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This episode was originally published on January 7, 2024 and is part of a summer selection from EL PAÍS Audio.

It is estimated that more than two million Spaniards emigrated during Franco’s regime to escape poverty or political reprisals. Several thousand went to Belgium, mainly from the north of the province of Córdoba and Asturias, because the Central European country needed labour to work in the mines, industry and domestic service.

Emigrating was a hard experience, as most people did it with nothing. But in Belgium, instead of crying, the Spanish sang. They sang because of the pain of having left their homeland behind, they sang because of the identity crisis they suffered or because of the people they missed. That is why, from the 60s onwards, a rumba music scene was formed, with groups that performed informally in bars and restaurants throughout the country. That music never reached our country and that heritage was at risk of being forgotten until the project was born. Spanish-Belgian Rumba by the hand of Miguel Menéndez.

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