Stevens and many others.
In the 1990s 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 vocalist 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.
In 2009, artists such as Latin sensation Daddy Yankee and the legendary British band Simply Red captivated the audience of Viña. For its 50th edition, the festival's hosts were the late Felipe Camiroaga and news reader Soledad Onetto.
The event has not been held in the years 2021 and 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In March 2022, the return of the 62nd edition of the Viña del Mar International Song Festival was confirmed for the year 2023.
In 2025, the event was postponed to the 1st of March due to a near-nationwide power outage.
Traditionally, the Festival's audience openly demonstrates its acceptance or displeasure with the established acts performing there, as well as contestants in the two competitions. As a result, the Chilean media has nicknamed the Festival's audience El Monstruo ("The Monster"). Earning acceptance from El Monstruo usually has a direct impact on an artist's popularity in the rest of Latin America. This is particularly true for Spanish speaking pop stars. Conversely, booing artists off the stage is not uncommon.
Artists compete in the Festival's regular competitions for one of three awards, given in this order: "Antorcha de Plata" (Silver Torch), "Antorcha de Oro" (Golden Torch) and "Gaviota de Plata" (Silver Seagull). However, audience response may demand that one of the three awards - or, progressively, all three- also be awarded to an established act as their performance progresses. An artist who "tames the "Monstruo"" by earning all three awards receives almost instant recognition as a major star by Chilean and Latin American media.
Artists perform in the Festival de Viña with the goal of receiving as many awards as possible, which will depend on their success with "El Monstruo." The awards have had multiple changes throughout the festival's history.
The first two awards ever given were the Golden Lyre and Golden Harp in 1961. However, these two awards would be replaced by the Silver and Golden Seagull in 1969.
In 1983, the Festival's commissioners decided to create the Silver and Golden Torch as a "second tier" award. This decision was made in order to add more variety to the awards, and make the Seagull the most prestigious award in the festival.
For over 30 years, no changes were made to the awards. However, in 2015, the production team and Viña's municipality decided to eliminate the Silver and Golden Torch, leaving the Silver and Golden Seagull as the only awards that performers could aspire to get. The reason for this decision was all the critiques that the event was receiving about the high numbers of awards that an artist could receive.
Finally, the Platinum Seagull was added in 2012 as a special award for performers with long influence throughout the festival's history. Only 3 artists have received it up to date.
Each year the TV companies try to improve on the previous year's set. Millions are invested in creating elaborate stages.
Winning countries
Winning countries (since 2001, start of International Folk Contest)
Every year international artists are invited to perform at the Festival. In the 2003 edition the Italian singer-songwriter Franco Simone received the "Lifetime Achievement Award" for having strung together thirty years of success in South America with his songs translated into Spanish. Notable directors, such as Fernando Rojas, have led some of the performances.
Every year the festival selects a queen. Popular personalities apply to be queen, often offering outrageous stunts to win.
The queen is chosen by a vote organized by the newspaper La Cuarta. Journalists accredited to the Festival express their preferences through a secret ballot.
The day after the election there is a coronation and the delivery of a band and a ring as a prize by the relevant authorities. Since 2001, on the day of the coronation the Queen of the Festival has to dive into the pool at the Hotel O'Higgins in Viña del Mar in front of the media.
Some of the women chosen as Queen include: Celia Cruz, Diana Bolocco, Thalía, Sigrid Alegría, Yuri, Raffaella Carrà, Tonka Tomicic, and Gloria Trevi.
In February 2023, the definitive elimination of the Reina de Viña was announced (assuming the election of the Rey would never take place), before the refusal of the municipality headed by the mayor Macarena Ripamonti, due to the «stigmatization of the woman» and the farandulización of the event. In this way, the Reyes de Viña will be replaced by the «Festival Ambassadors», which will be elected by the general public and the press accredited in the place, in addition to having the purpose of returning to the tradition of awarding the official artists of the Festival and generate awareness about issues that contribute to society.
33°01′47″S 71°33′09″W﻿ / ﻿33.02972°S 71.55250°W﻿ / -33.02972; -71.55250