Carolona de Holanda is a singer from the Netherlands who started out when her idol Mexican singer María de Lourdes encouraged her to do so.

From the start, Mexico embraced her and priced her as performer of the Mexican songs. A particular achievement for a young Dutch woman that only by coincidence ended up on stage, in Mexican dresses, with Mexican mariachi's, for Mexican public. It was the famous singer María de Lourdes who brought her there. Carolina was one of her biggest fans and at the age of 25 she decided to go to Mexico to study the language and the culture of that country. She came in contact with her idol, who invited her in her house. Together they travelled through the republic and observing her work day and night, Carolina learned a lot about Mexican traditions and performing.

Behind the scenes... Until the moment that María the Lourdes invited her on stage to sing a song. “But I’ve never sung, María”, exclaimed Carolina astonished. “Trust my judgement and show my people the love foreigners have for Mexican music”, was the answer of the celebrated singer. And Carolina sang. At first still with some hesitation, but after many years of vocal study and a long musical journey from festivals to cultural events, big theatres and small cantinas, she developed herself as an respected exponent of Mexican music. She recorded four cd’s, shared the podium with several famous artists, sang for many (ex)presidents and travelled to Argentina, Switzerland, United States, Colombia, Spain and Indonesia. In her home country she appeared on lots of tv shows and the Dutch royal family invited her to sing for Prince Bernhard, father of Queen Beatrix, on his birthday. María the Lourdes could not see her success. She died unexpectedly in 1997 on the Dutch airport Schiphol. Since that moment, Carolina tries to take the Mexican music to a broad audience, the way she learned form her idol: always with respect to the traditions and culture of Mexico, which she admires so much. For more information about Carolina and María de Lourdes check out www.mariadelourdes.nl. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.