We remember the great Sara Montiel! She was born in Spain on this day in 1928 and died in 2013.
As a kid, I recall my two grandmothers humming “La Violetera,” a song made very popular by Sara Montiel. One sang the song when she was in the kitchen, while the other would look at me and sing this song! It’s one of those “abuela moments” that we all remember. One died in 1970 and buried in Ciego de Avila, my mother’s hometown. My other abuela did leave Cuba and is buried in Texas.
Sara’s career included movies and recordings. And clearly one of the most consequential female stars of the Spanish-speaking world.
Let me dedicate this one to my late “Abuelas.” I think that they will love my salute to Sarita Montiel.
Yes, Cubans were always highly Hispanophilic, though it was never really warranted. It was (and remains) based on a sentimental fantasy never grounded in reality but in illusory wishful thinking. It may have been relatively harmless, albeit puerile, in the pre-Castro era, but by now it’s embarrassing, if not pathetic.
Spain, by the way, never shared said fantasy. It never saw Cuba as a daughter but as its rightful property. That’s why its approach to Cuba was never sentimental but hard-nosed, businesslike and calculating.
Yo recuerdo la cancion de La Montiel “Clavelitos” de El Ultimo Cuple, pero interpretada por la Orquesta Aragon