San Juan, .- The Puerto Rican singer-songwriter Draco Rosa and the Dominican Merengue Milly Quezada were honored today by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), in its XXVII edition of the ASCAP Latin Music Awards, for its outstanding careers .
Rosa, a former member of the Menudo youth group and the author of Ricky Martin’s hits, received the ASCAP Vanguard Award, which recognizes the impact of musical genres that help shape the future of American music.
Quezada, known as “La Reina del Merengue”, received the ASCAP Award for La Herencia Latina, which is given to music creators in recognition of their unique and lasting contributions to Latin music.
Prior to obtaining the distinctions, both artists gave interviews to Efe.
Rosa, composer of songs like “María”, “La Copa de la Vida” and “Livin ‘la Vida Loca”, performed by Ricky Martin, recognized the art of her fellow authors and criticized the technology “and the lobbyists who enter to make life impossible for composers. “
He added that he thinks of his composing friends who do not have the opportunity to earn respect, recognition or profit for the work they do “and the abuse of the internet, which everyone wants for free.”
“We have a hard time offering good music at the end of the day,” said Rosa, who received her award this Tuesday from composer and producer Desmond Child.
Quezada, for her part, said she felt “excited” to be in Puerto Rico and thanked ASCAP and God for giving her the opportunity to spend four decades working on composing and interpreting themes from various Caribbean genres, such as merengue and salsa.
The Dominican singer also announced that she will soon launch a new production titled “Milly and Friends”, which will include the participation of Puerto Rican salsa player Gilberto Santa Rosa, the Ilegales group and the Dominican Héctor “El Torito” Acosta.
Quezada won her award from ASCAP’s Latin Membership Vice President, Gabriela González, and Puerto Rican singer Yaire, for her indelible contributions to Latin music.
Quezada began to reap his career at the merengue on the streets of Washington Heights, New York, where he and his brothers and sisters formed the group, Milly, Jocelyn & Los Vecinos.
Her music would identify the growing Hispanic community of Dominicans in Washington Heights and her distinctive feminist merengue style, with successes over more than three decades, such as “Volvió Juanita”, “La Guacherna”, “Tengo”, “Between your body and Mine “and” To give you my life “.
For his part, Daddy Yankee received the Singer-Songwriter of the Year Award from DJ Playero, pioneer of reggaeton and who gave the self-styled “boss” of reggaeton his first musical opportunity in the early 1990s.
Meanwhile, the Colombian Maluma received the Composer of the Year Award.
“Happy, excited, it is something that I have worked hard every day, now it is a reality, thanks to ASCAP for helping me to fulfill my dreams.” Freedom of expression is something very important to me, it has been this way through the My career as a Composer of the Year gives me a lot of responsibility to keep dreaming and it’s just the beginning, “Maluma told Efe.
Likewise, “I like it”, performed by Bad Bunny, J. Balvin and Cardi B, and written by Jhay Cortez and Mambo Kingz-Xavier and Edgar Semper-Verges, was named Latin Song of the Year.
Similarly, Sony / ATV Discos Music Publishing won the Editor of the Year award and BMG Gold Songs won Independent Editor of the Year.
ASCAP, on the other hand, recognized the 50 most interpreted songs of Latin music of 2018.
Among those themes are “Ambiente” (J Balvin), “Amigos con derechos” (Reik and Maluma), “Bella y sensual” (Romeo Santos with Nicky Jam and Daddy Yankee, “Clandestino” (Shakira and Maluma), “Dura “(Daddy Yanke),” Échame la culpa “(Luis Fonsi and Demi Lovato),” El farsante “(Ozuna), the remix of” Ella Quiere Beber “(Anuel AA with Romeo Santos).
The delivery of the XXVII ASCAP Awards in San Juan is a return to the Puerto Rican capital after organizing them in 2017, before the hurricanes Irma and María devastated the island.
The ASCAP, with more than 600,000 members, is a professional organization of authors, composers and editors of all types of music.
ASCAP’s mission is to license the music of its members and foreign affiliates, obtain fair compensation for the public performance of its works and the distribution of the royalties it collects based on those performances.
The ASCAP license offers an efficient solution for companies to carry out ASCAP music legally, respecting the rights of composers and granting them a fair payment. (EFEUSA)
