Panama Celebs Give Christmas the "We Are The World" Treatment

[Tripatini]

Navidad de color (A Colorful Christmas) is a simple yet slick, formulaic yet moving singalong from 2008, sponsored by outgoing (as in, leaving office) first lady Vivián Fernández de Torrijos. Singer/songwriter/producer Alfredo Matheus Diez and actor Fernando Carrillo, both Venezuelan, crammed the Teatro Nacional (National Theater) in Panama City’s beautiful colonial quarter with several dozen local celebs (Matheus is the dude in the red shirt, BTW). Stars from the music scene naturally predominate — such as Erika Ender, Ricardo and Alberto Gaitán, Iván Barrios, Flex, Sandra Sandóval, and the inevitable Rubén Blades — sprinkled with a few actors and pro jocks. Complete with the obligatory children’s chorus and the more recently obligatory hip-hop riff, it’s uplifting and catchy, the title and refrain referring to the kind of Yule experienced by most Latin Americans — not white, but green and all the other colors of nature. “White Christmas or colorful Christmas, whether it’s cold or warm, you’ve got to open up your heart.” Well, who could argue with that?