At 6:00 p.m. an “Ohhh!” is heard at Puerta del Sol in Madrid. The monumental Christmas tree has just been lit. A few seconds later, the scream turns into a feverish: “Aaaahhhh!” Group Music appears on the balcony of the headquarters of the presidency of the Community of Madrid and the crowd, a mix of hundreds of fans (also nuns) and tourists, goes crazy with the band that emerged from , founded in 2013 by the priest José Pedro Manglano (better known as Joseph) and former member of Opus Dei. Isabel Díaz Ayuso is in the front row, mixed with the people; at his side, Alberto Núñez Feijóo. The president dances and sings the five songs that the group plays. A Christmas mass bath is given that ends with Bell on bell between the flashes of the selfies. Ayuso has been able to choose well the headliner for her Christmas programming Christmas Carols in Sun. Hakuna is probably one of the favorite groups of their future voters and their fathers and mothers.
A majority of groups of girls and boys between 15 and 17 years old gathered in Sol on Monday afternoon to celebrate the start of the Christmas school holidays. An hour before the concert starts, the band goes out to the balcony to check the sound. The kids practice with them. “Don’t go, we’ll be back at 6:00 p.m.,” shouts Ignacio Serrano, one of the most visible faces of the band. From that moment, and to weather the cold, the groups begin to flutter around the square in a liturgy designed to record who has come and who has not and then share the list of attendees on WhatsApp and Instagram. Because the feeling is that a few people here know each other.
Eight girls decide to sit and wait. The spiritual, Christmas and hormonal emotion seems to prevent them from feeling the cold of the tiles. “Each one has a Hakuna bracelet,” they teach. , They are not made of beads, but they look quite similar, each one has the name of a song by the band. And some of these songs will be heard on Monday afternoon on Sol. Hakuna has chosen his most effective arsenal: five of his most popular and viral songs like Hurricane y I praise youand two bonuses track: Fish in the river y Bell on bell. There is no error.
Among the girls, barbour coats predominate, long scarves, as long as their hair, most of it braided. They have recovered their boat shoes, and are protecting themselves from the cold with down jackets. “Today you had to come with a collar,” two kids say to their friend who has opted for the sweatshirt, another of the identity symbols of what in popular terms is known as the Cayetano style, previously posh.
There are also families with very small children, in strollers, and other less small ones who, although from their faces they would prefer to have come without their mothers, they have no other choice. “I met Hakuna three years ago,” says one of them, “and it was because of their music, I didn’t know who they were, even though I am Catholic and practicing. Then I saw their documentary and it seemed to me that they were doing something very important.” This woman, with children who are already university students and also fans of the group, clarifies, she is referring to “Their way of singing is a way of praying and feeling God,” adds the other mother and friend, with younger children. They have spent the day together: “At Christmas you have to do several check: Going downtown, eating at Five Guys, seeing the decoration of the Four Seasons in Canalejas and finishing off with this has been great. This is how we remember that Christmas is religion, don’t you think?”
During the waiting time, the talks in the groups lower the spiritual load. A group of teenagers take roll call of the kids they like in their holy hours, that new type of mass in which a believer (it could be a priest) gives a talk and then Adoration is done singing. Only in Madrid 15 are organized weekly. The five of them know who is the Bosch that one of them likes and the Pablo that it is better not to approach. “I will never go out with a man again,” says one after recounting her experience with him.
Some of the Conceptionist nuns who have taken several buses and subways from El Escorial to see Hakuna en Sol are also faithful to the holy hours. “We know their songs, we love to dance to them,” two of them say. At that moment, another group of friends from Huelva passes by and asks what this crowd is about in Sol, on December 22. “We’re not from here,” they justify in unison. When they answer that the star band of WYD is about to play in Lisbon (invited by Pope Francis, who had previously received them at the Vatican) they stand stiff. “Are these the ones from TikTok? They sound familiar,” says one of them. The rest are not convinced and they get lost in the crowd in search of another Madrid Christmas attraction.
Hakuna became one of TikTok in 2024 with Hurricanethe song that the powerful Christian community on networks shared with so much Christian passion that it ended up jumping to the profiles of other non-believing users who, sometimes jokingly, other times hooked on a catchy song, ended up making the song go viral. This movement has managed to make music its main asset for attracting faithful young people. “Our songs are, in their deepest sense, prayers,” its members repeat.
With this philosophy they have sold out Vistalegre several times, they have performed at the Resurrección Fest, a Catholic event that is also held in summer in Madrid. This phenomenon also has franchises in Latin America.
On Monday afternoon they made the crowd that packed Sol promise, although without the need to cut off access to the square, that this Christmas, at the request of the Pope, they would ask someone for forgiveness. “This way we will make Madrid shine more than ever,” they promised. A new form of pop evangelism.
