Sebastián Iradier

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Sebastián Iradier was a Spanish composer of Basque descent. He was born in 1809 in Lanciego, in the province of Álava. His publisher in Paris advised him to internationalise his name, so that he also became known as Yradier. He had one daughter, Matilde. His name is above all linked to the habanera, a slow, swaying song of Cuban origin.

Music and breakthrough

His best-known work is La Paloma, which he wrote around 1860 after a visit to Cuba. The song became very popular in Spain and in America, especially in Mexico, and made the habanera widely known there. According to Radio UNAM more than a thousand versions of La Paloma have been made. That makes it, alongside Yesterday by The Beatles, one of the most recorded songs in music history.

Influence

Another piece of his is El Arreglito, also a habanera. Georges Bizet assumed it was a folk song, took inspiration from the melody and turned it into the aria L'amour est un oiseau rebelle, also known as the Habanera from his opera Carmen. When he discovered his mistake, he put a note about its origin in the score. Iradier himself died unnoticed in 1865 in Vitoria-Gasteiz. His song went on to lead a life of its own, and showed how a melody from the Caribbean world could win a place in Europe and the rest of the world.

Listening

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  La Paloma · Sebastián Iradier
  Apple Music ↗