Juguemos a Cantar


Juguemos a Cantar, was a children's competition festival that was held yearly in Mexico City beginning in 1982. Televisa produced this show, and it was transmitted on the program, "Siempre En Domingo", which was hosted by Raúl Velasco. This competition was developed to seek out young talent, and was open to all Mexican resident children up to the age of 13. Juguemos a Cantar was first and foremost a "Festival De La Canción", meaning that the songwriter and the song itself is celebrated along with the performer. All songs performed in the competition were required to be original, and the song writing is judged, as well as the artist performance. The popularity of its first transmission in 1982 made it one of the most important talent Festivals in all of Latin America. In the years it aired, it served to propel an impressive number of artists, such as: Lucero, Thalía, Edith Márquez, Eduardo Capetillo, and Lorenzo Antonio, as well as many songwriters, such as Omar Alfanno, Tirzo Paiz, Lorenzo Antonio, and Sergio Andrade.

History

In 1981, Raúl Velasco, Alberto Del Bosque, and "Siempre En Domingo" teamed up with record company Discos Musart, to produce a show that would seek out young talent, and the idea of Jugemos a Cantar was born. At that time, "Siempre En Domingo" was one of the most popular programs in television history, and its main focus became this children's Festival. Discos Musart would also focus entirely on this project.

1er Festival Juguemos A Cantar

In late 1981, Raúl Velasco announced on "Siempre En Domingo" that they, along with Discos Musart, would be holding a children's talent competition. "Convocatorias", were distributed all across Mexico so that any child up to the age of 13 could enter by submitting a photo, and a cassette recording of themselves to Discos Musart. A committee then chose the 40 acts that were to compete in the televised portion of the festival. Over 3000 convocatorias were sent into Discos Musart.
The competition was held over the course of 5 weeks. The first 4 weeks were the “eliminatorias” and they were held at Televisa San Angel's Foro 2, and the 5th week was the grand final, which took place at Televisa Chapultepec on April 25, 1982.
One of the most misunderstood concepts about this 1er Festival Juguemos A Cantar is that it was first and foremost a "Festival De La Canción", with a secondary emphasis on how the performer interpreted the song as well. This can be seen in the way the prizes were distributed - the performer's prize was dependent on the winning song:
Prizes For The Composers :
Prizes For The Performers Of The Winning Songs:
There were 10 acts that passed the elimination rounds and made it to the finals. Here are the standings for the 1er Festival Juguemos A Cantar competition, as well as the composers and songwriters as published on the original commemorative album of the Festival:
PlaceArtistSongSongwriterArrangerTotal Points
1Lorenzo Antonio Y Su GrupoVamos A JugarLorenzo AntonioJulio Jaramillo98
2KatyLa Risa De Las VocalesTirzo PaizGustavo A. Santiago92
2Byanka Y MalessaIgual Que El UniversoRosalia Sánchez A.Julio Jaramillo92
3Grupo ÁbacoEl CombateMa. Eugenia De EsesarteJulio Jaramillo90
4Las VicuñitasFiesta En Mi PuebloSergio AndradeSergio Andrade83
4Grupo AventuraVamos A Mi FiestaJosé A. GarayJulio Jaramillo83
5Yvette Y MoniqueRock And RollFrancisco CurielJulio Jaramillo82
5Sara EugeniaSi Yo Fuera PresidentePedro Krishmar e Ignacio CopaniJorge Neri82
6Lolita CortesDon Quijote Y Sancho PanzaMartha HerediaJorge Neri81
7Juanito FariasCaballo De PaloOmar AlfannoChucho Ferrer80

Impact

The impact of the 1er Festival Juguemos a Cantar was so great that in many ways, it was a moment that defined a generation of children. Most of the people that were children in 1982 remember this Festival very well with great happiness, as do the parents of those children. They remember where they were when the winners were announced. They remember many of the songs. The famous yellow album with two children holding balloons could be seen throughout Mexico in all the store fronts. Schools across Mexico held their own versions of a Juguemos A Cantar contest where the children would imitate their favorite participants of the Festival.
Due mostly to the success of this Festival, that year, particularly in Mexico, the whole of the entertainment industry would become all about children and youth. Songs, radio, TV, and other entertainment media were all aimed at the children’s market. This "phenomenon" was so great that even the mainstream adult artists of that time had difficulty finding a spot in any and all forms of media.
The tremendous success of this first Festival was immense, but no one, including everyone involved, expected it to be as popular as it was. One obvious reason for its success was that it was heavily backed by Televisa, and by Discos Musart, but there were other factors as well:
After the results were announced, a great controversy ensued: Many people believed that Juanito Farias was robbed of first place, while others believed that Lorenzo Antonio Y Su Grupo won fair and square.
The people on the side of Lorenzo Antonio Y Su Grupo felt that the decision was fair because:
The people on the side of Juanito Farias argued that he should have won because:
Had the Festival been more about vocal talent alone, Juanito Farias might have won. But this Festival was not solely about vocal talent. It was about the Song, the interpretation of the Song, and about happiness and children. The fact that Lorenzo Antonio wrote "Vamos A Jugar" gave Lorenzo Antonio Y Su Grupo a considerable edge over Juanito Farias, and all the other participants. Also, all the songs in the top 10 were happy and positive, as was the general ambience and theme of the Festival. Juanito's song, "Caballo De Palo," was the only song that was slow and sad. That made it an uphill climb for Juanito's song, and in the end, it was probably the biggest factor as to why he came in last place.
Regardless of these reasons, the people who viewed the festival, especially the Mexican "pueblo," felt that an injustice had occurred: Juanto Farias' performance was incredibly strong and for him to have come in last place was viewed as very unfair. This sentiment was instantly felt in the "Siempre En Domingo" studios, and around the country as soon as it became apparent that Juanito Farias didn't even place in the top 3. In an unplanned event, Raúl Velasco reacted by awarding Juanito Farias a "Mejor Interprete Del Festival" award, even though that "award" was not formally part of the Festival's rules and regulations. Because of this, Juanito became known as, "El Campeon Sin Corona," and the general consensus back then as well as today, is that Juanito Farias should have at least placed in the top 3, and possibly even 1st place.
There are other arguments about this, such as Raúl Velasco favored Lorenzo Antonio Y Su Grupo, and was more disparaging towards Juanito Farias due to the color of their skin. This however, is an unfounded argument. At the time, Raúl Velasco’s opinion of Juantio was quite the opposite. After the finals, Juanito was one of the artists that was most heavily backed by “Siempre En Domingo” and Raúl Velasco.
Ultimately, all this controversy boosted the Festival’s popularity, as well as the popularity of all involved, even more.

More Details

The children judges were:
Jorgito Cordero,
Sandra Lopez,,
Ginny Hoffman,, and
Lucerito.
The radio programmer judges were:
Enrique Ortiz,
Elias Cervantes,
Eduardo Olinares,
Gutavo Paez,
Don Juan Calderon, and
Javier Frias.
Because of the tremendous success of the 1st Festival, it was an easy decision for those involved to do a 2nd. This 2o Festival Juguemos A Cantar, which was held in 1983, provided a platform to stardom to the likes of, Eduardo Capetillo, Alan, Kennya Kay of the group Colibri, Chuchito and Marichelo, Priscila, and the group Chikis.
A spooky, halloween-ish theme was chosen for this 2nd Festival.
At this time, the children phenomenon had begun to slightly decline. This 2nd Festival was still very popular, but not as popular as the 1st.
There were also several fundamental changes that occurred with this 2nd Festival. The most significant was that it was opened up to include talent from other record companies, not just Musart Records. This changed the dynamics of the festival considerably. Where the 1st festival was more of a talent search, the 2nd became more similar to – but not exactly like – the Festival OTI, where the artists competing are already signed with a record company.

The Top 3

Here are the standings for the 2nd Juguemos A Cantar competition:
PlaceArtistSongSongwriterArranger
1ColibriMagicoIgnacio CopaniChucho Ferrer
2PriscilaMi Burrito QuerendónTirso PaizJulio Jaramillo
3
3		Chikis
Ity		El Baile De La Gallina
Los Payasos		Lorenzo AntonioTiny Morris

3rd Festival Juguemos A Cantar

In 1984, a 3rd Festival was held. By this time, the novelty of the contest and of children entertainers had waned considerably. Regardless of this, it still provided a platform to stardom to some major acts like Thalía, Edith Márquez, and Flavio César. Also the singers Cristian Castro, and Pilar Montenegro participated in the festival, but they did not make it to the finals.
In 1995, the festival was revived under the same name, it was also hosted by Raul Velasco.

Track listing

1st Festival

The album from the first Festival is composed of 15 songs. All of them were directed and produced by different songwriters. This first festival discovered great artists like Lucero, Lolita Cortes, Lorenzo Antonio and Patricia Manterola in the Grupo Plum-Kiss, singers who are still in force.

2nd Festival

The 2nd Festival provided a platform to stardom for the likes of, Eduardo Capetillo, Alan, Kennya Kay of the group Colibri, Chuchito and Marichelo, Priscila, and the group Chikis.

3rd Festival

In this 3rd and final Festival, several new artist emerged like Thalía, Edith Márquez and Flavio César. Also the singer Cristian Castro participated in the Festival, but he did not make to the finals.