La Paloma - The World’s First Global Hit?
Let’s start with the composer…
Sebastian Yradier was a true Basque man. What do I mean by that? He embodied the spirit and history of the Basque people which was to travel and bring back experiences, knowledge, culture, and of course music.
Born in 1909 in the Rioja region, Yradier was known as a gifted musician who studied music in Vitoria and Madrid before eventually travelling abroad to exotic locations such as Cuba, where he reportedly heard the habanera rhythm that influenced his two most famous works:
La Paloma (c. 1850 - 1859)
El Allegrito (adapted by George Bizet as the Habanera in Carmen)
After his time traveling and teaching as a professor of singing at the Royal Conservatory he returned to the Basque country, passing away in 1865 just before La Paloma became a global jam.
What exactly is a Habanera?
La Paloma was composed using the rhythm of a habanera. The habanera’s origins lie in Cuba where it came into existence around the turn of the 19th century. It represents a confluence of the contradanza from Europe and African rhythmic elements. The result is a dotted syncopated rhythm that is “dotted in writing, syncopated in soul.”
La Paloma - A brief history
La Paloma literally means ‘The Dove’. However, as with a great many things in life and the passage of time its meaning (in many languages) represents the indomitable human spirit be it freedom, eternal life, a beautiful woman, or enduring against impossible odds.
In this blog we’re going to take a journey through culture, countries, calamities, and concerts, exploring the profound and almost unbelievable impact this song has had around the world since it was written more than 150 years ago.
Sailors crossing the ocean playing La Paloma on guitar and accordian.
Mexico circa 1865
Around 1865 a ship brings La Paloma to Mexico.
In Mexico the song becomes political - caught between opposing political parties, and in 1866 the song enchants the imperial couple
1. The Second Mexican Empire (1864–1867)
• After Mexico’s conservatives invited European powers to restore a monarchy, Emperor Maximilian of Habsburg (backed by France) and his wife Empress Carlota (Charlotte van Belgie) took the throne. It is said the Emperor shed a tear when he first heard the song - true or false?
• They tried to bring European elegance and culture to Mexico, and La Paloma — already fashionable in Spain and Europe — quickly became popular in courtly and elite circles.
2. Empress Carlota and the Song’s Popularity
• Tradition holds that Carlota loved La Paloma and helped spread it in Mexico’s salons and gatherings.
• This gave the song a strong imperial association — linked with the monarchy and the conservative elite.
3. Political Satire
• Mexican liberals, who opposed the empire and fought under Benito Juárez, used the song in parody.
• They wrote satirical versions of La Paloma’s lyrics to mock Maximilian and Carlota, especially as their empire faltered.
• In this way, the song became a political battleground: adored by the court, ridiculed by the opposition.
4. A “National Song” by Accident
• Despite its Spanish origins, La Paloma became so widespread in Mexico that it was almost considered a national song by the late 19th century.
• Its association with both elites and common people gave it a strange dual role:
• Imperial side: elegance, nostalgia, aristocracy.
• Republican side: parody, satire, mass adoption.
5. Long-Term Impact
• After Maximilian’s fall in 1867, La Paloma lost its political edge but remained embedded in Mexican culture.
• Over time, it was reabsorbed into folk tradition, mariachi, and ranchera styles, becoming a Mexican standard.
• The fact that it survived both imperial patronage and political satire shows how deeply the melody resonated with ordinary people.
In more modern times La Paloma (with highly nationalistic and political lyrics) was a rallying song protesting against Calderon’s ascension to the presidency.
Hawaii
Two guitars and an oversized ukulele on the beach in Hawai’i.
”The Habanera finds its way to Oahu, and turns into an Aloha beauty.” - quote from the documentary ‘La Paloma - The Melody of Longing 2008’
1. Sailors Carrying the Tune
• La Paloma spread across the seas with sailors, naval bands, and merchant crews.
• Hawaiʻi, a crucial Pacific stopover between the Americas and Asia, hosted whaling ships, merchant vessels, and naval fleets — especially Spanish, German, and American.
• Musicians aboard ships performed La Paloma on deck and in ports, leaving melodies behind wherever they landed.
2. Integration into Hawaiian Royal Culture
• The Hawaiian Kingdom in the mid–19th century (under King Kamehameha IV, V, and King Kalākaua) had strong ties to European music.
• Hawaiian monarchs were keen patrons of Western-style music — they imported military bands, encouraged European composers, and sent Hawaiian musicians abroad for training.
• La Paloma, already an “international hit,” slipped naturally into the repertoire of royal and military bands in Honolulu.
Harry Koizumi (a well-known musician and teacher in Hawaii) suggests the song was bought in by cowboys at the behest of King Kamehameha III (1830s) after travelling to find a solution for all of the wild cattle that were running rampant across the Hawaiian islands. After seeing a rodeo he hired Paniolo vaqueros to come over and train his people.
3. Adaptation into Hawaiian Music
• Hawaiian musicians were famous for absorbing outside styles and giving them a local twist (as they later did with Portuguese guitars → ‘ukulele).
• La Paloma’s slow, swaying rhythm fit well with Hawaiian aesthetics of romantic longing and ocean imagery.
• The dove (paloma) as a symbol of farewell also resonated with Hawaiian seafaring themes of departure, absence, and love across distance.
• Over time, versions of La Paloma were performed with Hawaiian instruments, such as slack-key guitar and later ‘ukulele.
4. Early Recordings in Hawaiʻi
• By the early 20th century, when recording technology reached Hawaiʻi, La Paloma was part of the islands’ popular repertoire.
• Hawaiian steel guitarists recorded versions that blended habanera rhythm with the gliding Hawaiian style, further globalising both traditions.
• This cross-pollination reinforced La Paloma’s identity as one of the most adaptable melodies in history
It’s said in Hawaii that if you play this and someone falls asleep you did a good job!
Romania
1. Entry via European Salon Culture
• By the late 19th century, La Paloma was already a pan-European salon song. It circulated as sheet music in Paris, Vienna, Berlin, and Madrid.
• Romanian elites, especially in Bucharest (nicknamed “Little Paris”), consumed the same fashionable European music.
• Sheet music of La Paloma arrived in Romania via French and German publishers, and the song was performed in aristocratic circles and salons.
2. Military and Band Tradition
• Romania had a strong military brass band tradition in the 19th century, influenced by Austro-Hungarian and German styles.
• Just like German and Austrian regimental bands adopted La Paloma, it slipped into the repertoire of Romanian military and civic bands.
• This made the song familiar not only to elites but also to the public during parades and open-air concerts.
3. Folk Adaptations
• Over time, melodies from popular European songs like La Paloma often blended into Romanian folk music.
• Romanian lăutari (traditional musicians) were famous for taking fashionable European tunes and reworking them into their own styles with violin, cymbalom, and accordion.
• It’s quite possible that La Paloma was “Romanianised” in taverns, villages, or by wandering musicians.
4. Romanian Recording and Performance Tradition
• By the early 20th century, Romanian singers and orchestras were recording tangos, waltzes, and habaneras for phonograph and record labels in Bucharest.
• La Paloma, already one of the world’s most-recorded songs, almost certainly made its way into these early Romanian recordings (though often credited generically as “Spanish song” or “Habanera”).
5. Funerary Context in Romania
• There is evidence that La Paloma has been performed at Romanian burials, memorials, or post-funeral gatherings.
• The dove (paloma) is a Christian symbol of the Holy Spirit, peace, and the soul’s ascent. This resonates deeply in the Romanian Orthodox worldview, where funerals are not just about mourning but also about passage into eternal life.
• As in Mexico, where La Paloma was linked to farewell and longing, in Romania it found a place in rituals of leave-taking — but with a more sacred, hopeful tone.
6. Eternal Life Rather than Death
• Romanian Orthodox theology strongly emphasises the resurrection of the body and eternal life. Death is viewed as a doorway, not an end.
• Thus, songs associated with doves, peace, or spiritual flight (zbor, “flight” in Romanian) are often interpreted as the soul’s liberation.
• In this context, La Paloma can symbolise the soul flying free — much like the dove flying across the sea in the song’s original imagery.
Often played at funerals at the grave or burial services. Despite appearances the song relates more to eternal life than it does to death.
During my research I remembered my good friend Bianca Dumitrescu and my keyboard playing warrior Lou Radu from Romania whom I met when I was performing in Dubai.
Germany
A sombre beginning to this one…
“The SS wanted La Paloma.” Coco Schuman recalls playing at the gate camp at Birkau-Auschwitz as prisoners were ushered into the gas chambers. “The song couldn’t help being misused by the Nazis.”
1. Early Adoption in Germany
• La Paloma arrived in Germany in the mid-19th century, soon after Sebastián Yradier published it.
• German naval and military bands adopted it quickly. Its steady habanera rhythm suited brass ensembles and parades, and its “exotic” character intrigued audiences.
• It spread among sailors, becoming so associated with German seafaring that it was sometimes called the “German sailors’ song.”
2. Hamburg and the Seafaring Tradition
• The port of Hamburg played a huge role in making La Paloma a German standard.
• Sailors sang it in taverns and aboard ships. Over time, it became embedded in Hamburg’s maritime culture, especially the Reeperbahn and St. Pauli districts.
• By the 20th century, it was the anthem of German sailors and maritime workers, often sung nostalgically as a farewell before voyages.
3. Recordings and Popular Culture
• German singers and orchestras recorded La Paloma dozens of times in the early 20th century.
• The most famous German version was by Hans Albers, the iconic actor/singer, in the 1943 film Große Freiheit Nr. 7. His rendition cemented the song as a Hamburg anthem.
• Later, stars like Freddy Quinn (1950s–60s) kept the tradition alive, giving the song a sentimental, maritime flavour.
4. Guinness World Record Choir
• In 2004, Hamburg hosted a performance of La Paloma by a choir of 88,600 people, setting a Guinness World Record.
• This event symbolised how deeply embedded the song remains in German identity, especially in seafaring cities.
Coco Schumann, the German-Jewish jazz guitarist, did indeed state that in Auschwitz, the SS repeatedly requested “La Paloma” while prisoners were being marched toward the gas chambers.
• In an interview with Die Zeit in 2015, he recalled: “Then the SS had you play La Paloma, a love song from the Hans Albers film Große Freiheit Nr. 7, during which prisoners were sent to the gas…”
• The Washington Post also confirmed this in its obituary: “A favorite number among the guards was the folk song ‘La Paloma.’”
• A profile in The Guardian similarly recounts that Schumann, along with other musicians, was forced to play La Paloma as new prisoners were tattooed and marched toward the gas chambers.
• Additional historical accounts affirm that:
The Nazis repeatedly demanded the song “La Paloma.”
Understanding the Context
Coco Schumann described these moments vividly—being compelled to perform La Paloma as the SS orchestrated selections among prisoners, using the music to mask the horror unfolding. He believed the song itself remained innocent, despite its misuse.
Tanzania (Zanzibar)
The Tanzanians put a twist on the original with a very exotic Phrygian (1 b2 3 4 5 b6 b7)
“Ladies and gentlemen, bride and bridegroom, we say goodbye to all who were here. Forgive those who said anything nasty. Nobody should be offended or sad.” - local lyrics translated to English
1. Zanzibar as a Crossroads
• In the 19th century, Zanzibar was the spice capital of the world, controlled by the Omani Sultanate but heavily influenced by European naval powers (Britain, Germany, Portugal).
• It was cosmopolitan: Arabs, Persians, Indians, Africans, and Europeans mingled in trade, language, and music.
• This made it a perfect “entry point” for a global tune like La Paloma.
2. German Naval & Colonial Influence
• By the 1880s, Germany had carved out German East Africa (today’s Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi).
• German naval bands were stationed in Zanzibar and coastal ports, performing marches, polkas, waltzes — and fashionable songs like La Paloma.
• Accounts suggest that La Paloma became a “signature” tune in German seafaring culture, so it would have echoed in Zanzibar’s harbors during public performances, parades, and social gatherings.
3. Absorption into Local Music Traditions
• Zanzibar already had a rich taarab music tradition, blending Arabic, Indian, and Swahili elements.
• Taarab orchestras often integrated foreign melodies and reworked them with qanun, oud, violin, and Swahili lyrics.
• La Paloma, with its simple, memorable melody and habanera rhythm, fit perfectly into this framework. Local musicians could easily adapt it, giving it an East African flavor.
4. Zanzibar as a Cultural Conduit
• From Zanzibar, songs spread inland along trade routes into Tanzania and beyond.
• Missionaries and colonial schools also reinforced the adoption of European-style songs, sometimes blending them with African choral traditions.
• Thus, La Paloma wasn’t just a foreign novelty — it entered the musical bloodstream of the region, much like hymns, taarab songs, and Swahili ballads.
5. Symbolism in the Zanzibar Context
• The dove (paloma) as a symbol of farewell and peace resonated in a port city where sailors constantly arrived and departed.
• Much like in Hamburg, La Paloma in Zanzibar carried the emotional weight of longing, distance, and waiting — themes that fit maritime life across cultures.
6. The Original La Paloma Tonality
• Yradier wrote La Paloma in a major key (usually A minor/C major arrangements exist too, depending on transcription).
• Harmonically it’s simple: tonic, dominant, subdominant — standard Western 19th-century tonality.
• The habanera rhythm gives it exotic flavour, but harmonically it’s conventional.
7. Taarab and Modal Inflection
• Taarab music (Zanzibar’s dominant art form) comes from a mix of Arabic maqām, Indian ragas, and East African song forms.
• Instead of relying purely on major/minor, taarab musicians use modal scales with:
• Phrygian flavour (flattened 2nd scale degree, giving that “Eastern” colour).
• Hijaz mode (like Phrygian dominant: flat 2, major 3, flat 6, flat 7).
• Melismatic ornamentation (sliding between notes).
• When taarab musicians adapted Western songs, they often “bent” them into these tonal frameworks.
8. Symbolic Impact
• This modal shift deepened the song’s aura of longing. The dove no longer sounded purely romantic but spiritual, mysterious, almost liturgical.
• That’s why in Zanzibar and along the Swahili coast, La Paloma could carry both maritime farewell meaning and spiritual undertones — closer to eternal themes.
Final Thoughts
I have to be honest with you - I didn’t know what La Paloma was until someone requested I teach it on my YouTube channel.
I learned it, filmed it, created a score for it, uploaded it and…BOOOOM! My classical guitar performance and the first lesson teaching bars 1 to 23 have been seen by more than 270,000 people worldwide. As far as I know I created one of the most popular guitar lessons of the most popular song in the world.
In addition to La Paloma I have more than 70 pieces with video lessons where I guide players note-by-note (you read that right) from beginning to end. This means if you don’t know how to read music or tabs you can still learn some of the most popular classical guitar pieces in the world.
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Let your fingers fly!
Josh
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