History of the 'Habanera' in a song

There is a beautiful piece by Catalan/Spanish singer/songwriter Marina Rossell about the habanera, a type of song that has been popular in the Spanish-speaking world for decades for the melancholy and nostalgia associated with it. The most famous habanera ever is La Paloma, recorded by dozens of singers, including Beniamino Gigli, Hans Albers, Bing Crosby, Elvis and Julio Iglesias.

Marina Rossell's habanera is called de qué hablas habanera and is on the CD y rodará el mundo.

Habanera, la canción sencilla es buena
por lo que dice y lo que esconde
pero qué esconde la Habanera:
historias negras entre guerras
nació la canción de seda
de historias tristes
amarradas a su vera

Habanera, the simple song is good
for what is says and for what it conceals,
but what does the Habanera conceal:
Bleak stories between wars
that gave birth to the song of silk,
sad stories
on the margins of war.

I discovered the song – and singer – on emusic, an MP3 music site I can highly recommend.

Some of Marina Rossell's CDs are available through Amazon.