Died On This Date (July 12, 2010) Olga Guillot / The Queen Of Bolero
themusicsover Olga Guillot
October 9, 1922 – July 12, 2010
Born in Cuba, Olga Guillot became a popular Bolero singer who was called La Reina de Bolero, or the Queen of Bolero. Discovered while singing in local clubs in 1954, Guillot was soon whisked off to New York City where she recorded her first album for the respected Decca label. Over the next forty-odd years, she released over 20 albums. By the early ’50s, Guillot had relocated to Mexico where she soon became popular thanks to her music and budding acting career. In 1958, she did her first European tour and had the good fortune to sing alongside the great Edith Piaf. In 1963, Guillot was awarded the Cannes Film Festival’s Palme d’Or (The Golden Palm) for being the best Bolero singer in Latin America. She became the first Latin singer to play Carnegie Hall in 1964. A critic of Fidel Castro, her music is banned in Cuba. Olga Guillot was 87 when she passed away on July 12, 2010.
What You Should Own
David Fanshawe was a revered English ethnomusicologist and sometime composer who created music for television shows and more. After high school, he began to study music in college while working as a film editor and traveling the world during holidays. While on these excursions, many times hitchhiking, Fanshawe took along a tape recorder to capture the traditional folk songs of the people he encountered along the way. This continued, but much more extensively upon his graduation. Meanwhile, Fanshawe was also composing music, much of it for English television and film scores. Many of his pieces incorporated the field music he recorded during his travels. Samples of these recordings can also be heard in such American films as Gangs Of New York and How To Make an American Quilt. In all, Fanshawe’s collection grew to over 2000 hours of music and over 6000 photographs. David Fanshawe was 67 when he died of a stroke on July 5, 2010.
Park Yong-ha was a handsome Korean television and singer who quickly became popular throughout Asia. He reached fame as a teenager thanks in part to his starring role in Winter Sonata. As for his musical career, he is perhaps best remembered for singing the popular theme song for the Japanese program, Just For Yesterday. Over the course of his career, Yong-ha released a several records, earned numerous acting and music awards, and was a popular concert draw across Korea and Japan. Park Yong-ha was found dead in his home of an apparent suicide by hanging on June 30, 2010. He was 33.
Queen Jane was a Kandara-born benga singer. She launched her career in 1984, and by 1991, she had her own band, Queenja Les Les and had released her debut album, Ndorogonye, on which she sang in Kikyuyu language. Her mostly socially and politically directed songs became very popular throughout Africa and beyond over the next several years. Queen Jane died of complications from meningitis on June 29, 2010.