Her cuban ballet teacher put María the nickname of Massiel. She made her debut in 1966 with "Di que no", considered as one of the first protest songs in Spain, a genre that would increase its popularity till the end of the Franco's dictatorship.
She gained inmediately success with hits like "Rosas en el mar", "Rufo el Pescador" or "Aleluya nº1" and appearances in song contests like Vina del Mar, Majorca and Rome. She also made films like "Vestida de novia" and "codo con codo". All her songs had compromised lyrics so she was then catalogued as a "protest singer".
During the 1968 spring she was touring Mexico when Spanish Television called her urgently to represent Spain in the 13th Eurovision Song Contest due to the withdrawal of Joan Manuel Serrat who wanted to sing in catalan the song "La, la, la".
Serrat announced his intention just 15 days before going to London, so Massiel had to came back to Madrid, record the song in Spanish, English, French and German, appear in some european tv stations and go to Paris to buy a costume designed by Courrèges specially for the Contest. Eventually, she won the Eurovision Song Contest 1968 with the song "La, la, la", which earned 29 points, beating out famous British pop crooner Cliff Richard, who placed second that year with "Congratulations". She continued to perform in Stage shows, and records music.
Massiel appeared in the film Cantando a la Vida filmed in 1968, which profiled a winner of a European Song festival suddenly disappearing. Massiel had the lead role as "Maria". The movie was filmed in Andalucía, Spain. Massiel sang the entire soundtrack to the film, and raked in 9,020,397 pesetas from the box office.
In 1977, she released an album covering the music of Bertolt Brecht/Kurt Weill in Spanish, called "Baladas Y Canciones De Bertolt Brecht".
During the 80's Massiel, for her popularity in the local market with popular hits like "Eres", "Mas fuerte que el viento", "El Noa-Noa", "Maria de los guardias", was an invited artist at the Festival de Vina del Mar in Chile.
At the time Chile was under the dicatorship of Augusto Pinochet. Massiel after singing for an hour, received the most important prize of the festival: "La Gaviota de Plata" (The Silver Seagull) In her her speech thanking the public for her "Gaviota" she said: "Thank you Chile, I would like to let you kno that Patricio Manns says hello from the Andes Mountains", the public cheered and celebrated her announcement. Patricio Mans is a well know composer, poet, member of the Chilean Communist Party who was in exile in Sweden following the September 11th, 1973 coup d'etat against Salvador Allende.
She has recorded more than 50 records, having worked for no less than 5 record companies: Zafiro, Polygram, Hispavox, Bat Discos y Emasstor. She has been married three times and has a son, Aitor, born in 1977, from her second husband, a socialist politician called Carlos Zayas. Since 1996 she is retired from singing due to the "dictatorship of radio stations and commercial charts" but she is still a popular woman and is a regular in different tv programmes. .
She re-recorded her Eurovision winner "La, la, la" in 1997, with a "hip-hop" sort of beat, background singers, whistling, and spanish percussion.
in 2005, Massiel appeared on the 50th Anniversary special of the Eurovision Song Contest, and sang the song that made her internationally famous. She also was invited to celebrate the 50th anniversary of TVE during a special gala.
Currently she is working on Tve's Misión Eurovisión, a serie of special programmes to choose the spanish representative and song for Eurovision 2007.
Brindaremos por él
Massiel Lyrics
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Massiel
Deja de pensar, Y cuéntame
Ya sé que ayer estabas junto a él y hoy
Se ha ido.
Ya sé que has compartido junto a él
La noche tibia y el amanecer.
Ya sé que has descubierto junto a él
La dicha.
Ya sé que se a parado tu reloj
Pero ahora mismo vas a echarlo andar
Es pronto para dar por un amor
La vida.
Bailaremos un vals
Tomaremos después una copa de más
Y hasta que salga del sol cantaremos al son
De una vieja guitarra.
Brindaremos por ti
Brindaremos por el porque le vaya bien
Y mañana verás que es mejor olvidar
Que llorar un amor.
Vuelve a sonreír, olvídate
La vida es ancha y estos golpes del amor
Se olvidan.
Después de cada noche sale un sol
Y vuelven las gaviotas a volar
Después de la tristeza nacerá
La dicha.
Si hoy te han maltratado el corazón
Y duerme junto a ti la soledad
No importa porque empieza un día más
La vida.
Bailaremos un vals
Tomaremos después una copa de más
Y hasta que salga del sol cantaremos al son
De una vieja guitarra.
Brindaremos por ti
Brindaremos por el porque le vaya bien
Y mañana verás que es mejor olvidar
Que llorar un amor.
The song "Brindaremos por él" by Massiel is a song about moving on from a past love and looking towards the future with hope. The lyrics are encouraging the listener to not dwell on a lost love but to celebrate the memories and take joy in the future. The opening lyrics acknowledge that the listener may have recently lost someone, but that they need to stop dwelling on the past and move forward. The line "Ya sé que ayer estabas junto a él y hoy se ha ido" (I know that yesterday you were with him and today he is gone) makes it clear that the song is about loss - but the song goes on to encourage listeners to celebrate their past experiences and take joy in the present and future.
The song continues to focus on the positive aspects of love, with the following lines describing the happiness and joy that the listener has experienced in the past. "Ya sé que has compartido junto a él / La noche tibia y el amanecer" (I know that you shared with him / the warm night and the dawn) and "Ya sé que has descubierto junto a él / La dicha" (I know that you discovered with him / happiness). These lines are repeated throughout the song, emphasizing their importance.
As the song nears its conclusion, the message becomes more hopeful, encouraging listeners to not let heartbreak define them. The line "si hoy te han maltratado el corazón / y duerme junto a ti la soledad / no importa porque empieza un día más / la vida" (if today your heart has been mistreated / and loneliness sleeps next to you / it doesn't matter because a new day starts / life) exemplifies this message of resilience and hope, giving listeners the motivation to move past heartache and celebrate life.
Overall, "Brindaremos por él" is a song about the inevitability of loss and the importance of moving forward with a positive outlook. It encourages listeners to cherish the past but not to dwell on it, and to find joy in the present and future.
Line by Line Meaning
Brindaremos por él.
We will raise a toast to him.
Deja de pensar, Y cuéntame
Stop thinking and tell me.
Ya sé que ayer estabas junto a él y hoy
Se ha ido.
I know you were with him yesterday and he's gone now.
Ya sé que has compartido junto a él
La noche tibia y el amanecer.
I know you shared with him the warm night and the sunrise.
Ya sé que has descubierto junto a él
La dicha.
I know you discovered happiness with him.
Ya sé que se a parado tu reloj
Pero ahora mismo vas a echarlo andar
Es pronto para dar por un amor
La vida.
I know your clock has stopped, but right now you're going to start it. It's too soon to give up on life and love.
Bailaremos un vals
Tomaremos después una copa de más
Y hasta que salga del sol cantaremos al son
De una vieja guitarra.
We will dance a waltz, have an extra drink and sing to the tune of an old guitar until sunrise.
Brindaremos por ti
Brindaremos por el porque le vaya bien
Y mañana verás que es mejor olvidar
Que llorar un amor.
We will raise a toast to you and to him for his success, and tomorrow you will see that it's better to forget than to cry over a love.
Vuelve a sonreír, olvídate
La vida es ancha y estos golpes del amor
Se olvidan.
Start smiling again, forget about it. Life is vast and these love setbacks are forgotten.
Después de cada noche sale un sol
Y vuelven las gaviotas a volar
Después de la tristeza nacerá
La dicha.
After each night, the sun rises and seagulls return to fly. Joy will come after sadness.
Si hoy te han maltratado el corazón
Y duerme junto a ti la soledad
No importa porque empieza un día más
La vida.
If today your heart has been mistreated and loneliness sleeps next to you, it doesn't matter because a new day begins, life goes on.
Writer(s): Jose Luis Perales Morillas
Contributed by Caroline T. Suggest a correction in the comments below.