The City Council, Generalitat and Radio Televisión Española sign the agreement for the celebration of the contest, from which the Spanish representative in Eurovision will emerge
Benidorm Fest begins its journey from El Castell
Plaça del Castell in Benidorm has been the venue chosen to give the official starting signal to Benidorm Fest with the formal signing of the agreement between the City Council, the Generalitat Valenciana and Radio Televisión Española. An act that has had the presence of the president of RTVE, José Manuel Pérez Tornero, the president of the Generalitat, Ximo Puig, and the mayor of Benidorm, Toni Pérez.
Before a large crowd of displaced media from all over the Spanish geography, the mayor has assured that the next ones will be "intense days of illusion and hope because Benidorm is the place of happiness". Pérez has highlighted the character of a city "that likes to take care of people and, especially, of people who take care of people".
The first mayor has also opined that Benidorm Fest will be "an injection of joy, enthusiasm and hope for a city, a land, a country that needs many doses". He has also highlighted the "great vocation for music in capital letters" that Benidorm has always had.
He has also been convinced that Benidorm Fest "will position us at a global level thanks also to Eurovision, which will have Benidorm as a reference, a city that lives for people". Pérez ended his intervention by thanking the "effort and commitment" of the Generalitat and the "colossal work" of RTVE and welcoming "music and Benidorm Fest".
For his part, the president of RTVE, José Manuel Pérez Tornero, has expressed the desire of the chanel to "recover the sense of proximity and music" and has highlighted "three fundamental keys" when claiming the values of Eurovision Festival.
The first key, he has said, is "the commitment to youth because seven million people in Spain live in a difficult situation and need encouragement, objectives and solidarity". Young people, he has continued, who "are committed to looking far away and earning the future".
The second key is “the creativity of music”, which in the Valencian Community “has its greatest expression with 200,000 musicians and is the musical engine of Spain. And it needs support and reinforcement.”
Lastly, he cited "European creativity" because of the "delicate geostrategic moments at European borders with situations that are going to change social and cultural relations."
"That is what Eurovision means to us" said Pérez Tornero, who also underlined the fact that it is the "most important Festival in the world, the one that more millions of people follow and that it is a symbol that emotions can overcome to wars”.
Finally, the president of the Generalitat, Ximo Puig, has highlighted "the example of collective intelligence" that Benidorm Fest has meant "to try to give each one the best of themselves in a common cause".
Puig has alluded to the years of a "horrible pandemic that has left so much suffering" and has opted to begin "a moment of recovery". For this, "what better than a festival like Benidorm Fest, which is part of the collective feeling that is Eurovision". Puig has considered, therefore, that we are "before a great moment to launch that European unity based on a festival with a great tradition and that speaks of the common and universal language that is music".
The president, likewise, has stressed the "opportunity" that it will mean to "show the world a capital of Mediterranean tourism such as Benidorm".
To conclude he has highlighted "two fundamental elements" such as "music and youth" that are cited, he has continued "in a festival that excites young people". For Puig, they will be days of "collective enthusiasm" and he has trusted that "what comes now is a collective recovery and a new spring for Europe."
Finally, it should be noted that tomorrow from 11 a.m., RTVE's 'Busset' will be in Benidorm, at the junction between Europa Avenue and Paseo de Levante, and will carry out a special program about 'The television you want'.
Rehearsals at Palau and last details of the assembly
The semifinals of Benidorm Fest are held this Wednesday and Thursday at Palau d'Esports l'Illa, where the rehearsals of the participants have already begun and where the details of a spectacular assembly are being finalized, as they have been able to verify the mayor, the president of RTVE and the president of the Generalitat.
In the first of the semifinals, Varry Brava, Azúcar Moreno, Blanca Paloma, Unique, Tanxungueiras and Chanel will be on Benidorm Fest stage; while on Thursday it will be the turn of Xeinn, Marta Sango, Javiera Mena, Gonzalo Hermida, Rigoberta Bandini, Rayden and Sara Deop. The 13 groups and artists will look for one of the 8 places that give access to the final, which will be held on Saturday and from which the representative of Spain in Eurovision will come out.
Both the semifinals and the final will be broadcast live at Palau d'Esports l'Illa on RTVE.
