Spanish pop singer Nil Moliner enjoys sharing a particular Christmas tradition from Catalonia with his nephews — one that used to amaze him when he was a child: the Tió de Nadal. The practice involves taking a piece of log and covering it with a blanket, decorating the visible end with a smiling face and leaving food for it on the nights leading up to Christmas. On Dec. 24, the magic happens: The children in the house hit it with sticks while they sing, and the log “defecates” gifts and sweets from under the blanket.
“It poops presents!” Moliner says with a laugh. “It’s a bit scatological, but we Catalans are a little like that.”
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This is just one of many cherished traditions and memories shared by some of the artists who participated on Dec. 15 in the Billboard No. 1s España concert, the first collaborative event between Grupo Starlite and Billboard, held at IFEMA Madrid.
Omar Montes, for example, shared that during Christmas, his grandmother gets the whole family to sing. “She sings a lot,” he said. “She sings songs by Isabel Pantoja, and my mom too.” The celebration continues after dinner, when “we take out a Bingo game that my grandmother bought back in the ’90s,” he shares before adding humorously, “and I always end up winning because I always cheat!”
Some artists also recalled the Christmas gifts that made them the happiest during their childhood, most of them related to music. “The first one that really impacted me was a karaoke machine, and I went crazy,” India Martínez reveals. “When I was a bit older, around 13 years old, I got my flamenco guitar, and it was like, ‘Oh my God!’” With it, she wrote her first songs.
For the great Cuban jazz musician Chucho Valdés, the gift that brought him the most joy as a child was “the book with Beethoven’s 32 sonatas,” which he received from his father, legendary pianist Bebo Valdés. Another pianist who delighted the audience at the Billboard No. 1s España inaugural show was American Arthur Hanlon, who recalled the “little piano” his father brought home for Christmas when he was 6 years old and how that day left a lasting impression on him. “My dad’s best friend was a professional pianist,” Hanlon shares. “He sat down and started playing, and I was there, as a child, in a trance.” (Editor’s Note: Hanlon is married to Billboard’s chief content officer of Latin and Español, Leila Cobo.)
Held as part of the Starlite Madrid concert series, Billboard No. 1s España, which brought together more than 5,000 attendees, featured performances by more than a dozen stars from Spain, the Americas and beyond, including Pablo Alborán, Rosana, Yami Safdie, Rozalén, Vanesa Martín and violinist Ara Malikian.
Learn more about how these artists celebrate Christmas, and watch a couple of them sing their favorite Christmas carols, in the video above.
