Calle Ocho Festival 2014: Reggaeton Star Daddy Yankee to Turn Up the Heat in Miami at the "World's Biggest Street Party"
Puerto Rican Reggaeton star Daddy Yankee will get the streets pumping and the party moving at Miami's Calle Ocho, one of the largest Latin festivals in the United States, which takes place on March 9, 2014.
Dubbed the "world's largest street party," there is a huge amount of support and turnout from the Latino community -- typically between 800,000 and 1 million people attend the festival each year, according to organizers of the event.
"The most important artist of the urban Latino genre, Daddy Yankee, is the king of Calle Ocho this year," Kiwanis Club of Little Havana president Tony Lorenzo said in a statement, Fox News Latino reports.
"Daddy Yankee, who released 'El Imperio Nazza: King Daddy Edition' last October, was the obvious choice for king of Calle Ocho," Lorenzo added.
Daddy Yankee's real name is Ramón Luis Ayala Rodríguez. He was born in Río Piedras, San Juan, Puerto Rico and raised in the Villa Kennedy Housing Projects. He is most known for his album Barrio Fino, which became "the top-selling Latin urban album of all time," and after the track "'Gasolina' single-handedly launched reggaetón to the world, Daddy Yankee continues to be the most influential and recognizable name in Latin urban and dance music, with over 11 million albums sold," according to his official website.
In addition to selling out shows, Daddy Yankee has a huge presence on social media with more than 15 million fans combined throughout his social networks (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Vevo, and addyYankee.com) and several awards, including Urban Latin Artist of the Decade by Billboard Magazine.
While Daddy Yankee will bring the reggaeton, salsa music will also fill the streets of Miami in honor of Cuban salsa legend Celia Cruz. The unforgettable icon will be remembered on Celia Cruz Way, where a procession will take place, with a statue of the "Queen of salsa" being carried through the streets of Little Havana, according to Lorenzo.
Besides Latin music, Latin food and overall good time, the Calle Ocho Festival has set records along the way -- it set a Guinness record in 1988 for staging the world's longest conga line, with 119,969 moving to the beats of Gloria Estefan's hit, "Conga."
In 1990, Calle Ocho topped itself again by setting another Guinness record with the world's biggest piñata, then it went onto set more records -- one for the world's longest cigar in 2000 and the largest number of domino players in one place in 2008.
Also called "El Festival de la Calle Ocho," the event culminates the Miami Carnaval and takes place between 27th Ave and 4th Ave along Southwest 8th Street, that is 23 blocks along "Calle Ocho" in Little Havana.
There will be 30 stages along a 28-block span of Little Havana where people will be in motion all day -- and dancing into the night. In addition to reggaeton and salsa, there are many genres of Latin music that will be represented -- from merengue to pop music -- there will be sounds of all the Latin nations and the Caribbean.
Calle Ocho isn't just for adults; there is also a children's festival that covers several blocks. In addition, there is a cooking contest where visitors can savor some incredible Latin flavors from around the world.
For more information on the festival, click here.
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