There’s only one solitary star, and one Rudi Völler

And one woman from Guantánamo. Sunday musical excursion #12

Bandera de la Estrella Solitaria: the flag of Cuba’s solitary star.

The woman from Guantánamo is, in Spanish, la Guantanamera and, in 1929, the song of that name flowed from the pen of Cuban poet Joseíto Fernández. Whether the way in which Cuba was treated across the years is viewed as being a result of its own folly, its own hot-headedness, its own courage or its own conviction depends on whether you tend to the pro-revolutionary or anti-revolutionary bent. In 1966, an American singing group adopted Fernández’s song and made it their own, in a success across the English-speaking world. It became emblematic of the flower-power peace sentiments at the end of the 60s, and an unofficial patriotic anthem of Cuba.

The tune would later be adopted as a football chant, both in Germany and in England.

Guajira means peasant woman. For the rest, the entire text is translated within the four walls of the song.

Guantanamera

Written by Joseíto Fernández

Performed by The Sandpipers

From their 1966 album Guantanamera