Starting in the 1960s, Spain became one of the most acclaimed holiday destinations in Europe. Much of the coastline was the perfect postcard of sun and beach that our neighbors to the north craved so much. Among all the tourists who visited the country, one of them, the Belgian composer Leo Caerts, fell so in love with the way of life on the coast of Girona that he decided to pay him a musical tribute.
With that objective, he contacted the lyricist Leo Rozenstraten and between the two of them they created the song that perfectly represented a vacation in Spain. The one chosen to play her was Christiane Bervoets, a well-known Belgian singer better known as Samantha. In 1971, Eviva España was published, a song sung in Dutch, more specifically in flamenco, which would soon cross borders. The song sold more than 127,000 records in Belgium alone, 475,000 in the rest of the planet.
From the Civil War to Belgium, passing through Le Pen
Leo Caerts’ melody has a great similarity with a song that dates back to the Spanish civil war, it is not known if intentionally or due to indirect influence. The original song, Arriba España, was a Corpo anthem…