Colombian rocker Juanes grabbed four awards Thursday at the MTV Video Music
Awards Latin America in Guadalajara,
The 36-year-old Juanes was the night’s big winner, taking home
hardware for best solo artist, artist of the year, best rock artist and
best central region artist.”
“I want to dedicate this award to my family, my daughters and all of
Latin America,” Juanes said as he accepted for rock artist of the year.
Juanes, whose album “La Vida … Es Un Ratico” garnered five Latin
Grammy nominations, performed at the show and premiered his latest
single “Odio Por Amor.”
He and Belanova, a band from Guadalajara, joined a diverse lineup of
performers that ranged from heavy-metal band Metallica to Mexican
singer Julieta Venegas to German pop band Tokio Hotel. The show was
broadcast with a two-hour delay to about 21 million homes in Latin
America and more than 80 million in the U.S., organizers said.
The awards show was held in Mexico for the third year in a row — but
it was the first time for the western city of Guadalajara, famous for
mariachi music, tequila and folk dances.
Several artists, including rapper Flavor Flav of Public Enemy fame
and the band of U.S. singer Katy Perry, wore mariachi outfits for their
performances on a stage decorated with pinatas.
Perry donned a glittering tiara and a puffy pink “quinceanera” dress
— the fancy gowns Mexican girls wear for lavish 15th birthday parties —
to commemorate MTV Latin America’s 15 years on the air. She ended her
performance of “I Kissed a Girl” by taking off the gown and jumping on
a giant cake, then needed help to get off stage as she kept slipping
on frosting.
Venegas opened the show playing the accordion, accompanied by a brass ensemble and then a full mariachi band.
Tokio Hotel followed with a performance of “Through the Monsoon”
that got the crowd of 9,000 fans on their feet in the Auditorio Telmex
arena. Metallica won a standing ovation and pleas for an encore.
Argentine rock band Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, which performed via
satellite from Buenos Aires, was recognized with a lifetime
achievement award.
MTV said the winners were chosen by fans who this year cast 12.5 millions of votes on its Web site.
The seventh annual awards show was broadcast on MTV Latin America and MTV TR3S, MTV’s bilingual channel in the United States. (AP)