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21 August 2009
The concert event is presented by Berklee and the Sociedad General de Autores y Editores (SGAE), and will be filmed by Televisa, the largest media company in the Spanish-speaking world. At a press conference in Mexico City on August 19, it was announced that the TV special would debut on November 22, repeating on November 29 and again in early December, on the Televisa cable/satellite music channel Telehit. The broadcast will reach 60 countries, and has the potential to reach millions of people, offering a tremendous promotional platform for all of the participating artists.
 This is the first time Berklee has joined with an international community to develop a television show to launch the most promising Latin talent from Berklee and the big names that have studied there |
The concert will also feature a panel of Latin music industry leaders who will judge the finalists and choose one winner to film a music video that will be distributed to millions of people on Telehit and MySpace Latino. Industry judges are Beto Cuevas, vocalist from the band La Ley; Memo del Bosque, General Director of Telehit; and Ricardo y Alberto Gaitan, from Estefan Enterprises/Crescent Moon Records, with production credits for Ricky Martin, Paulina Rubio, and Gloria Estefan.
Popular Latin artists and Berklee alumni who are set to appear are Motel, Tommy Torres, Benny Ibarra, Manelick, and Alexander Acha.
"This is the first time Berklee has joined with an international community to develop a television show to launch the most promising Latin talent from Berklee and the big names that have studied there," said the competition's executive producer Javier Samayoa, who graduated from Berklee in 2009 with a degree in Music Business/Management.
Mexico City is the perfect location for the event being the Latin music's industry gateway to the rest of the world. Many students, like Samayoa who is from Guatemala, come to Berklee from Latin America to prepare for their careers. More than 10 percent of Berklee's student population are of Hispanic origin. Spain, Puerto Rico, and Mexico are home to more Latino students born outside the United States from among 12 Latin American countries represented on campus. The college auditions applicants in Mexico, Argentina, Panama, Ecuador, and Spain.
