The habanera and the murmur of a round trip

The night falls slowly on the horizon. The sea breathes with that calm that only peoples accustomed to living before the maritime immensity know. By the water's edge, conversations subside as a guitar begins to play the first chords, full of memories and longing. Someone hums a familiar melody. Voices join in almost without realizing it. For a few moments, time seems to slow down under the weight of each verse. The murmur of the sea accompanies the memory of people who crossed the Atlantic pursuing a better life. It is also the nostalgia of those who left their land behind and of those who, after many years, returned home carrying within them another light and another way of understanding the world. From that intense relationship between Catalonia and Cuba, one of the most enduring cultural imaginaries of our tradition would eventually emerge: that of the Habaneras.When the horizon led to America

During the 18th and 19th centuries, Cuba became one of the main destinations for Catalan emigration. Many young people embarked for the Caribbean with the hope of prospering in a land that, from a distance, seemed to offer infinite opportunities. Some made their fortunes there; others simply sought to make their dreams come true. Amidst sugar plantations, commercial warehouses, and ports, an intense relationship began to be woven between the two shores of the Atlantic.The Catalan presence on the island was so significant that commercial, family, and cultural ties ended up shaping an authentic Atlantic network. Cuba became a familiar space within the Catalan imagination, almost an exotic extension of the homeland itself. But that relationship would also be marked by the contradictions of the colonial system, by the wars of independence, and by the tensions of a world that was beginning to transform.That transatlantic adventure, so present in the Catalan imagination, cannot be separated from the colonial context in which it took place. A good part of the prosperity that some "indians" achieved in Cuba was linked to an economy sustained by the structures of the empire and by the plantations that fueled Atlantic trade. Havaneres do not explicitly explain this reality, but they also form part of this same historical universe. Behind the nostalgia emanating from these melodies, the contradictions of a past that today invites a more complex look also resonate.For decades, ships connected the two shores with a constant flow of people and hopes. On deck, many watched as the Catalan coast slowly faded on the horizon, not knowing if they would ever see it again. Some never returned. Others did years later, carrying within them the imprint of two lands.When in 1898 the Spanish empire lost its last American colonies, many Catalans undertook the journey back. Soldiers, merchants, sailors, and 'indians' were returning. With them traveled memories, objects, words, and experiences that would continue to feed the ties between Catalonia and Cuba.

The nostalgic melody of the high seas

For a large part of the 20th century, a narrative was consolidated that attributed the arrival of habaneras in Catalonia to the return of sailors and the "indians" (emigrants who had made their fortune in America) from Cuba. This evocative image, deeply rooted in maritime culture, is still part of the collective memory today.However, recent historical and musicological research has provided a more complex view of this history. The book The first havaneras in Catalonia. Imperialism and sensuality before Carmen (Rafael Dalmau Editor, 2023), by Anna Costal, Joaquim Rabaseda, and Joan Gay, documents that havaneras were already present in Catalonia in the mid-19th century as a fashionable dance, often known by the name of americana.Before popular memory associated them mainly with sailors, interview published by journalist Mariona Ferrer in the newspaper ARA.Over time, havaneres spread through very diverse paths. Squares, marquees, and other social spaces contributed, each in its own way, to transforming them until they became an expression deeply rooted in Catalan popular culture.As happens with all living traditions, the melodies kept transforming. The lyrics changed, the verses adapted, and the songs were passed from mouth to mouth. Over time, that repertoire, initially sung in Spanish, became Catalanized.Perhaps the secret to their permanence lies in the stories they hold. The havaneras speak of distant ports and beloved places. Of loves waiting at the dock, of painful absences and dreamed-of returns. Of war, of distance, and of longing. Melodies imbued with a serene nostalgia that seems to inhabit an eternal summer.The rebirth of a legacy

From the first decades of the 20th century, havaneras began a new phase. Some musicians and scholars, aware of the value of that musical and popular heritage, contributed to giving that repertoire a new public projection. In parallel, new written havaneras began to be created, inspired by that legacy but adapted to new times.Among these compositions, La Gavina particularly stands out, written by Frederic Sirés in 1924. Originally born in Spanish under the title La Gaviota, the piece retained the slow cadence and the characteristic nostalgia of traditional habaneras. Without intending to, that song would eventually become a model for many of the habaneras that followed.Also part of this legacy is one of the most beloved melodies in the repertoire: La Bella Lola. Linked to the world of sailors and soldiers who lived through the last years of the Spanish presence in Cuba, the song transports us to a world of long voyages, distant ports, and awaited loves.Thanks to this process of reinterpretation and dissemination, along with the creation of new compositions, habaneras acquired a new public projection. They began to be heard more strongly on stages and squares, paving the way for the great renaissance that the genre would experience during the second half of the 20th century.