It is 1947 and Israel Levis, a Cuban composer whose life had once been a dream of music, love and sadness, is returning to Habana, Cuba from Spain where he has just recovered from the physical and spiritual malaises resulting from his experiences in Paris -- then Buchenwald -- during the Nazi occupation of France. (A devout Catholic, Levis had been mistakenly identified as a Jew because of his name.)Arriving back in Habana, Levis's mind is reeling with beautiful memories of his life before the war, a life of pleasure and excitement that he owes, in part, to an unrequited, nearly "chivalrous" romance with a certain Rita Valladares, a singer for whom Levis had written his most famous song, "Rosas Puras" or "Pretty Roses." This 1928 composition becomes the most famous rumba in the world; and it is the song, symbolic of the composer's love for Rita Valladares, that sets Levis' life in Europe in motion.
This is a love story -- for art, family and country -- as well as a portrait of Habana at the turn of the last century, when "the world was good." "A Simple Habana Melody" is a virtuoso performance from one of our most important writers.Performed by Jimmy Smits