Fonseca reveals a terrible moment for his voice on his last tour

Chris Forero

Fonseca’s 2023 Viajante tour was an “ambitious” and “incredible” celebration of his 20-year career that took him through Latin America, the United States and Europe. But the intensity of the journey also led to one of the most painful moments he has ever experienced.

The Latin Grammy-winning Colombian singer-songwriter, whose vocal quality was described by Maestro Juan Luis Guerra as that of a “nightingale,” experienced a terrible moment when he began to have problems with his voice.

“It was very crazy because I started singing and when I went up I hit a certain note where air came out and no voice,” Fonseca shared publicly for the first time during a question and answer session. Billboard‘s Leila Cobo at the Latin Alternative Music Conference (LAMC) on Thursday (July 11) in New York City. “And what’s worse is that I realized this halfway through the tour – we had about 18 shows left in the U.S. and then 10 in Europe.”

During a visit to a laryngologist in Miami, he said, a polyp was discovered on his vocal cords. With no time to treat it due to the impending resumption of the tour, he had to make changes to the arrangements of his songs and take care of himself as best he could.

“I did the tour. It was hard. I did exercises. I lowered the key of the higher songs, but the feeling of knowing you have it, feeling it when you sing and also thinking, ‘Is this something that’s going to affect me? Is this not going to go away?’ Oh, it was crazy!” he continued. “When I finished the tour, I went for another checkup in Bogotá and the polyp had grown.”

With rest and therapy, Fonseca and his doctors were eventually able to make the polyp disappear. He now takes better care of his voice, including using a nebulizer and doing warm-up and cool-down exercises before and after each performance.

“(The Viajante tour) was very ambitious, it was incredible, but it also showed me that at the end of the day it’s about singing, so when you put so much intensity into your voice, you get fatigued,” the artist said.

The night before the Q&A, Fonseca had performed a concert at the SummerStage in Central Park, where he showed off his voice to the fullest. He also celebrated Colombia’s goal against Uruguay in the semifinals of the Copa America from the stage. (Colombia won and will now face Argentina in the final on Sunday.)

On Thursday, during the conversation with Cobo at the 25th edition of the LAMC, the creator of hits such as “Te Mando Flores”, “Eres Mi Sueño” and “Arroyito” also treated the audience to an excerpt from “Ven”, first a cappella and later accompanied by his guitarist Jairo Barón.

The Latin Alternative Music Conference is taking place this week in Manhattan and features panels, interviews, concerts and more. Find the full schedule of events here.

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