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Cadena 100 interview to Chayanne in Buenos Aires, Argentina (June 1999)

(Translation by Chayfan Analía T.)

His name is Elmer Figueroa Arce, he was born in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico, but when he turned one year old his family went to San Lorenzo.

He began his career at 10 with the group "Los Chicos" one of the most successful groups in Central America in th 1980´s.

With this group, besides of making a movie, he recorded four albums.

At 19 years old, he recorded his first album as a soloist.

He is singer, dancer and actor. He was in different soap operas like "Pobre Juventud", "Tormentos", "Sombras del Pasado" and "Volver a Empezar".

His debut starring in a movie was in 1995 in "Linda Sara", later he starred in his first English movie "Dance with me" with Vanessa Williams.

At the moment he has sold 5 million albums worldwide (with more than 20 platimun and 5 gold records).

His artistic name is due to his mother liked very much a popular show in America in the 1970´s.

CHAYANNE is "Bajo la Lupa" ("Under the magnifying glass).

Host: Chayanne is also "Bajo la Lupa"

Chayanne: I´m also "Bajo la Lupa", let´s see what is under it.

N: Let´s see what is there! …Well…, when did you start singing?

C: I began to sing as a professional at 10, I say as a professional because at that age was when I recorded an album for the first time.

N: At 10?

C: I recorded my first album at 10.

N: What a little child!!

C: Yes, I was a baby!! It is not that now Iam too far from that, but… Yes, I was very young. I began to sing very informally, at home, when I was 5. I sang at church with my sister. Music has been the vocation of the whole family; my grandfather played the cuatro, a typical instrument of Puerto Rico, my brother played the guitar, my sister too, she has a beautiful voice, the most beautiful voice of the house and she took guitar and singing classes and my brother took cuatro classes, the instrument that my grandfather used to play, and I took drum classes… nothing to do with choreographies or singing.

After that, we began to sing at church, I played a little bit of percussion instruments, but not cymbals or drums, just normal instruments.

N: You have had rhythm since you were very young.

C: Yes, yes. I played the guiro, another typical instrument of Puerto Rico, the maracas and you know… percussion sounds. I was like a pet.

N: But you did it because you liked it or because you were told to play percussion instruments?

C: No, there was no obligation. For me it was like a game. Yes, it began as a game.

I remember that when I was in first grade, at the school theater I performed in the eight activities that were prepared for Christmas and for the Mother´s Day, and I used to participate because the teacher asked: Who wants to participate in the Mother´s Day…….? and I raised my hand because you know, if you raise your hand you get better marks! ha! ha! ha!

N: And you didn´t have to study…

-----------------------------(a little bit of a song)-------------------------

N:Your sister went to sing to a casting call, but at the end …you appeared. How did she feel after that moment?

C: Well, as we are "Bajo la lupa", so…

N: You have to say the truth…

C: …the truth and nothing but the truth…

N: There is like an oath…

C:Yes… My sister did radio shows, playing the guitar. When she was very young she went to several radio shows because of my uncle, who played the accordion and also participated in all those shows. I came from a family that, as a tradition, played instruments and liked music. My sister played the guitar and liked to sing all the songs for the Father´s Day, the Mother´s Day, etc, and later besides of being part of every school event she danced "danzones" and "plenas" and all the typical dances of Puerto Rico for the opening of the Panamerican Games in Puerto Rico, and there she met a girl from a town nearby San Lorenzo, where I live, where my family lives, and well… they wanted her to audition, and I was there as a "chaperone", and I audioned too, and that was the reason why I began to sing, but they wanted her… so, she began with the group but then she had to start college and the group came apart because most of the members had to start college and that was when I entered this world of… music … and games, because I was a child.

……………………………………(a little bit of a song)…………………………………………

N:Did your sister feel bad then?

C: No, no, no, no, my sister has always supported me and loved me, and she has always been with me, although not in person, but she has always been with me because music has been her passion and it will always be; now she is a business woman and a mother…

N:What does she?

C: She has her own business, private business. She has Petshops, where you can find anything, even pets you can´t imagine: fishes, dogs, little rats, she has everything… parrots :"Good Morning", "Good Morning" ha!ha!ha!

N: What do your other brothers do?

C: My eldest brother works with needles for eyes, I mean injections for eyes…

N: Oh!! How impressive!!!

C: Yes, and my two little brothers…, we are five chidren; four boys and the princess, who is my little sister, well, she is older than me…

N: But she is your little sister.

C: Yes, my little sister… and my little two brothers study managment and accountancy and they are still at college.

N: Well, may be in the future they may help you.

C: Yes… They say: when do we go to Argentina? ha! ha! ha!

-------------------------------(a little bit of a song)-----------------------

N: What pieces of advice do you always remember? You know, Have your parents told you anything that you always remember?

C: The piece of advice that my mother has always told me was: "Take care", "Try to rest", "Try to eat well" for being healthy, "Be very careful" and normal things. My father has always given us the freedom to do whatever we wanted to do, but he was always paying attention to what we did; but we have been a normal family, my father is a big worker and that was what he always taught us: responsibility, punctuality, respect to ourselves, but he didn´t just say it, he did it, so, we learned just looking at him.

N: You seem to be a "Good Boy" who does what he should…

C: ha! ha! ha!

N:Oh!! If I knew… ,but the image you have…

C: No, no, no, it is not just the image, it is that I am this way, I am a normal person, I enjoy what I do, I have my personality… but I try to be well… although you can not get on well with everybody but, it is not that I try it… it is just my personality, I am this way, when I am a little sad you know it, when I´m happy I´m explosive, I try to work in this world, that is music…, but you will always see me as a normal person because I am the way I am.

-------------------------------( a song)------------------------------------

N: Your first movie was: "Los Chicos en conexión Caribe" Do you remember it, how was it, when, you liked it or not?

C: Oh! That movie… If I tell you the truth, but I have to say it because I´m "Bajo la Lupa" ha! ha!

We did that movie… when I was 11 or 12 . The movie was about the kidnapping of one of the boys of the group "Los Chicos", we were in a ship and we had to look for the kidnappers, etc, etc, and at the end we had to go to Santo Domingo for the action scenes, but at that time we had tours and we almost couldn´t finish the movie, so, the story was changed, they included our concerts in order to finish the movie.

N: So… your concerts in different places were filmed to include them in the movie?

C: Yes, our concerts were filmed and included in the movie… I think the kidnappers allowed the boy who had been kidnapped to participate in the concerts and then he disappeared… it was like magic!! ha!ha!ha! … it was a movie for kids!

N: Would you do it again?

C: Yes, yes, it was a lot of fun. The tours we did, the hotels… it was very funny all that I lived when I was 11, 12, 13 years old. Our toy guns were the fire extinguishers of the hotels, you had to see us! I hated hotels.

N: Yes, hotels are very boring, so when you are a child you can do anything to have fun…

C:Yes, but we had very responsible people who were in charge of us. I remember we travelled with teachers and one person who was like our mother, and sometimes some relatives travelled with us.

N: Did you respect them?

C: Yes, yes, we respected them because they were older people…

N: But?

C: But…

N: You did whatever you wanted to do, didn´t you?

C:Yes, we had a lot of opportunities: cars, horses, we played in the swimming pool. Just imagine! We arrived from the concerts at 11p.m. or 12 a.m., we did the shows at 7p.m. and we arrived from the concerts very excited and moreover when you are a child of 10 or 11.

N: Did you sleep then? Because now you have told us that you cannot sleep because of the excitment you have after the shows.

C:Yes, we had so much fun that at the end we fell asleep. It was not like now that I remain thinking and thinking after the shows.

---------------------------------(song)-------------------------------------

N: What were you afraid of when you were a kid?

C: I always say that I was afraid of "El Cuco" as a joke, but it was true actually: the darkness, not knowing what you are going to see or face or what can appear or happen to you; and now "El Cuco" means not to lose what you love so much, that is the career, the profession you have, mine which is music, not to lose all what you have…, I mean, I ask God: "Do not give me more but do not take away from me what I already have", I think a lot about my job, about planning where I have to go and how I will do it and how to be better… I think a lot about all these things.

------------------------------------(song)----------------------------------

N: What song would you like to listen right now? You can choose anything. For example, in a moment of relaxation what song would you choose?

C:I like… well …. I could tell you a lot of songs… "Celebrate good night, come on" by "Kool and the Gang"…, or Phill Collins…, Seal…, Sting…, it depends on how I feel…

N: But right now, what song would you choose?

C:Yes, yes, that one: "Celebrate… (and he sings) good night, come on", that is from the 1970´s…, I don´t know why I remember that song!

N: Because you have to celebrate, there is so much to celebrate…

C: Yes, that´s right. For that reason ha! ha! ha!

-------------------------------------(song)---------------------------------

N: Who was your first love?

C: First of all, it was in first grade, a little kiss behind the classroom, and after that each of us just run away from ech other.

N: Didn´t you like it?

C: Yes, we liked it very much, but we were scared. When you are 5 or 6 a kiss on the lips it´s like, well, she is pregnant. ha! ha! ha!

But later when I was 12 or 13 I liked very much a girl…, at that moment we had already a TV show in a Puerto Rican channel and I could finally speak to her at 15.

N: You took your time!!

C: Yes, I used to see her in the TV channel, she was older than me, six years older than me.

N: It was a lot! At that age it seems a lot.

C: Uhh! I don´t know…, I was a kid for her…, but at the end when I was 15 or 16, I don´t remember, I told her that she had always liked me, that I was very much interested in her, that I wanted to have dinner with her, that I wanted to know her better… I don´t really know what I told her… but she said yes! ha!ha!ha! But it was a nice yes, I mean, Yes, ok, to have dinner…

N: But it was a yes of love or a pitiful yes?

C: No, no, a yes of affection, like friends, but later…, you know…

N:Ohh! Ohh!

C: After some dinners… and…

N: After other dinners this thing of being friends crossed a frontier?

C: Yes, it was something really nice and she was very good. We had a relationship during a short time but…

N: It was a strong relationship.

C:Yes, we could know each other. The first love is always like that.

-------------------------------(song)---------------------------------------

N: How do you seduce a woman? In this case it was with your own words, but you took your time.

C: Yes… I´m actually shy, I like long relationships, to try to speak and spend moments that may create the relationship.

N: You like to create the right moment.

C: Exactly, not to force it at all and just let it happen.

N: It must look natural.

C: Right, as natural as possible.

N: How would be a romantic night for you? Let´s suppose you have a night with "the woman". You have the money and the time to go wherever you want, to any place in the world: mountains, sea, whatever…

C: One night?

N: Yes, one night.

C: Oh! Uhmm…! One night is not enough Nora! It´s not enough! ha! ha! ha! ha! But if it is one night I prefer the sea… the sea, the stars… in a Bohemian way. Because I could also tell you to have dinner in the Eiffel Tower and watching how Paris begins to be illuminated, which is beautiful, and after that, well… we will go anywhere. But actually for one romantic night I prefer the fire in the sand, the beach, the moonlight, and to talk…, a little bit of music of course…

N: It would be in a house in the beach?

C: No, no, no, no, I just would need a kind of roof, white, just in case, which gives you calm and peace…, music, candles, and like it is intimate, it´s just the other person and you, you don´t need nothing else than nature and the other person.

-----------------------------------------(song)-----------------------------

N: How did you seduce your wife? How was it?

C: By phone.

N: Really?

C: It was basically a relationship by phone.

N: That is the reason why you get on so well!

C: Yes, everything was by phone and during several months before we could spend days together or get to know each other better, or travel together. Although no matter how long you are with a person you never get to know the other completely because you have different experiences and also those long periods of time that we are away from each other change you as a human being…, so when you see the other person after a long time you discover new things.

N: Because you also change, don´t you?

C: Because you change every day. When you go out to work, you have anecdotes, problems, happy moments and when you accumulate all those things because you don´t see the other person everyday when you arrive home you discover the other person again.

N: What about the first time you saw her?

C: The first time was in an airport in the luggage area, it was basically the first look. Then, summing up, there was an exchange of telephone numbers and then we spent months speaking by phone.

N: But the way she looked at you really impressed you, right? Because you wouldn´t have called her with all the things you had to do, those eyes were different to the others.

C: It was a look, a smile, to say "hello, how do you do", "let´s see each other again". We exchanged our telephone numbers and there were calls, and calls, and calls, and calls!

N: Fortunes in telephone!!

C: Yes, fortunes in telephone!! Then I began to know her by phone, so there were just words… and songs…

N: Did you sing to her by phone?

C: Yes, new songs: "This is the new song I´m going to perform" or "This is what I´m doing right now".

N: She does something completely different to you. That is also great.

C: Yes, it has nothing to do with what I do; but we began to speak little by little until we could meet.

N: Where was it?

C: If I remember well it was in Puerto Rico.

N: Were there stars and sea…?

C: There were stars, the sea…, the moon was completely round ha! ha! ha! There were stars, sea, moonlight, the Caribbean, music… our relationship began this way.

-------------------------------------------(song)---------------------------

N: How are you as a father?

C: I think I´m a good father. I´m learning to be a father. Lorenzo helps me to do it. I´m completely new as a father.

N: We saw some broken things over there.

C: Yes, forget it!… He has a very nice and strong personality.

N: Has he seen you in your concerts?

C: Yes, he has a lot of energy and dances and goes to bed at midnight, when generally goes to bed at 09:30 p.m., and he awaits for me after the shows, give me two kisses and then he goes to bed.

N: Those must be the most beautiful kisses! They are like gold.

C: Ohh!! You don´t change those kisses for anything.

-------------------------------------(song)---------------------------------

N: Would you leave everything for love? Now, we should listen your song "Dejaría todo" ("I would leave everything")

C: Yes, I would leave everything for love. I´ve told you before that I left my family at ten because of my career, unconsciously, but because of my profession too. But everybody leaves home in one moment, and I would leave everything for love, I think all those things are very difficult to get, so when you get them do not lose them because you do not know who is your better half.

N: You don´t even think about that.

C: No, you don´t even think about that.

-------------------------------------(song)---------------------------------

N: What do you like and do not like about tours?

C: I like to meet the audience, to meet people, to receive all that immediate love…, up to now I´ve been very lucky, and I do not like planes, the luggage, and it is not because of the airlines, because everybody is so nice with me it is just that I do not like to wait so much, I get tired physically, it´s not easy. But well, you have to do it to receive all those nice things.

N: But doing the things you do not like, like being in an airport you found the woman of your life!

So when you are "absent minded" it´s dangerous.

C: Yes, you can be "trapped". When you don´t have your armor it´s very dangerous! ha! ha! ha! You must wear "your bulletproof vest" ha! ha! ha!

-----------------------------------(song)-----------------------------------

N: Which song of yours is your favorite?

C: "Atado a tu amor" is one of the the last songs that I like very much. "Solo pienso en ti" of my album "Volver a nacer"… and I like happy songs like "Provocame", "Palo Bonito", "Fiesta en America"…

N: But what is the song that you identify with?

C: "Volver a nacer" is a song that I like very much.

-------------------------------(song)---------------------------------------

N:How is your relationship with Luis Miguel?

C: It´s very good. Nobody has asked me that question before! I always speak about him because I admire him so much, we have a very nice friendship, very natural. I remember that when I was 12, his father, may he rest in peace, produced our third album when I was in "Los Chicos"; we played together, we had no differences, no competitions, we were normal kids, as any kid in this world,of any race, color…

N: With pure souls…

C: Exactly.

N: Without all those comments like "he said this or that about you", comments that are never true.

C: Right. We played in the swimming pool, in the house, we always remember that, and I say this because once we met in Honduras while we were on tour. I remember that in that time Julio Iglesias, Jose Luis Rodriguez, Rafael were on tour and also Luis Miguel and me, so when we met we had dinner together.

I remember that we also excercised together… but then each of us began to "grow" professionally and we came apart because of our work and I saw him for the last time three years ago, I think it was in an award party and we talked a lot during the whole night, and it was really nice, very nice.

N: Both of you have had very similar careers, Havent´you? You have been very succesful in what you do since you were very young.

C: Yes, fortunately we have been very succesful. Thank God. Each time I see him it´s very nice to me and I think the same happens to him. Each time we see each other we talk and talk and talk.

-------------------------------------(song)--------------------------------

N: How do you meet Donato and Estefano?

C: I met them through their music. They brought me some songs for my album "Volver a Nacer", at that time they were already very popular, and I liked their songs very much and we decided together what songs were suitable for the concept of the album "Volver a Nacer" along with very important people of the Company: Sony. I´ve met them for work basically but then our relationship turned into friendship. We go out together, spend family moments together, have dinner together.

N: They are very warm people.

C: Yes! They are very good people, very simple and easygoing and it´s very nice to be with them. You know, there are some people who just when you talk to them you feel good, they are just like you. Well they are this way.

-----------------------------(song)-----------------------------------------

N: Do you have any funny anecdote with a fan? Yours fans do anything for you.

C: Yes, once I found two girls under my bed and three girls in the closet. I arrived to my hotel room after a show and I began to take my cloth off, and I see a shoe that falls under my bed so I realized that they were in the room. They had entered through the window, I think, because there were security people everywhere.

N: What did you do when you saw them?

C: Well, first I jumped, because I did not know which were their intentions, but then I did not let them go… No! It´s a joke!

N: They stayed there?

C: They just wanted a picture, an autograph, to talk…and that was what we did, although a lot of security people arrived and I said: "Sirs, please! Don´t worry! Nothing happened here! But I have received flowers, teddy bears. Fans appear everywhere, in the corridors, you are walking and the appear from a bottle of Coke ha! ha! ha! But I love it! I receive everybody with love. That is love! I like it, I laugh sometimes but I ´m always grateful.

--------------------------------------(song)--------------------------------

N: How did you became a fan of Sandro (a very popular argentine singer)? You have recorded his song "Una muchacha y una guitarra" (A girl and a guitar)

C: Yes, I have an album dedicated to all the singers I´ve always liked since I was a child, and I like Sandro very much, I have seen all the movies that he has done here, in Argentina. I ´ve always admired Sandro, I liked how he moved and sang on stage, he had a lot of energy, I was very impressed by those things, but unconsciously because I was 5 or 6. I never met him, it would be such a great honor for me to meet him. I knew about his concerts here.

N: They were great, with so many people!

C: I wanted to go to those concerts, but I wasn´t here at that time, I think I was in Spain or in Miami, but I´ve always admired him and I will always admire him, Julio Iglesias, Rafael. I like very much to go to concerts, I´ve been in Bruce Springteen´s concert. I don´t go to many shows but every time I have the opportunity I try to go to concerts.

------------------------------------------(song)----------------------------

N: Is true that if you go to a disco you do not dance? That can be true?

C: I just watch…

N: That can not be true! Let´s suppose I say I´m going to a disco with Chayanne, and then you do not dance!

C: When I go to a disco I say I don´t know how to dance, I just do one step to one side and one step to the other side, that is the only thing I do, because I think that people think that when I go to a disco I will perform the choreography of "Provocame" or "Solo traigo mi ritmo" and people say "Move apart that he needs space to dance" ha!ha!ha! I like to dance as normal as possible but generally I remain in my seat. But if I dance, I just dance two songs and I do one step to one side an another to the other side.

-------------------------------------(song)---------------------------------

N: How long does it take you to learn a choreography? We have seen your choreographer, the girl with red hair…

C: Yes, she is the "captain" of the group. When we travel she is in charge of maintaining the choreographies created by her or by the original choreographer. Because as we are on tour we change the choreographies, I mean, you move the arm to the left, but you have to move it to the right, or the arm must be like this and you move it like that and as we can not see ourselves in the mirror to coordinate those movements, you begin to change some of them.

N: She corrects you, she is strict.

C: Yes, she is very strict.

N: How long does it take you to learn the choreographies?

C: The choreogrphy of one song may takes me 3 days or 2 days, but it depends on how difficult it is. For example, "Salomé" has a choreography from the beginning to the end, a song like "Guajira" has just parts with choreography, the dancers appear and disappear during the song, but when the choreography is during the whole song it takes me about 2 days to learn the steps and 3 days to get to used to them. But, as you do not have to learn the steps of one song, you have to learn the steps of 6 songs together, it takes me almost a month to learn and memorize the choreographies. You don´t have to confuse the steps, I mean, you may think the steps of "Provocame"are the steps of "Solo traigo mi ritmo" or "Mira ven, ven". So, how do you do to not mix the steps? Well, I think about all these things while I´m on stage!

N: But you can not think too much because if you stop to think you lose the steps.

C: Right! You have to do it withouth thinking, to memorize all the steps you have to rehearse and rehearse and rehearse.

------------------------------(Song)----------------------------------------

N: The last question, Which are your dreams?

C: My dream is to do what I like, that is this profession, my dream is to be happy… But professionally, I want to go on with this profession that makes me so happy. Travelling, although I told you before that I do not like planes, which is true…, but to be able to go around the world it´s always fascinating because you learn something everyday. My dream is to be better every day.

N: Thank you very much for being in "Bajo la Lupa".

C: No, please, thanks to you.

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