By Emilio J. Lopez

Miami, Apr 30 (EFE).– Enrique Iglesias exudes charm and a youthful insolence. His eyes are teasing and he moves his hands quickly to emphasize, as he did on Thursday in an interview with Efe, that he is an artist who is guided by “instinct” and what “really touches” people.

The popular singer will grace the stage of the new Parque Viva amphitheater in Costa Rica. The infectious pop sound of Capital Cities will warm up the crowd at this new venue, which used to be known as La Guacima speedway until the powerful media conglomerate Grupo Nacion acquired it. Parque Viva is located near the municipality of Alajuela, which is currently one of the most flourishing cities of Costa Rica.

Enrique Iglesias is at the pinnacle of success and fortune with his most recent album – “Sex and Love” – and it’s difficult to think of the Billboard Latin Music Awards on Thursday evening without imagining the Spanish singer bounding onstage to receive one statuette after another.

But, however many awards he takes home from the gala, they are not the things he craves.

“The awards are not so important to me. It’s the love of my fans, my public, going up onstage and being in front of them and hearing them sing the songs I’ve written. That’s what is really moving,” said the artist, who is enjoying one of the most satisfying professional and personal periods of his life.

With more than 100 million albums sold, the Spaniard is currently immersed in his successful “Sex and Love” tour, with the album receiving a total of 19 nominations at the Billboard Awards.

He’s been in music for 20 years and his newest songs continue to have the same – or more – success than the first ones he composed and recorded, a career that has garnered him four Latino Grammys, two Billboard Awards, 27 Billboard Latin Music Awards and 10 World Music Awards, among many others.

Wearing his habitual visor cap, t-shirt and the bangs of the eternal teenager, Iglesias appears to be very happy with the recently-created Enrique Iglesias Scholarship, which is provided to boys and girls with musical talent and ambition but with limited economic resources so that they can study at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston.

“What motivates me most about the Enrique Iglesias Scholarship with the Latin Grammy Foundation is that a student who, probably, would not have had the chance to have an education at a school like Berklee, can get one,” he said.

The scholarship, which comes with a cash subsidy of $200,000, will allow Silviana Itzel Salinas, 22, to study for four years at Berklee, where singer-songwriter Juan Luis Guerra received his education, among others.

On his current stop in Miami, Iglesias confessed that he feels a great affinity for the city, since – when he was very young – his parents, Julio Iglesias and Isabel Preisler, decided to move the family here.

When asked what his favorite place to live might be, he replied: “Without a doubt, Miami. I love it.”

“I came to live here at 8 and I got used to living here. I like the sea and it seems to me to be a city where you can relax, although I know that this sounds strange because everyone thinks about Miami as a city of partying and fun. But it can also be very calm, if you want, and you can escape to the sea.” EFE