Benidorm Fest
In a window of hope and excitement that opened in the initial months of 2021, the idea of a music festival that would revolutionize the national scene took shape. And Benidorm appeared again.
The aroma of success and the projection of the Benidorm Festival still runs through the world of music and this encouraged the alliance of Spanish Radio and Television, the Generalitat Valenciana and the Benidorm City Council to propose a music and song festival from which the representation of Spain for the Eurovision Festival would come true.
And practically as in 1959, like the same time frame in 2021, the decision was made to go for the Benidorm Fest and at the Mirador de la Música, on July 6, the protocols were signed and the first edition of the Benidorm Fest was announced for the end of January 2022.
Benidorm went all out for the Festival and the bonus of representing RTVE at the Eurovision event livened up the Spanish music scene to such an extent that 886 songs were submitted for the first selection.
At this point in the 21st century, in addition to music and lyrics, choreography and staging come into play with equal force and the Benidorm Fest caters to the combination of musical references with new talents and a variety of styles.
And so, in the final days of January 2022, the first edition of the Benidorm Fest was held in which Chanel, with the song SloMo - a work by Leroy Sánchez, Ibere Fortes, Maggie Szabo, Keith Harris and Arjen Thonen; produced by Keith Harris and Guardians of the Frequencies - won the 1st Prize, thus representing Spain at the Eurovision Song Contest 2022, achieving third place. A success that has fulfilled the highest expectations of the start of the Benidorm Fest, being a prelude to a future full of splendour.
BENIDORM FESTIVAL
In Spain, which was taking off economically in the late fifties of the last century, the promotional reference with which everyone hoped to be in the minds of everyone turned out to be a song festival.
In Italy, the San Remo Festival, on which the Italian radio and television RAI was betting heavily, amazed Europe and the world with light melodies and Mediterranean dreams. Launching a similar event became a national objective.
The two major Spanish radio stations of the fifties strove to achieve a similar festival: Barcelona had everything to win in a bet by RNE that announced the support of TVE; Benidorm, which was at the beginning of its urban planning and on the way to becoming a national and international tourist reference, needed the projection vector that those songs could give it.
And Benidorm is celebrating its tourist promotion - to make the city heard everywhere - when Mayor Pedro Zaragoza Orts offers the city to host the La Voz de Madrid Song Festival (REM-CAR).
In Spain, which was taking off economically in the late fifties of the last century, the promotional reference with which everyone hoped to be in the minds of everyone turned out to be a song festival.
In Italy, the San Remo Festival, on which the Italian radio and television RAI was betting heavily, amazed Europe and the world with light melodies and Mediterranean dreams. Launching a similar event became a national objective.
The two major Spanish radio stations of the fifties strove to achieve a similar festival: Barcelona had everything to win in a bet by RNE that announced the support of TVE; Benidorm, which was at the beginning of its urban planning and on the way to becoming a national and international tourist reference, needed the projection vector that those songs could give it.
And Benidorm is celebrating its tourist promotion - to make the city heard everywhere - when Mayor Pedro Zaragoza Orts offers the city to host the La Voz de Madrid Song Festival (REM-CAR).
“Un telegrama” by the García Segura brothers became the hit of the moment. All the successful singers of the late fifties did not hesitate to record the song with their record companies and multiplied the desired effect. “Comunicando” was the next musical knock that the Benidorm Festival placed on all radio stations and dance halls in the country.
The Festival was designed to award prizes to songs whose authors achieved fame and recognition in step with the performers. From that moment on, the best composers in the country fought to win the Little Mermaid of Benidorm with the best song in light music. Thus, Manuel Alejandro, Jesús Gluck, Augusto Algueró, Rafael de León, Miguel Portolés, the García Segura brothers, López Quiroga, Alfredo Doménech, Juan Pardo, Ramón Arcusa and Manuel de la Calva, Joaquín Sabina… all sought the Benidorm prize.
And from the festival, interpreting all those melodies, emerged the great names of Spanish music: Raphael, Alberto, Rosalía, Federico Cabo, Julio Iglesias, Emilio José, Mochi, Dyango, Bettina, Roxana…
The best orchestras, the most prestigious conductors, the new composers, the star presenters of radio and television and the best artists of the international cast were eagerly awaiting the arrival of July and the Benidorm Festival to present their songs and achieve the success that the Little Mermaid had attested.
And the established musicians did not hesitate to come to the Festival for its Fiesta ends: Gloria Lasso, Los 5 Latinos, Enrique Guzmán, Conchita Bautista, Lolita Sevilla, Los Brincos, Bruno Lomas, Ramoncín, Joan Manuel Serrat, Víctor Manuel, Luis Eduardo Aute, Camilo Sesto, Los Bravos, Alejandro Sanz… Aretha Franklin -who offered her only songs in Spain in Benidorm-, Jimmy Fontana, Enrique Guzmán, Bobby Solo, Grace Jones, The Hollies, Raffaella Carrá, Boney M, Amii Stewart, Eddy Grant, Sherman Brothers or Joe Coker passed through the stages that hosted the Benidorm Festival.
There were 39 editions in two clearly defined stages: the first, between 1959 and 1985, which began with the slogan “Benidorm, the Cane Field of Spanish Music” and which achieved internationalisation in the 1964 edition, being broadcast to Portugal, France, the United Kingdom, the United States, Mexico, Canada, Colombia, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile and Puerto Rico; and the second, between 1992 and 2006, which had to compete with the new musical formats of the time and the rise of technology.
Benidorm Festival was linked to festivals such as Figueira da Foz (Portugal) and Viña del Mar (Chile) and outlasted all the Spanish festivals that were created, because in light of the success of the Benidorm Festival - and that of San Remo, which was always the benchmark - music festivals were promoted in Barcelona, Malaga, the Canary Islands and Galicia.
Benidorm Festival won the sympathy and respect and two of its winners went on to represent Spain in Eurovision: Raphael and Julio Iglesias.
BENIDORM FEST WINNERS
