Pepe Aguilar impressed the Weill Hall audience on Tuesday with his voice, extraordinary light show and his children’s performance. Aguilar is the son of well-known Mexican celebrities, Antonio Aguilar and Flor Silvestre. Aguilar produces music in several different genres including ranchera, mariachi and pop.
Refreshments were available, memorabilia was sold and plenty of seats were available. A paisley design hit the screen. While it moved, it started to change various colors and the announcer introduced Pepe Aguilar. As soon as Aguilar came on the stage, the crowd went ecstatic. Members of the audience screamed Aguilar’s name and recorded him while he sang. Two members of the audience held up a Mexican flag and others waved their hands in the air while Aguilar sang.
Student Polette Gonzalez said, “It was really good. I grew up listening to this music and it’s nice to be able to listen live now that I’m grown up.”
Aguilar began his second song with an accordion player. His band and back up dancers joined him on stage for the whole performance. Aguilar sang several of his mesmerizing songs which made the audience cheer and scream. He also announced that he finished recording his 25th album and that he will be on the TV show “MTV Unplugged,” which is coming out in October.
Spectators enjoyed Aguilar’s musical performance and they also liked the jokes he told in-between his songs. One of them was about a song he wrote for a soap opera that only lasted two weeks. Another was when he asked the audience, “do you like my Spanglish?” Every joke caused a wave of laughter throughout the crowd. Aguilar played several songs during the show, including, “De Qué Te Quejas Mujer” and “Por Unas Monedas”.
Leonardo Antonio Aguilar made a surprise appearance and the crowd (especially the girls) started to scream with excitement. Leonardo Antonio Aguilar sang a couple of songs before his ten-year-old sister, Ángela Aguilar, came out to sing.
Not only does she have an amazing voice, but she can dance and has the courage to perform on stage in front of hundreds of people. She wore a beautiful red dress and twirled her way around the stage. Just like her father and brother, she can hold notes for a long time and has good pitch with the band.
SSU student Tamara Obando said, “He is a very talented singer, and I’m not surprised his children are equally as talented.”
After Ángela Aguilar finished her songs, Pepe Aguilar came back onto the stage to do a couple more songs. While Aguilar’s last song was played, some spectators stayed and sang with him. After his performance, he took a final bow to his audience and touched the hands of the first row next to the stage as he walked off.
Not many musicians have their family come on stage with them and perform like Aguilar. His music genres is not normally the type of music that is played at the Green Music Center. His show was a fresh, new and stimulating production that SSU has not seen before. Even patrons that do not speak Spanish can enjoy this production. The music, songs and overall production was thrilling and gave spectators a look at a culture they may not be familiar with.