Miami, Feb 21 (Inditop.com/EFE) Andy Garcia, Chayanne and Ednita Nazario were among the many Latin artists who recorded a version in Spanish of the song “We Are the World”, produced by Emilio Estefan to benefit Haiti’s earthquake victims.
“I think it’s the most important production I have done in my career, because it brings together an endless list of artists from very different fields,” Estefan told EFE after Friday’s recording session. “The message that we’re sending the world will be spectacular because we have gathered together more than 100 singers.”
The “Somos el Mundo” project was a magnet for top Latin music stars at the American Airlines Arena in Miami, where a studio was prepared specifically for the occasion. The goal was to collect funds for Haiti, a country that was hit by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake Jan 12 killing over 200,000 people.
Artists like Vicente and Alejandro Fernandez, Aventura, Banda El Recodo, Carlos Santana, Cristian Castro, Gilberto Santa Rosa, Jose Luis Rodriguez “El Puma”, Juan Luis Guerra, Lucero, Luis Enrique, Luis Fonsi, Milly Quezada, Natalia Jimenez, Olga Tanon, Patricia Manterola, Paulina Rubio, Pitbull, Ricardo Montaner, Thalia, and Wisin and Yandel got together for the cause.
The song was produced by Gloria and Emilio Estefan and Quincy Jones, the producer of the two versions of the song in English.
“It’s a great responsibility and we haven’t been alone, Jones has spent these last few days on the telephone talking and working out the details of the version that we recorded,” Estefan said.
“This is the first Michael Jackson song to be recorded since he died and we had to wait for approval of the version Gloria and I created. Of course, it had the approval of (Lionel) Richie and Jones,” he said.
“Somos el Mundo” will premiere March 1 in “El Show de Cristina” on the Univision network.
“It’s very sad to think about the reason we’re making this united effort, I would have liked to make the recording under other circumstances,” Montaner said during a pre-production break.
Montaner, who is also a UNICEF goodwill ambassador, recalled that the first time he heard this song “I was starting out as a singer in Maracaibo, Venezuela.”
“I never thought that 25 years later I would be taking part, singing together with great fellow artists this tune that means so much to everyone. Singing together with my fellow artists was a very emotional experience. There is so much strength when we unite for a cause,” the Argentine-Venezuelan singer-songwriter said.
Montaner, who a couple of weeks ago staged a marathon for Haiti, said it was essential to save the children of that country, an opinion shared by Olga Tanon.
“If my voice serves as an instrument to help the children of that country, glory be!” the Puerto Rican said Friday in a communique.
