On the first day of the summer festival Pal Mundo, presenters and performers tirelessly cross Latin America on stage. “Is Venezuela in the house? Brazil? Chili? Where are my Colombians?” Other groups burst out in cheers on the sun-drenched grass of the Zuiderpark in The Hague.
Pal Mundo presents concerts by Latin pop stars, such as Saturday headliners Anitta from Brazil and Colombian reggaeton singer J Balvin. A highlight is cubaton duo Gente de Zona. Vocalists Randy Malcolm and Alexander Delgado – one with a higher pitch, the other more low and raspy – also complement each other perfectly live on their swirling, percussion-driven reggaeton rhythms.
Between the main concerts, DJs and MCs keep the crowd going with shrill whistles, dance routines and pumping crowd favorites. The sound is mediocre on many live shows on the main stage, leading to increased murmuring from the crowd. There is also a lot of criticism about the poor infrastructure – there are unbearably long queues for the toilets and food stalls.
Also read: Critical Cuban rappers (including Gente da Zona) unleash musical conflict
Anitta without guests
Guests join in on many of Anitta’s hits. As a result, during her headliner show, she often has little more to do than move along with her amazing dancers to the raw electronic beats and pre-recorded guest vocals. Live, it’s more convincing when she focuses on her own vocals, as in ‘Girl From Rio’ and the sing-along favorite ‘Envolver’, fueled by screeching guitars.
Also read the interview: Brazilian pop star Anitta fights prejudice
Farina impresses on a smaller stage. The Colombian rapper and singer flows viciously, tight and smoothly to hard thumping, pulsating reggaeton beats. She and her dancers give a blazingly energetic show with an expressive, catchy choreography and cools off in the summer heat in between by pouring water from a bottle over her head.
Dreamed headliner J Balvin opens with streaming cannons like ‘Mi Gente’ and ‘Reggaeton’, but is hard to hear in many places. He is a cool, charismatic, impassioned singing performer, who can also let his words bounce to the beat in a wonderfully relaxed cadence. He closes the main stage on Saturday with the synthesizer sounds of ‘In Da Getto’, while flames shoot into the sunset all around him.