Lola Flores, born January 21, 1923, would have celebrated her 100th birthday in 2023. And even if she is no longer of this world, to celebrate this event, Spain will surely take care of the one who embodied the Spanish soul in dance and dance. She has been singing on stage for over fifty years.
Maria Dolores Flores Ruiz was born near the city of Cadiz, precisely in Jerez de la Frontera. The singer claimed that she felt like a gypsy, because a lot of gypsies live in this part of Spain. But only his grandfather, an oil merchant, was a gypsy. And he did not convey to her the love of Spanish music. She inherited her love for music from her mother.
Future megastar Lola Flores stays at school for a short time, she looks after her younger brother. When he was little, his parents enrolled him in singing and dancing lessons. But very quickly the teachers argue that she doesn’t need to follow the teachings because this little girl already has her own style.
She was quickly noticed and began her career at the age of 16, singing and dancing for the first time in theaters, and very quickly her first record appeared, a phonograph record called “Pescaero”.
In parallel, Lola Flores also begins a career in film. In the first films she made, the singer mostly played herself: a gypsy who sings a kopla or dances to the sound of a guitar. Copla is a typically Spanish musical genre. Specifically, it is a short song, interpreted in verse, that tells a story.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the copla was taken over by the Franco regime as a nationalist sign meant to represent the Spanish soul. The great representative of the copla, Lola Flores, was criticized for being somewhat close to the Franco regime.
Despite everything, the singer remains for her country a figure in music, dance and cinema. Her free, inspiring character, her stage presence and his artistic contributions have even made MarÃa Dolores Flores Ruiz an icon and one of the most popular Spanish artists for generations.
