My relative, RAMITO, wrote Que bonita Bandera in defiance to La Ley de Mordaza! The law made it illegal to display the Puerto Rican Flag in Puerto Rico! Ramitos composition Qué Bonita Bandera -a plena homage to the Puerto Rican flag- deserves a particular mention. During the decade previous to the songs inception in 1968, waving a Puerto Rican flag in public was considered taboo in the island (during a brief period in the early 1950s, which coincided with the Jayuya Uprising and the United States Capitol shooting incident of 1954 it was actually outlawed). Ramito wrote the song to demonstrate pride for the flag. In its lyrics, he incorporated the names of José de Diego, Ramón Emeterio Betances and Luis Muñoz Rivera, and manifested his wish to see it floating freely over my beautiful Borinquen. It quickly became an unofficial anthem for Puerto Ricans everywhere, and was particularly popular among Puerto Ricans in New York City. Besides Ramitos original version, it has been versioned by multiple artists, including Jennifer Lopez, Ricky Martin, Pete Seeger, Yolandita Monge, Tony Croatto, José González y su Banda Criolla, and others. Salvadorean band La Fuerza used the songs chorus as the basis for a similarly named song honoring El Salvador. On March 19, 2009, Qué Bonita Bandera was played as part of the wake-up call for Space Shuttle Mission STS-119, in honor of Mission Specialist Joe Acaba, whose ancestry is Puerto Rican.
Posted on: Fri, 14 Nov 2014 03:58:59 +0000
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