La Paloma: The true story behind the world most popular song

La Paloma was born in the 1860s as a Cuban Habanera, composed by the Basque Sebastian Iradier. This simple love song took off on a flight around the world and became an immediate hit in Mexico. La Paloma brought tears to the eyes of the unfortunate Hapsburg Emperor Maximilian on the Mexican throne, while liberals mocked him in a satirical version. As a marching song La Paloma arrived in Europe and came of age. To her melody children in Auschwitz filed into the gas chambers. A song that has scored countless personal moments, and spoken for itself for 150 years, doesn’t need our commentary – it deserves our celebration! Subscribe to wocomoCULTURE: Follow us on Facebook: In Zanzibar they play it at the end of weddings, in Romania at the end of funerals, in Mexico as a protest song, and in Germany as a sailor’s lament. Written a century and a half ago by Sebastián Iradier and first performed in Cuba, “La Paloma”—the most frequently pl