Belle of the ball

MARTA SANCHEZ, typically referred to as ‘The Queen of Spanish Pop’ is to play the headline gig at Malaga feria on Saturday, August 20, with her highly anticipated set likely to make mincemeat of the always-fervent local crowd.

The Galician songstress is sure to belt out a sing-along-heavy repertoire of her greatest hits, with a sizeable back catalogue stretching over a 23-year career to choose from, her first album ‘Mujer’ (Woman) having been released in 1993.

It remains to be seen whether floppy-haired Venezuelan dreamboat Carlos Baute will put in a hairspray-infused guest appearance for a whizz through mega smash ‘Colgando En Tus Manos,’ which hit the top spot in Spain for a record 29 weeks in 2008 and 2009, selling 400,000 copies.

Although not particularly well-known outside the world of Latin pop, Marta does occasionally release songs in English, although the Malaga show should prove to be an unashamedly Spanish knees-up of Herculean proportions.