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The cuplé was a popular risqué Spanish theatre song style in the late years of the 19th century. From 1893 to 1911 the songs were a feature of the "género ínfimo" (lowest type) cabaret theatre sung by solo female singers, or men in drag, and attended mainly by men. But in the second decade of the 20th century the cuplé, in a more respectable form, became more family-friendly and was associated with the makings of stars of the Spanish theatre such as Aurora Jauffret, "La Goya", and Lola Montes, who sang the cuplé El novio de la muerte, which, after adaptation, became the official hymn of the Spanish Legion.

The term comes from French couplet, but the poetic form couplet in Spanish is a pareado or dístico. The cuplé prefigured the copla of the 1930s.

Notable cupletistas

• María Antinea (1915–1991), Spanish actress, vedette, dancer, cupletista and tonadillera
• La Argentinita (1898–1945), Spanish-Argentine flamenco dancer (bailaora), choreographer and singer
• Bella Dorita (1901–2001), Spanish cabaret singer, dancer, and vedette
• Paquita Escribano (1880–1970), Spanish singer (cupletista and tonadillera)
• Julia Fons (1882–1973), Spanish singer and cupletista
• La Fornarina (1884–1915), Cuplé singer
• Celia Gámez (1905–1992), Argentine film actress, icon of the Golden Age of Spanish theatre
• Úrsula López (1870–1966), Spanish Zarzuela, variety singer, and businesswoman
• Raquel Meller (1888-1962), Spanish diseuse, cuplé, and tonadilla singer and actress.
• Lola Montes (1898–1983), Spanish singer
• La Chelito (1885–1959), Cuban-born Spanish cuplé singer, and theater business owner
• Preciosilla (1893–1952), Spanish cupletista
• Olga Ramos (1918–2005), Spanish cupletista, violinist, and actress
• Rosita Rodrigo (1891–1959), Spanish actress, vedette, dancer and songwriter
• Teresita Zazá (1893–1980), Spanish tonadillera, cupletista, and actress

References

1. Eva Woods Peiró White Gypsies: Race and Stardom in Spanish Musicals Page 70 2012 "A bastardization of the French couplet, the cuplé was a popular narrative song of approximately two to three minutes that most often recounted stories of prostitutes, lost love, sexual escapades, or the trials of a poverty-stricken life. ...The cupletista was the female or male transvestite singer who usually performed cuplés in cafés, lyric theaters, and lowbrow theaters.5 According to Serge Salaün a cultural historian of the cuplé, the growing vogue for the cuplé in Spain developed alongside, within, and around the star system and, by extension, the cinema (El cuplé, 86, ..."
2. Bradley S. Epps, Despina Kakoudaki All about Almodóvar: A Passion for Cinema 2009 "Even the cuplé, the song with which Montiel becomes identified, derives from a tradition of risqué musical numbers filled with sexual innuendo performed by women."
3. Villatoro, Manuel P. (19 March 2014). ""El novio de la muerte", el himno de la Legión española que nació en un cabaret". Diario ABC (in Spanish). Retrieved 12 June 2023.
4. Retana, Álvaro (1964). Historia del género frívolo (in Spanish). Madrid: Tesoro.

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• Music of Spain
• Cupletistas