Lola Flores, the ‘pipazo’ and ‘sissy’ who loves her very much: A different look at the 100-year-old pop icon

A few days ago, on January 21, according to official documents, the 100th anniversary of his birth was celebrated because He tried to hide his real age for a long time. According to his version, he was born in 1928, and his determination not to leak the information to the press led the Census Bureau to order him not to give his birth certificate and baptismal certificate to the church of San Miguel in Jerez. Likewise, she was tasked with converting the 3 in identity history to an 8 with a pen, but the lie came to light when she married her husband, Antonio González, until her death in 1957. pescailla The exact date of birth was written on the marriage certificate and it was published in all the media of the country. Every detail of the life of Lola Flores and her guildmates in general aroused interest. The stubborn artist said that, according to his mother, the birth was 1928 and he believed it. Born where Bilbaoans choose, Flores was born when he seemed fit.

This anecdote opens the book Flowers for Lola. A weird and feminist look About La Faraona, which they published together to mark the anniversary of the Dos Bigotes and Egales editorial. The volume contains a collection of short essays signed by different authors, examining the artist’s life and figure from different angles. Carlos Barea, author and MA in LGBTIQ+ Studies, coordinator of the project, it’s a job akin to “conducting”, comments on this newspaper. “First I thought about what the main focus would be and then fine-tuned everything to sound cohesive. I was worried that they would all fall into the same anecdotes or the same approaches, which didn’t happen when defining the themes for every writer.”

The main focus of the book is Analysis of the figure of Lola Flores as a national pop icon, not her person. As a popular reference, it has been passed down to later generations through the stories of their relatives. lydia garciaresearcher and podcast writer O bells!in his article Lola… (of course) yes–, from Youtube videos, advertisements deep fake even songs by current artists. Many fans of C. Tangana have discovered that the song contains the lines “They are dying of jealousy/ Flowers, stars and Marbella/ Because God made you Lola/ More beautiful than all of them”. die of envy actually lyrics lolaThe song that Antonio González dedicated to his wife decades ago. And so it will continue for generations to come.

“The main criterion for selecting the authors was that they were under the age of forty. That is, they would meet the most mediatic Lola of their senior years, but develop her true commitment through YouTube. Another requirement was that the figure of Lola influenced their life and/or work because Lola wanted them to be personal texts in some way,” says Barea. Signatures on the book include, in addition to those of Barea herself and Lidia García, Ferdinand Lopezanalyzing the artist in terms of dance; Pepa Blaneswho is doing this from a cinema perspective or Noelia Cortes, who looks at him with anti-racism. “We were able to get a good portrait of the Lola figure from different perspectives, but we told it from a personal place and it’s not very academic or essayistic,” says the book’s coordinator.

genius and figure

Perspective queer and feminist is cross in all texts, as indicated in the subheading of the work itself. Observing him from this angle was complicated for the writers because, as Barea explains, “it was not customary in his lifetime to defend these issues in a closed, open and clear manner. The intentionality of his actions.” statements, some even quite direct.

Her statements were often contradictory – she publicly admitted that she had an abortion and that her husband took care of the money even though she was the one who had the money – but these nuances are also vital to the analysis. “Sometimes, when read from now on, some phrases can somehow backfire. But to understand positive intent, intentionality and context must always be taken into account,” says the book’s coordinator. Lola’s figure is fascinating but also contradictory in some ways”.

The figure of the artist can now be associated with diversity, but for many of his contemporaries, Flores was a folkloric representing the values ​​of traditional Spain. Analysis of the character from new perspectives can offend or even anger followers who take him as a cañí reference. “Oh my God, it won’t take long for someone to say we want to homosexualize everything. We trust it. In the end, the interpretation of pop icons is more about social intent than reality itself,” Barea continues.

Folkloric has left to posterity expressions that openly winked at complicity with the LGTBIQ+ community. One of the most remembered is that he published in an interview Lauren Shutter, asking him how he wanted his funeral to be. Among other indications, he said he wanted “ladies who loved me very much” to be displayed mummified at the Calderon Theater to come to say goodbye.

daniel mariacritic and cultural manager points to chapter of book God’s greatest creation: fag gossip at Lola Flores and other camp notes folkloric interview on the show Oh Lola, Lolita, Lola (Antena3, 1995) to a group of trans women he introduced: “These women I know have suffered a lot and I am a fan and have great respect for them. It’s Violet. The other is Milena. She is Carmen and she is Gamba”. More He saves the famous “pipazo”, which he describes as “the touchstone of koplero lesbianism”.. Right now it’s a myth, because when and where did Lola Flores ask “Who hasn’t smoked a pipe with a good friend?” It is entirely attributable to his legend that the authorship of the pharaoh is not justified but reasonable to us”.

This is exactly what Carlos Barea states: “We must be clear that we are not talking about a biography or a study of his life. As the subtitle of the book indicates, if we are talking about a ‘strange and feminist view’, it is because the subjective question is already implicit. And tell me if there’s anything more subjective, more personal, and more powerful than someone’s look.”

different tributes

In addition Flowers for LolaTwo more books focusing on the artist figure are coming this month of January: reprint Lola Flores. Petenera Sociology related to Francis Threshold (Zut versions) and Lola Flores’ universe (Famous editions), with Carlos Barea also participating. “A more academic volume that analyzes Lola Flores’ cinematographic production as she is a publisher specializing in cinema. In my case, I’m analyzing balcony of the moonIt’s a movie starring Carmen Sevilla and Paquita Rico that I’m considering doing a feminist read on.“, Explain.

The museum dedicated to the artist will open next spring in Jerez, one of the events he has planned to celebrate the centennial of his hometown city council. Currently, this is the only official institution to pay homage of some kind, a detail Barea wants to emphasize: “2023 has been declared the year for the fiftieth anniversary of Picasso’s death and is commemorated with 42 exhibitions. . In other words, there will be three books in three independent publishing houses for Lola and 42 exhibitions for Picasso. Was it so difficult to maintain distances from the painter’s obvious international projection from Malaga and his contribution to universal art, with a certain institutional involvement at the zenith of what Lola means to Spain?

Carlos Barea is a clear example of this. The importance of the figure of Lola Flores in the emotional universe for today’s youth. His first memory of the artist is the funeral that opens this article; for example, it is as relevant to the history of the nation as that of Lady Di in the UK, for example. “They televised it, and for me, a recently transformed eight-year-old boy, it seemed like the most important person in Spain had died, given the magnitude of what was reported on television,” he recalls.

“Also, that day, I saw my father cry for the first time, a countryman who had never shown any signs of weakness. I realized how strong it was in that moment, but most of all, men can cry too. Perhaps it is the beginning for me to reconsider my place in the world as a future grown man. “I hope so. And if that’s the case, I owe it to my father and Lola Flores,” he concludes.