"Vivo cantando" (Spanish pronunciation:[ˈbiβokanˈtando]; "I Live Singing") is a song recorded by Spanish singer Salomé with music composed by María José de Ceratto and lyrics written by Aniano Alcalde. It represented Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest 1969 held in Madrid, and became one of the four joint winning songs and the second song from Spain –and last to date– to win.
Salomé also recorded the song in Catalan, Basque, English, French, and Italian.
Background
Conception
"Vivo cantando" was composed by María José de Ceratto with lyrics by Aniano Alcalde. It is a very up-tempo number, sung from the perspective of a woman telling her lover about the positive changes he has had on her, specifically that she now lives her life singing.[2]
Eurovision
On 20–22 February 1969, "Vivo cantando" performed by both Salomé and Ana Kiro [es] competed in the first edition of the Festival de la Canción Española, the national final organized by Televisión Española (TVE) to select the song Salomé –who had already been internally selected– would perform in the 14th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. The song won the competition so it became the Spanish entrant for the contest.[3]
In addition to the Spanish language original version, Salomé recorded the song in another five languages to promote the candidacy: in Catalan as "Canto i vull viure", in Basque as "Kantari bizi naiz", in English as "The Feeling of Love", in French as "Alors je chante", and in Italian as "Vivo cantando".[4]
On 29 March 1969, the Eurovision Song Contest was held at the Teatro Real in Madrid hosted by TVE, and broadcast live throughout the continent.[5] Salomé performed "Vivo cantando" third on the night accompanied by Los Valldemossa –brothers Rafael, Tomeu, and Bernat Estaràs– as backing singers, following Luxembourg's "Catherine" by Romuald and preceding Monaco's "Maman, Maman" by Jean Jacques. Augusto Algueró –the event's musical director– conducted the live orchestra in the performance of the Spanish entry.
Two memorable aspects of Salomé's performance were her costume –a blue pantsuit designed by Manuel Pertegaz covered in long strands of porcelain resembling beads that weighed 14 kg (31 lb)–, and the fact that the singer chose to dance on the spot during certain parts of the song. Dancing was against the contest rules at the time; Salomé was not penalized, however, as the performers from Ireland and the United Kingdom had done the same that year as well.[6]
"Vivo Cantando" was included in Salomé's studio album of the same name.[9] On 14 February 1970, she guest performed the song at the final of the 2nd edition of the Festival de la Canción Española, the national final organized by TVE in Barcelona to select the song and performer for the following Eurovision.[10]
Israeli singer Rika Zaraï released a cover of the French version, which spent three weeks at number one in the French singles chart from 16 August to 5 September 1969.
Other performances
Sole Giménez [es] performed the song in the show Europasión, aired on La 1 of Televisión Española on 21 May 2008 to choose by popular vote the best song that Spain has sent to Eurovision.[12]
Salomé performances singing "Vivo cantando" were recreated several times in different talent shows:
In the eighth episode of the first season of Tu cara me suena aired on 16 November 2011 on Antena 3, Francisco [es] impersonated Salomé singing "Vivo cantando" replicating her performance at Eurovision.[15]
In the sixteenth episode of the sixth season of Tu cara me suena aired on 2 February 2018 on Antena 3, Pepa Aniorte [es] impersonated Salomé singing "Vivo cantando" replicating her performance at Eurovision.[16]
