Olga Tañon Released “Vivo La Vida” (video in Cuba)

Are you ready for another “feel-good” song by a Latin artist? Olga Tañon released the video of her single “Vivo La Vida”, which was filmed in Havana, Cuba.

Filming the video in Cuba happened almost by accident, after Olga’s plans to film the video in Miami collapsed while she was visiting the island this past July. When that happened, Cuban artist X Alfonso suggested that they film the video in Havana. Olga Tañon thought about it, and without dancers nor hair and makeup crew, went on with the idea.

At that point, the queen of merengue recounts that “all I had left was a shirt, a pair of jeans, and leather sandals I had bought”. While the video was in post-production, the US renewed relations with Cuba, so the video concludes with footage of the opening of the respective embassies and a quote from Olga Tañon.

What I like about the video is that it’s sort of semi-staged. There are parts that are obviously staged , but there is plenty of footage of the people just approaching the film crew or even Olga Tañon as she films and sings. That natural and spontaneous encounter with the Cuban people was perhaps the best part of the video!

“Vivo La Vida” is a pop-merengue fusion that follows the same “party and feel-good” theme that has been very popular the last few years. Marc Anthony’s “Vivir La Vida” (Olga’s song title comes very close to this) is perhaps the best example, as it remained a hit for many, many weeks. Victor Manuelle (“Que Suenen Los Tambores”) and Enrique Iglesias (“Bailando”) are a couple of the many artists that have been riding the “feel-good” wave all the way to the bank.

Now lets see if Olga Tañon gets in trouble with the ultra-right activists in Miami. I hope the extremist there refrain from burning CDs and desist of taking every visit from artists to Cuba as a political statement supporting Castro’s regime.