María Mérida

María Mérida Pérez was born in Valverde, El Hierro, on 5 June 1925. She died in Candelaria, Tenerife, on 4 January 2022. CanariWiki and the National Library of Spain document her as a singer linked to Canarian folklore, and institutional sources present her as “the lady of Canarian song”.

From an early age she developed a stage career centred on Canarian songbook repertoires. CanariWiki records her move to Madrid, her interpretation of songs by Néstor Álamo and the projection of her repertoire on stages in Italy, the United States, Canada and Latin America.

Her figure highlights the role of women’s voices in preserving, renewing and emotionally transmitting Canarian folklore, with a memory especially linked to El Hierro.