La visitation papal brings together two voices of Argentine folk

El ensayo previo al concierto de Nahuel Pennisi es una escena de expectations and nerves, but also of deep connection with what he is about to do. The singer from partisan country is preparing to share his music on a stage with one of the most symbolic weights in Argentine religious history: the Monumento a los Españoles, in Palermo, where Juan Pablo II also stood during his visit in 1982. The performance is scheduled for Monday, November 9, at 11.30 a.m., as part of the agenda of Pope León XIV during his visit to the country.

Pennisi arrived at the invitation with a particular emotional charge. The album he has been presenting is an homage to Mercedes Sosa, and that repertoire is precisely what gives his appearance before the Holy Father a special meaning. “Cantar ante el Santo Padre en mi país es una bendición y un honor inmenso para mí por lo que representa en mi vida. Soy muy creyente y jamás imaginé poder compartir nuestra música en un escenario tan imponente, justo en este momento donde estoy abrazando el repertorio de nuestra querida Negra Sosa; le da un sentido espiritual y cultural muy profundo a esta presentación”, he said.

“Cantar ante el Santo Padre en mi país es una bendición y un honor inmenso para mí por lo que representa en mi vida. Soy muy creyente y jamás imaginé poder compartir nuestra música en un escenario tan imponente, justo en este momento donde estoy abrazando el repertorio de nuestra querida Negra Sosa; le da un sentido espiritual y cultural muy profundo a esta presentación.”Nahuel Pennisi

Luján, on November 11, closes the agenda

The musical companion ends where the Pope's Argentine journey ends. On Wednesday, November 11, the closing mass will be held outdoors, in front of the Basílica de Nuestra Señora de Luján, and the singer born in that city will be one of the voices of the celebration. The call projected for this event ranges between one million and two million faithful, which gives the appearance a scale that is difficult to compare. For the audience, the sound of folk in open air, mixed with the voices of a massive congregation, will be part of the experience.

Luciano Pereyra received the confirmation while on stage during his eighth performance at the Movistar Arena, and could barely contain his emotion. “Me acaban de confirmar que en mi ciudad, en la ciudad de Luján, le voy a cantar al Papa. ¡En mi ciudad de Luján, en donde vivo, viene un Papa! Poder recibirlo, poder cantarle, poder cantarle todos juntos!”, he said, visibly moved, before the public.

“Me acaban de confirmar que en mi ciudad, en la ciudad de Luján, le voy a cantar al Papa. ¡En mi ciudad de Luján, en donde vivo, viene un Papa! Poder recibirlo, poder cantarle, poder cantarle todos juntos!”Luciano Pereyra

Among the pieces Pereyra will interpret is “Si no es tuyo”, no, “Si no es contigo”, the first advance of his upcoming record, a work that opens a new stage with folkloric roots and pop sound. But this appointment in Luján also has a personal antecedent that deserves to be remembered: in 2000, when he was only 18 years old, he was chosen to represent Latin American youth and sang “Solo le pido a Dios” before Juan Pablo II at the World Youth Day in Rome. The path that brings him now to his hometown, in front of another Pope, has been building for more than two decades.

• Monday, November 9: Nahuel Pennisi performs at 11.30 a.m. at the Monumento a los Españoles, in Palermo.
• Wednesday, November 11: Luciano Pereyra sings at the closing mass at the Basílica de Nuestra Señora de Luján, held outdoors.
• The visit of León XIV runs from November 8 to 11 under the motto “Bienvenidos todos. Vayan y anuncien”.
• It will be the first visit by a Pope to Argentina since Juan Pablo II's trip in 1987.

There is a symbol that goes beyond the merely protocol aspect. Two of the most recognised voices of the Argentine folk and popular song will accompany the Holy Father in two places loaded with memory: Palermo and Luján. Pennisi, with his tribute to Mercedes Sosa, will occupy the same space where John Paul II stood in 1982. Pereyra, with the emotion of a singer who will sing in his own city, will close an agenda that began four days earlier. The audience, whether they came for the mass or for the music, will find in these performances a way to make the visit their own, with the voice, the folklore and the song as common language.