Right in time for the 39th Anniversary of the recording of the Grammy Winning Song “We Are the World,” on January 28, 1985. The aim of the recording was to fight the famine in Africa. One of the leaders of the initiative and participants was Harry Belafonte. Netflix premiered last Monday the feature documentary “The Greatest Night of Pop,” the director of the documentary is Bao Nguyen. The doc reveals that, besides Belafonte, many other renowned African American artists were heavily involved. Artists like Lionel Richie, Michael Jackson, producer Quincy Jones and Stevie Wonder, among others, integrated Anglos and at least a couple of Latinos before the microphones and on its production like pop star Sheila E. ( who was dating Prince at the time) and Chilean recording engineer Humberto Gatica.
“I already knew he wasn’t going to come because there was too many people and he would feel uncomfortable,” Sheila E. added. “I told Lionel, I said, ‘I’m going to go.’ They never intended on having me sing a verse, which was a little bit heartbreaking.” – Entertainment Weekly Article
Sheila and Humberto talk about this experience and Sheila also reveals there why Prince wasn’t part of the group of artists which made that night the greatest one in pop. This effort, inspired by the one British activist and musician Bob Geldof initiated on December, 1984, with the recording of the song “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” for the same cause and also us part of the doc, pave the way to other similar efforts just like Live Aid in the summer of 1985 and gave birth to “The International Day of Rock” on July 13th, and an amazing Latino response.
The recording of “Cantaré, Cantaras”, brought together the biggest Latino recording and acting celebrities at the time. Artists like Julio Iglesias, Vicente Fernández, “El Puma”, Lupita D’Alessio, Irene Cara), Jose Jose, Jose Feliciano, Vicky Carr, Maria Conchita Alonso and our own Harry Belafontes, Cantinflas and Ricardo Montalban, among others.
As you enjoy this timeless song, just look down below at this vintage image. The single release cover to the song, HERMANOS: “Cantaré, Cantaras” Star after star, from Celia Cruz to Menudo (Ricky Martin included.) And like “We are the World,” Humberto Gatica, who has won 17 Grammy and Latin Grammy Awards., was part of this project as producer of the song.
Alfredo Galindo is un Productor, Director y Guinista de cine. Columnista del periódico Vanguardia desde 1995, escribe sobre música, cine y televisión. Combina la pasión de escribir con la creación cinematográfica.