Julio Iglesias De la Cueva (born September 23, 1943 in Madrid) is a Spanish singer who has sold over 250 million albums in 14 languages and released 77 albums and according to Sony Music he is one of the top 10 best selling music artist ever. While Iglesias rose to international prominence in the 1970s and 1980s as a performer of romantic ballads and as an iconically suave Spaniard gentleman, his success has continued as he entered new musical endeavors. Thus far, he has performed approximately 5,000 concerts.
"Guantanamera" ("girl from Guantánamo") is perhaps the best known Cuban song and that country's most noted patriotic song.
The music for the song is regularly attributed to José Fernández Diaz, known as Joseíto Fernández, who claimed to have written it at various dates (consensus puts 1929 as its year of origin), and who used it regularly in one of his radio programs. Some researchers claim that the song's structure actually came from Herminio "El Diablo" García Wilson, who should be credited as a co-composer. García's heirs took the matter to court decades later but lost the case: the Supreme Court of Cuba credited Fernández as the sole composer of the music in 1993. Regardless of either claim, Fernández can safely be claimed as being the first public promoter of the song, through his radio programs.
Guajira (Cuban slang) for a female from the countryside (male: guajiro)
I am a sincere man
From where the palm tree grows
And before dying I want
To share the verses of my soul.
Guantanamera, guajira, Guantanamera
My verse is light green
And it is flaming crimson
My verse is a wounded deer
Who seeks refuge on the mountain (or in the woods).
Guantanamera, guajira, Guantanamera
I cultivate a white rose
In July as in January
For the sincere friend
Who gives me his honest hand.
Guantanamera, guajira, Guantanamera
And for the cruel one
who would tear out this heart with which I live
I do not cultivate nettles nor thistles
I cultivate a white rose.
Guantanamera, guajira, Guantanamera
With the poor people of the earth
I want to share my fate
The brook of the mountains
Gives me more pleasure than the sea.
Guantanamera, guajira, Guantanamera
