Rodolfo Chikilicuatre"Chiquilicuatre" means "busybody", "good-for-nothing" in Spanish.
Chiquilicuatre
' and
chiquilicuatro
' at the Diccionario de la Real Academia Española. (; born 1972) is a Spanish comedic character played by David Fernández Ortiz (born 24 June 1970) and first introduced in the Spanish late night show ''Buenafuente'' as an improvisational act. Rodolfo was interviewed as the inventor of the vibrator-guitar. The character rose to fame after he was later presented by the show's host,

Andreu Buenafuente Andreu Buenafuente Moreno (born: January 24, 1965) is a Spanish Late night television, late night show host and founder of the group El Terrat. He has worked in TV3 (Catalonia), TV3, Antena 3 (Spain), Antena 3, laSexta and Cero (TV channel), #0 ...

, with a song called " Baila el Chiki-chiki" (Dance the Chiki-chiki), a parody of

reggaeton Reggaeton (, ), also known as reggaetón and reguetón (), is a music style that originated in Panama during the late 1980s. It was later popularized in Puerto Rico. It has evolved from dancehall and has been influenced by American hip hop, ...

music filled with jokes and political references. The show's host decided to enter the song into the Spanish selection process for the

Eurovision Song Contest 2008 The Eurovision Song Contest 2008 was the 53rd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Belgrade, Serbia, following the country's victory at the with the song "Molitva" by Marija Šerifović. Organised by the European Broadcasti ...

, where it was chosen. Rodolfo landed Spain's best placement since

Eurovision Song Contest 2004 The Eurovision Song Contest 2004 was the 49th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Istanbul, Turkey, following the country's victory at the with the song " Everyway That I Can" by Sertab Erener. Organised by the European Bro ...

Eurovision Song Contest 2008 and "Baila el Chiki-chiki"

For the

, the Spanish broadcaster

RTVE The Corporación de Radio y Televisión Española, S.A. (; ), known as Radiotelevisión Española or RTVE, is the state-owned public corporation that assumed in 2007 the indirect management of the Spanish public radio and television service know ...

decided to make the song selection process more democratic, so, in an agreement with MySpace, a webpage was created where the general public could vote for any of the artists who were interested in participating, possibly discovering new talents. Any aspiring singer could upload a video to enter the contest. The top 5 voted videos, along with 5 more entries selected by a jury, went to a televised final where the Spanish Eurovision Song Contest 2008 entry would be chosen. More than 530 songs were submitted, the comedic act of Rodolfo Chikilicuatre and his "Baila el Chiki-chiki" song among them. The song was heavily promoted by late night show ''Buenafuente'' and television channel

La Sexta La Sexta (; "The Sixth"; stylized as laSexta) is a Spanish free-to-air television channel. It is privately owned and was originally founded on 18 March 2001 as Beca TV that began broadcasting on 1 April 2001, that same year. By 21 July 2003, the ...

that aired the show, and ended up being selected by a landslide, earning 56.28% of the votes, well ahead of the runner-up, which earned only 14.6%. The winner was chosen through

text messaging Text messaging, or texting, is the act of composing and sending electronic messages, typically consisting of alphabetic and numeric characters, between two or more users of mobile devices, desktops/laptops, or another type of compatible comput ...

. This selection was met with a certain degree of controversy, as many considered it a gimmick song, and not worthy of representing Spain. It also met controversy because Rodolfo Chikilicuatre was a comedic act, with no prior songs, and was backed by a particular show (''Buenafuente'') and a private broadcaster (LaSexta). RTVE stood by their choice of voting system. On March 11, 2008, Rodolfo announced some changes to the lyrics of his song to comply with the rules of the Eurovision Song Contest, thus removing partially the names of the politicians included in the song ( José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Hugo Chávez and

Mariano Rajoy Mariano Rajoy Brey (; born 27 March 1955) is a Spanish politician who served as Prime Minister of Spain from 2011 to 2018, when a vote of no confidence ousted his government. On 5 June 2018, he announced his resignation as People's Party lead ...

). Even if Chávez's name was completely removed, a reference to a previous incident with Spanish King Juan Carlos I was kept. A non-political reference to Serbia was added. The song was also made longer, as the original was considered too short, going from 1:20 to 2:56 minutes, and several verses in English were added. The new version was presented on March 14, 2008.Eurovision 2008 site at RTVE
/ref> Rodolfo performed the "Chiki-chiki" theme with other singers:

King Africa King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the ti ...

, Tata Golosa, Mojinos Escozios and

Dustin the Turkey Dustin the Turkey, a character performed by John Morrison is a former star of RTÉ television's '' The Den'' between 1989 and 2010 and from 2020. He has been described as "the most subversive comedy force on Irish television". A turkey-vulture ...

. During the final contest of the Eurovision 2008 on May 24, 2008, the song "Baila el Chiki-chiki" reached sixteenth place with 55 points, tied with Albania.

Singles

References

External links

Official website archived in 2008, inactive as of 2012
(in Spanish)
TVE's Eurovision 2008 website
(in Spanish)
Eurovision's Spain country profileSite
at

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Pictures
at the

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account of El Terrat producing company
Buenafuente website
(in Spanish)
LaSexta website
(in Spanish) {{DEFAULTSORT:Chikilicuatre, Rodolfo Living people Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Spain Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2008 Spanish satirists Fictional singers Comedy television characters Male characters in television Spanish television personalities Year of birth missing (living people) ca:Rodolfo Chikilicuatre fr:Rodolfo Chikilicuatre gl:Rodolfo Chikilicuatre pl:Rodolfo Chikilicuatre pt:Rodolfo Chikilicuatre

Eurovision Song Contest 2008 and "Baila el Chiki-chiki"

Singles

See also

References

External links