5 days after gathering in Mérida, Music legend Armando Manzanero hospitalized for COVID

Yucatán Gov. Mauricio Vila Dosal and trova legend Armando Manzanero visit a museum created to honor the singer-songwriter on Friday, Dec. 11. Photo: Courtesy

Less than a week after joining dignitaries in touring a cultural center built in his honor, legendary Yucatecan music star Armando Manzanero has tested positive for COVID-19.

He was admitted to an undisclosed Mexico City hospital Wednesday and is in a “delicate” state, said his daughter, Martha Manzanero Arjona.

“My father is a warrior,” his youngest daughter said. “The doctors have said that they will do everything possible to get him out of this disease.”

The singer-songwriter behind hundreds of songs “is being treated in accordance with established medical protocols,” the Society of Authors and Composers of Mexico reported Thursday through Manzanero’s Twitter account.

Five days earlier, Manzanero joined a small ribbon-cutting to inaugurate the Casa Manzanero museum. Attendees were masked under coronavirus protocols, but the trova legend was photographed standing close to Gov. Mauricio Vila Dosal, who announced his own COVID-19 battle in late October.

Also participating in the opening ceremony of the museum were national Tourism Secretary Miguel Torruco Marqués and his state counterpart, Michelle Fridman as well as Mérida Mayor Renán Barrera Concha. Fellow music artists Carlos Cuevas and Coque Muñiz were also in attendance. 

The 9-million-peso museum at Paseo 60 pays homage to the Yucatecan music prodigy with photographs, furniture and personal artifacts belonging to Manzanero.

One of the most successful composers of postwar Latin America, Armando Manzanero Canché was born in Ticul — some accounts say Mérida — of Maya descent.

The master of romantic music has penned classic boleros such as “Contigo Aprendí” (“With You I Learned”), Mía,” “Adoro” and “Esta Tarde Vi Llover” (“This Afternoon I Saw it Rain”). His songs have been translated into several languages and have been performed by American artists such as Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley. Manzanero also worked for Hollywood in the musical production of “No Sé Tú,” the Spanish version of the film “Speechless.” 

In 2001, he won the Latin Grammy for best vocal pop duo or group for Duetos, in which he sings with artists such as Olga Tañón, Alejandro Sanz, Ricardo Montaner, Lucero and Miguel Bosé. He received a 2014 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in the United States.

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