MADRID, Spain.- Olga la tamalera, one of the characters that survives in Cuban popular culture and whose name was Olga Moré Jiménez, was born in Cruces, Cienfuegos, in 1922.
Olga moved to Havana, specifically to Figuras street number 180 between Manrique and Tenerife, in the Los Sitios neighborhood, from where, out of necessity, she would start the business that gave her fame.
In 1949, this woman had lost her husband and was caring for three small children and an elderly mother, in the midst of a difficult economic situation. For this reason, she decided to sell tamales, becoming one of the first women in Cuba to sell tamales in sheets.
According to popular historiography, after grating the corn, Olga would stand in front of the large pot, and at this time she preferred to be alone, because she did not want anyone to know her recipe, something that she kept hidden until the end of her days. They also say that she tied the tamales at night so as not to waste time in the morning.
Olga mainly sold her tamales on the Havana corner of Prado and Neptuno. To sell them, she went to ingenious cries that became popular, as well as the quality of her tamales; So much so that many people went to buy them at her own house, and others made orders for festivities such as birthdays and weddings.
The tamalera also sold in the dance and recreation societies of Havana, such as the Galician Center or the Rosalía de Castro. In one of these dances she met the Pinar del Rio flutist José Antonio Fajardo, who was director of the Fajardo Orchestra and his stars.
Fajardo was delighted with Olga and her tamales and dedicated the song “Los tamalitos de Olga” to her, which became a hit in the 1950s.
Later, the Aragón orchestra incorporated the song into its repertoire, with a version that also quickly became popular and whose refrain said: “I like the tamales / the tamales that Olga sells / they are hot, they are not hot / the tamales that Olga sells”.
The song has been heard in many parts of the world, sung by renowned international artists such as the Venezuelan Oscar D’León and has more than 150 versions.
Olga la tamalera died in Havana in 2007, at the age of 85.
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