Latin Flair - Carlos Vives

I'll be the first to admit that Wolf Trap is often catered to an older audience. There are no raves here and most of the artists that come have been in the business for a long time. With that being said, we occasionally do have concerts that can get pretty crazy. This concert was definitely one of those. Carlos Vives is a Columbian pop singer who is one of the most famous Latin American artists in the country and throughout the spanish speaking world. Vives actually first got his start as an actor, appearing various telonovelas and movies in Columbia during the late 1980's. Hist first three albums, containing mostly ballads, were unsuccessful and it wasn't until 1991 that he released began releasing popular songs. His fusion of Vallenato music with rock was new to many people and helped expose Vallenato to the world. He has won a Grammy award for his work and released critically acclaimed and successful albums throughout the 1990's. He has gained adoration from many Latin American people, particular in Columbia, where he is their biggest star along with Shakira.

This show was nearly sold out but I can't imagine many more people could've come to be honest. I thought it was such a fun show though! Everyone was standing and dancing the entire time and true to Latin American culture, they had a grand old time. All his music was really good and it seemed everyone knew the words to all his songs. This is another one of those shows that I feel like brought a community together and I'm glad that an artist loved by so many people was able to come to Wolf Trap. Yes people were crowding the stairway and being rowdy but I can't really blame them, this was a great show! It wasn't even that hot out and it was a great night to be in the lawn, as 3300 people can attest. This show was also interesting for me because as you may or may not know, I'm actually from Ecuador! Despite that, my spanish is pretty bad and I couldn't help but feel a little disconnected from everyone at the concert even if we were similar in a lot of ways. I had no idea who Carlos Vives was and a lot of the culture that was present was foreign to me. It made me feel a little sad but I was also glad to be exposed to this music for the first time, it made me feel at least a little more linked to Latin America; if just for a night.

I don't know any of his songs but honestly seeing people dancing and being happy was my favorite part of the show! It makes all the hard work we do worth it!

As always, looking forward to more shows in the future!

DC

Carlos Vives