‘Despacito’ celebrates 5 years of winning the Latin Billboard

“Despacito,” the hit song by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee, celebrates five years this Wednesday after winning six awards, including Song of the Year, at the 2018 Billboard Latin Music Awards.

The video, which at the time became the most viewed in YouTube history, was shot entirely in Old San Juan, including the popular La Perla neighborhood, and is remembered today by several musicians from the video, Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee. like a national anthem.

The shooting directed by Carlos Pérez, also Puerto Rican, of the company Elastic People, in which he appears line-up of dancersamong them former Puerto Rican Miss Universe Zuleyka Rivera (2006), who dances for Pearl and in the iconic Bar La Factoryon San Sebastián Street in the historic center of San Juan.

THE PUERTO RICAN FOURTH DID A SPECIAL STAKE

With the sound of chords Christian Nieves In the Puerto Rican cuatro, with which the hit begins, he recalled for EFE in front of La Perla what it was like to participate in the song, which he assures is “one of the greatest things” that has happened in his life.

He successwhose author is Panamanian Erika Enderit crossed borders and was translated into Chinese, Polish, German, French, Arabic, Quechua and Italian, among other languages.

“When they sent me the song, I knew it had something special. There was something, a movement that came. melodies, in this case, as if they were contagious. But of course, you never know what you can achieve,” said Nieves, who came to film his role at the invitation of Fonsi.

“The a songwhen it originates, it is prepared via keyboards and electronic rhythms and they add the Puerto Rican cuatro instrument, which is what they say, which gave the song its stamp”, pointed out the musician, who also has experience playing with Ricky Martin.

Cuatro, which is considered the national instrument Puerto Ricois a small guitar invented by the jíbaros (Puerto Rican peasants) in the 16th century and which initially consisted of four strings and later evolved to ten in five pairs.

THE SUCCESS OF THE VIDEO SURPASSED THE SONG

For his part, Amaury Manuel Febres, one of the percussionists in the video “Slowly”assures that he never thought he was film project should have the level of reach that the topic had.

“The music that comes out in that part at the end of the video is the actual music that we played there Drums. He was a “came” (exercise) and vacilón with dancers with Yankee and Fonsi. It was super interesting and super magical,” the musician recalled.

“Despacito,” at its peak, came 25 million views in one day on YouTube at one point it stayed at the top of the charts Billboard Hot 100 49 consecutive weeks and ranked number one in at least 89 countries.

TOURIST BOOM IN LA PERLA

Febres, from the city’s La Perla neighborhood, also highlighted the rise tourist which the picturesque neighborhood has, after the first success in 2009, when the then group 13th Street he recorded the song “La Perla” together with the Panamanian salsa singer Rubén Blades, and years later with “Despacita”.

“With the ‘boom’ (boom) of ‘Despacita’, the space for tourism in La Perla, and that welcoming warmth is open to people, to this community beautiful people”, emphasizes the artist, a graduate music pedagogue and professor of music at HU Creative College of Puerto Rico.

Zacarias López is a resident of that community, which he laughingly pointed out to EFE that “is touristic… even aliens come here”, adding that after the success of the song, business “Step by step” on the waterfront for tourists to take photos on the spot.

The music video for the song “Despacito” has 8,100 million views, the second most viewed in history and growing every day, behind the children’s song “Young Shark”which has 12.3 billion views.