On the back of Luli Pampinthe character who started out as a dancer and ended up becoming a superhero, amassing billions of views on different platforms with his songs, is Lucia Perez Gerardi (32), born in Mendoza, Argentina, went a long way before becoming the idol of boys and girls from different countries in Latin America and Spain.
Seven albums, more than 11 million subscribers on YouTube, a figure that any international artist would envy, books and live shows, which sell out in a few hours, are part of the gift from Lucía, who will be doing her first tour in July in Argentina with his Show Welcome, with performances in Mendoza, Córdoba, Rosario and Buenos Aires, where it will be presented seven times at the Avenida Theater and once at the Gran Rex Theater (24/7). The tour, which has already passed through Uruguay, will then continue in Peru and Mexico.
“I haven’t been to Argentina for seven years. For me it is a dream come true to go to the show. I still don’t believe it today”, Lucía acknowledges in dialogue with Clarione from his home in Alicante, Spain.
Luli Pampín, in one of his live presentations.
The last time he set foot in his homeland, Luli Pampín did not exist and his present was very different, with a position in the Spanish armed forces. Your business? Anti-aircraft artillery. “It was 10 years in the army where I learned a lot about service to others, about camaraderie, about my body, about perseverance … things that now Luli Pampín helps me a lot,” he says.
Born in Guaymallén, Mendoza, Lucía is the second daughter of five brothers. Her childhood is marked by the songs of María Elena Wash and the choreography of Xuxa, a great reference of her. So also for the Argentine productions for children of the mid-90s: Chiquititas Y shallot.
Due to his father’s work at the YPF, the family moved to Salta province for three years. “That was a beautiful moment of my childhood, with all the nature I love. I have very good memories with my friends playing on the street. Sometimes I dream of that childhood home,” he recalls.
Lucía, the person behind Luli Pampín. Photo: Instagram.
However, when she returned to Mendoza, the family’s economic situation was not the best and her father, in the midst of the economic crisis of 2001, decided to emigrate to Spain alone.
The plan was to settle down, save what was needed by working in the hotels of the coastal city and thus be able to reunite the whole family as soon as possible.
Everything was due to the severe crisis in the country at that time, there was no work. It was very difficult for us. I remember there were nights when we didn’t have dinner “, says Lucía, proud of her father’s decision. “She made a great effort to take us next year and travel together with the family. That was the most important thing for me,” she says.
– Did it cost you the change?
-It was difficult for me to leave my family, my grandparents, my cousins, friends … From that moment on I have good friends that I still have. But it was a change. The personalities of the people here were different and we had to get used to it. He was different. But since I was 12 I have been able to adapt well.
Luli Pampín, a real overwhelming success.
-Did you like Alicante?
-It was all new, flashy. It was also the first time I saw the sea and I liked it. He is very different from Mendoza.
The turning point in the life of Luli Pampín
In those years Lucía, for the work of her parents, began to carry out many tasks of looking after her brothers, but what definitively aroused her “love for the world of children” was, at the age of 25, the arrival of her son Mateo, today he is seven years old. No doubt he was the engine for the birth of Luli Pampín.
Although the beginning was not easy at all, especially considering that he raised his son alone. “It was a very difficult thing for me at that time, not knowing what to do and suffering a lot”he recognizes, with the pride of having come out of a difficult moment.
Luli Pampín has followers (Lulipampineros) throughout Latin America and Spain.
And graph: “There was a lot of adversity, especially having to deal with everything financially, realizing that I was at work and couldn’t be there when my son needed me. They gave me a few days and my son was still sick, and I didn’t have one. with which I said, what should I do? There were so many things that came together in that moment of suffering, that in the end it was something positive because I learned to know myself better and do something that allowed me to be by my side son and made me happy and fulfilled. as a person “.
-The army no longer occupied that role?
-It was something I started when I was young and I learned everything I needed to learn and went through the places I had to go through. I got to a point where I didn’t have much else to learn. And with my son it was complicated. For example, I had to get up at 6 in the morning to leave and I had to wake him up. I said ‘I have to change and do something different because it can’t go on like this’. That’s where I decided to leave him.
Luli Pampín toured Latin America with his “Welcome” show.
– Did you jump into the pool with Luli Pampín?
-No, just when I saw that things were starting to go well for me, I left him. I have been working on YouTube for over two years without receiving anything in monetary exchange. But if you don’t bet on what you want and do it with passion and perseverance, you won’t get what you want. I uploaded one video a week. Sometimes I would stop at 5 in the morning and then go to work at the time. But he did it with pleasure.
-What do you remember from those first videos?
– It had no lights. It was all amateur. I recorded outdoors in the sun and it happened to me that when I changed my clothes the sun went away. Then I bought the camera, the fabric, the light … it was step by step. My first music box was a cartoon I painted. At first my brother helped me with the videos. Later I learned to edit, animate … I didn’t know anything. I learned from my brother and watching the tutorials. It was a great learning job.
-Have you had any crises in those early years?
-No, because it made me very happy to see how my son liked it. That was the most important thing. I enjoyed the process and he made me happy, even though everything wasn’t perfect. I took the time to enjoy the process and see where he took me.
Lucía’s motherhood, the key to Luli Pampín’s birth.
-What was the breaking point? The most successful video?
-I uploaded one video a week and little by little they added the reproductions. When I saw the first girl dressed as Luli I couldn’t believe it. It all grew with the Christmas videos. But it wasn’t that abrupt, it was more one step after another. We also improve the quality a lot. I improved my voice, gesticulating, what I transmit with my body, I studied acting and I also gave singing lessons.
-What does it mean for you to have, for example, 11 million subscribers on YouTube, with videos exceeding 60 million views?
-Visits and subscribers are impressive. What I like most about Luli’s figures is that the children’s audience is super demanding. For them there is nothing like leaving the background, if they don’t like something they ask to remove it. If he likes him, he really likes him. Those visits are real and that makes me very proud.
-You already have a song with Topa where you teach vowels. What other artist would you like to collaborate with?
-Yes, now I compose most of the lyrics, I do it without realizing it, dancing and singing with my son. And I love teaching teeth brushing, colors, letters, tools … And as for the collaboration … I’m a big fan of Canticuénticos and Pim Pau. I love and admire them for how faithful they are in their style and how beautiful they convey. And I’d also like to do something with the duo Tiempo de Sol, who love people.
HAS
Dario Doallo
Source: Clarin
