Michael Coy
IT is hard to think of a British female star of the 1960s who was both a gifted singer/actress and the embodiment of the national spirit.
Perhaps if Judi Dench had played the part of Elsie Tanner? Or if Hayley Mills had married Ringo Starr?
What if Cilla Black had done her A-levels?
There’s no-one quite like Lola Flores.
María Dolores “Lola” Flores Ruiz (1923 – 1995) was an Andalucian actress, dancer and singer. She died 30 years ago (the anniversary of her death falls on Wednesday May 16).
It’s ironic.
The dictatorship tried hard to stamp out regional characteristics, and make everyone in Spain virginal and a sort of “home counties bland”, but the biggest star of them all was a flamenco gypsy sex-bomb.
Her films are full of sombreros cordobéses and guitars – icons of Spain now – but pure Andalucía. That’s how influential she was.
Born in Jerez de la Frontera, Lola became interested in the performing arts at a very young age. Known for her overwhelming “live” presence, she debuted as a dancer at age 16 at the stage production “Luces de España”, in her hometown.
After being discovered by film director Fernando Mignoni, Flores moved to Madrid to pursue a professional career in music and film, with her first gig being the lead role in Mignoni’s Martingala (1940).
She succeeded as both a film and stage actress.
In 1943, she obtained her breakthrough role in the musical stage production “Zambra” alongside Manolo Caracol, in which she sang “La Zarzamora” and “La Niña de Fuego,” mostly singing flamenco music and coplas.
She then started to receive widespread media coverage.
In 1951, Flores signed a five-film contract with Suevia Films for 6 million pesetas, which was the largest contract for a performing artist in Spanish history.
She starred in major productions like La Niña de la Venta (1951), ¡Ay, Pena, Penita, Pena! (1953), La Danza de los Deseos (1954), and El Balcón de la Luna (1962), among many others, which spawned the signature songs “A tu Vera” and “¡Ay, Pena, Penita, Pena!“.
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That’s when she was popularly dubbed as la Faraona (“the Pharaoh”). During her life, Flores performed in more than 35 films, pigeonholed, in many of them, in Andalucian folklore.
She also recorded over 20 albums, which she toured through Europe, Latin America and the United States.
“¡Ay, Pena, Penita, Pena!” (impossible to translate, but literally “Oh, pain, pain, pain!”) is an Andalucian copla composed by Quintero, León, and Quiroga in 1951.
In 1953, it was included in the soundtrack of the film of the same name, starring Flores. This version is by far the best-known, and the song became one of the most important in her repertoire.
It is a farruca, one of the greatest of flamenco styles. The song describes the performer’s grief at the distance from her beloved, trapped in an uncertain misfortune.
Lola’s strong personality, recognizable image, remarkable professional career and sometimes controversial personal life, have turned Flores into a Spanish pop culture icon.
She is often cited as the “biggest exporter of Andalucian culture to date” as well as a “pioneer”, being tributed many times in recent television series and documentaries such as the biographical film Lola, the Movie (2007).
Lola became the matriarch of what would later be the Flores family, filled with popular singers and television personalities such as Lolita Flores, Rosario, Alba Flores and Elena Furiase.
In 1995, Lola Flores died, aged 72, in Alcobendas due to health complications brought on by breast cancer. She had previously requested an open coffin, so that all her admirers and friends could come and see her.
She was buried in the Cemetery of the Almudena in Madrid. It was one of the burials most remembered by the people of Andalucía; the funeral was broadcast live on television.
Fifteen days after her death, on May 31, 1995, her son Antonio Flores (aged 33), was found dead in the family residence of “El Lerele”. Her daughters Lolita Flores and Rosario Flores still survive. All three followed their mother into showbusiness.
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