- Title: Mexico's Pena Nieto and fans pay respects to beloved performer Juan Gabriel
- Date: 29th August 2016
- Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) FERNANDA AGUILERA, MANAGER OF TENAMPA CANTINA, SAYING: "Juan Gabriel was a person who left an enormous mark on Mexican music and culture. And as well in Tenampa, well, what we want to do is immortalize him, like the figures of Mexican music who have already left."
- Embargoed: 14th September 2016 00:24
- Keywords: Juan Gabriel performer Mexico singer composer death
- Location: MEXICO CITY AND MAZATLAN, SINALOA STATE, MEXICO
- City: MEXICO CITY AND MAZATLAN, SINALOA STATE, MEXICO
- Country: Mexico
- Topics: Arts/Culture/Entertainment,Music
- Reuters ID: LVA0044X6KBB7
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto paid tribute to singer Juan Gabriel, a musical icon across Latin America for more than 40 years, on Monday (August 29) who died of a heart attack at age 66 on Sunday (August 28).
The prolific songwriter and performer, who was known for his powerful love ballads, died in Santa Monica, California, Televisa reported. He was due to sing at a concert in El Paso, Texas, later on Sunday.
In Mexico City, fans gathered around a statue depicting Gabriel in Plaza Garibaldi, an outdoor nightspot in the heart of Mexico City which is famed for raucous open-air drinking and folk music, to pay their respects to Juan Gabriel.
Fernanda Aguilera, who manages the Tenampa Cantina, said her establishment hopes to honour the beloved artist.
"Juan Gabriel was a person who left an enormous mark on Mexican music and culture. And as well in Tenampa, well, what we want to do is immortalize him, like the figures of Mexican music who have already left," she said.
A symbol of Mexican culture and a highlight of many visitors' itineraries, Garibaldi brims after dark with cacophonous mariachi bands and tequila sellers, and revellers pack the square and its surrounding cantinas.
Gabriel, whose real name was Alberto Aguilera, was born in 1950 into a poor family in the western Mexican state of Michoacan and rose to sell millions copies of his albums and have his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
As he manned a military event in Sinaloa, Pena Nieto took time to remember Gabriel.
"All of the Mexican people today are under sadness of having lost a great artist, one of its own, who we honour and whose highest memory we hold in our hearts. Our deepest condolences, particularly to his loved ones and family," he said.
Gabriel, who lived much of his young life in the border city of Ciudad Juarez, entertained generations of Latin Americans with his energetic performances of songs such as "Querida" and "Amor Eterno" in glittering mariachi outfits.
Born as Alberto Aguilera on January 7, 1950 in a family of farmers in the western state of Michoacan, he lived much of his childhood in the border city of Ciudad Juarez, where he began his career.
He adopted the name "Juan Gabriel" in honour of a school teacher and his father, who died when he was little.
In his lyrics, Juan Gabriel expressed in complicated verse the sentiments of the general public. The news of his death has shocked politicians, artists and intellectuals alike. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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