Paz sin fronteras

March 16, 2008 5:21 PM

Peace Without Borders. Colombian singer Juanes put together a concert calling for peace, as a result of the recent crisis between Colombia and Ecuador (and tangentially, Venezuela). Remarkably, it was held from the bridge between Venezuela and Colombia, in what is normally a very problematic border, and it featured the great Carlos Vives, the Dominican Juan Luis Guerra, and others.

Other appearances:

Juanes himself: 1,
More Carlos Vives: 1, 2, 3,
More Juan Luis Guerra: 1, 2
From Ecuador, Juan Fernando Velasco: 1, 2
Alejandro Sanz: 1, 2

posted by micayetoca (16 comments total)

A hit by Juanes. Great song.
posted by fire&wings at 5:34 PM on March 16, 2008

And as a little bonus, here is an interesting article on how the concert was put together (in Spanish, sorry).

Another interesting thing is that the President of Colombia, Alvaro Uribe, had announced he would attend, and Juanes requested him not to, as his presence would give the concert a political bias they didn't want
posted by micayetoca at 5:42 PM on March 16, 2008

Very nice posting. If only more people could do this
posted by richdan at 5:43 PM on March 16, 2008

Micayetoca, great post, thanks so much for finding so much English language material to share. More people need to understand what is happening, and how important this gesture is. Juanes es el Hombre.
posted by msali at 6:07 PM on March 16, 2008

OMFG!

My head just exploded!

Sanz, Juan Luis, Juanes, Vives all in one place?

******SWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON*******

I will be honest, I have no idea who Velasco is but with that lineup he has to be good.

So proud to be latina :)
posted by liza at 6:13 PM on March 16, 2008

Okay, just read the second article that Micayetoca posted from Semana.com, and how funny that the whole thing got started when Juanes was in the States! There's some irony in there somewhere, I just haven't found it yet...
posted by msali at 6:20 PM on March 16, 2008

@msali

ahahahahahhaha.

the idea was born in connecticut and it was
spread through their crackberries.

also MIGUEL BOSE WAS THERE AS WELL?!?!?!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

that man does things to me that are not natural.

i stalked him at the Louvre Museum eons ago. this was
am pretty sure right after he did LA REINE MARGOT.

miguel bose, up front and personal is just ... WOW!
and i don't care if he's gay. i'd totally hit that hard.
posted by liza at 6:35 PM on March 16, 2008

BTW : the artcle from LA SEMANA is awesome.

Juanes' producer's addiction to his crackberries is integral
to how the concerts happened in such a short time --when
i heard about it days ago, i thought they were talking about
a month from then.

that was definitely a one in a lifetime concert!

juanes' band played the 3 hours.

non of the artists had time to rehearse with each other.

acoustic, with barely any electricity ... and this after the
local authorities had to clean the Simon Bolivar bridge area, which
had not been clean or upgraded in more than 60 years.

no running water,

no public bathrooms,

everything had to be airlifted into the area --and this was only
possible with chartered jets donated by some billionaires and the
national airlines of colombia & venezuela.

the logistics of the concert were just insane.

argh! how i wish to have been there.
posted by liza at 6:47 PM on March 16, 2008

the logistics of the concert were just insane.

argh! how i wish to have been there.

I KNOW!?!?! RIGHT?!?! It truly was once in a lifetime, how amazing. Where the hell was Shakira?
posted by msali at 6:55 PM on March 16, 2008

Here is Shakira's message, saying she was unable to attend (apparently she was in Asia).

And I deliberately didn't include Miguel Bosé in the links here because he was a complete asshole all day on TV, making it all about himself. All the other artists kept a clear message of unity without any political bias, and Bosé just kept saying how it was great that people like him participated in things like this, and that he had great plans for peace and with very obscure (and unlikely) remarks about how he wasn't allowed to perform in Venezuela.

For instance, Alejandro Sanz has made public comments against Chavez, and one of his concerts in Venezuela was canceled. After that he had very public gestures against Chavez, and Chavez "invited" him and the Argentinian Fito Paez to come and play in Venezuela and say absolutely anything they wanted. Even after all that background, he managed to remain focused and make this about peace, not about himself or Chavez (there was even one point of his appearance when one Chavez supporter climbed onstage, took the microphone and yelled that "Chavez is our hope", and all Sanz did was say: "that's love."

So, that's the reason I didn't include Miguel Bosé, he did enough publicity for himself already.
posted by micayetoca at 7:06 PM on March 16, 2008

i'd still hit that :D

and Fito Paez was in the concert??!?!?!

AUUUUUUUUUGH!

i feel like Felipito ...

and if you know who I am referring to, you
will be proclaimed awesomely full of win...
posted by liza at 7:20 PM on March 16, 2008

Well, good on all these musicians and the event's organizers for putting this together and making this statement. And thanks for the post, mica.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:35 PM on March 16, 2008

Oh no, Fito Paez wasn't in the concert. Chavez invited him and Sanz to play here, but that was another time, not related, and they didn't respond to that.

And of course I know felipito, but you need to have the pointy teeth to claim to feel like him, no?
posted by micayetoca at 8:01 PM on March 16, 2008

So, I guess I get to mention that the Juanes video linked upstream (La Camisa Negra) was directed and postproduced by friends of mine, including the guy I now own a postproduction company with? Because it's true. And also, great song.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 8:45 PM on March 16, 2008

More: the Colombia/Columbia conflict resolution partnership:

http://blog.aldocivico.com/?p=24
posted by fourcheesemac at 11:08 PM on March 16, 2008

My girlfriend's in Bogota for the big theater festival there and says this ground the town to a halt -- busetas were unavailable as everyone was inside watching it on TV, it dominated the news, etc.
posted by msalt at 9:37 AM on March 17, 2008