Artist: Xiomara Alfaro
LP: Latin Nightingale
Song: "María Escandalosa"
[ listen ]
I've recently met a nice fellow to date, and last Friday night we went to dinner at La Isla, a Puerto Rican restaurant in Ballard just a few blocks from my apartment. We'd both heard good things about the place, but neither of us had been there before. It was delicious, and if you're ever in my neighborhood I recommend you give it a try. As we were walking toward dinner, I pointed out several good record stores nearby and warned my date not to let me step inside them. But when we arrived at La Isla we were told that there would be a 25-minute wait for a table, so I suggested we pop over to Bop Street Records while we waited. He said, "okay," which is a really good sign! I think we'll get along just fine. Xiomara Alfaro—whose 1958 "Latin Nightingale" LP is one of the things I discovered at Bop Street before dinner—was born in Havana, Cuba in the spring of 1930. She rose to popularity in the 1950s and came to be called "El Ruiseñor de la Canción (The Nightingale of Song)" for her lovely and inimitable soprano warbling. The guy who wrote "Siboney" claims Xiomara's version of the song to be his favorite; you can find her performing it in a neat-looking old Cuban film by clicking the YouTube link below. Go here to read about Xiomara in Spanish, and for English notes, click here.
Xiomara Alfaro on YouTube:
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