Camilo created a magical moment on Tuesday (Sept. 27), the second day of Billboard Latin Music Week. That’s when he reminisced with friends Eduin Caz and Edgar Barrera about how they wrote the hit “Alaska,” made jokes and laughed, sang together and even showed off a few dance moves.
The Colombian singer-songwriter, who led the panel Superstar Q&A With Camilo and Friends moderated by Leila Cobo, arrived with collaborator, songwriter and producer Barrera as planned. But when he was invited to join him onstage, along came the leader of Grupo Firme as a surprise.
With an amusing and relaxed vibe, they remembered from how the name of their WhatsApp chat — “Tequila y Bigotones” (“Tequila and Mustaches”) came about (“I am more than a mustache and I hope you are more than a tequila,” Camilo told Caz in a funny reflection), to Camilo’s love for Mexican music (“Christmas was drinking guaro and listening to popular music. Mexico had a huge artistic impact on us in Colombia,” he recalled of his upbringing in Medellín), and the recent success of Grupo Firme in the South American country (“I went out for sushi and I didn’t get to buy sushi,” said Caz referring to being recognized on the street by fans).
While explaining how “Alaska” was born, Barrera — with a guitar in hand — started playing the song and Camilo and Caz sang. The title, said the producer with a laugh, came from a play of words his grandfather used to say when he went out for a drink: “I’m going to Alaska.” “Alaska?” “¡A las cantinas!” (“To the canteens.”)
Both Camilo and Grupo Firme have been filling arenas and stadiums in the last years with their respective tours. When Cobo asked them if they wrote their songs thinking in such big venues, they all agreed that was not usually the case.
“I just was dying to do something with him,” said Caz about Camilo. “If the harmony is good, it’s gonna be a straight hit here or in China, wherever it has to go.”
“I don’t think about it. If I do, I get stuck,” added Barrera, noting that, to him, the most important thing is the message of the song.
“Ideas come in seed format,” said Camillo. “They don’t arrive with multiplatinum certifications.”
The union of genres and nationalities was felt until the end when, invited by Cobo, they didn’t hesitate to perform one more song to the audience delight: Grupo Firme’s chart-topping hit “Ya Supérame.”
