Cara Al Sol

Cara al Sol (English: Facing the sun) is the anthem of the Falange party. The lyrics were written in December 1935 and are usually credited to the then leader of the Falange, José Antonio Primo de Rivera. The music was composed by Juan de Tellería and Juan R. Buendia.

The circumstances of its creation are unusual. The Falangists needed a stirring song of their own to counter the popular appeal of El Himno de Riego (the national anthem of the Second Spanish Republic) and A Las Barricadas (a very popular Anarchist song). The Falange had nothing suitable of its own so it had been borrowing from the German Nazi and the Italian fascist repertoire.

To solve the problem, Primo de Rivera formed a committee, meeting on 2 December 1935 in the home of Marichu de la Mora Maura. Those present included José María Alfaro, Rafael Sánchez Mazas, Agustín (Así) de Foxá, Mourlane Michelena, Dionisio Ridruejo, Agustín Aznar, and Luis Aguilar. The result of their efforts, following a period of sub-committee review (at the Cueva del Orkompon, a Basque bar in Calle Miguel Moya, Madrid) was provisionally entitled the Himno de Falange Española. It was first performed in Madrid in 1936.

Its popularity was boosted by Primo de Rivera's execution on 20 November 1936 and his subsequent glorification by the Spanish Nationalists.

During the Spanish Civil War the Falange, which was since its inception quite military or paramilitary-like in its inner organization like other equivalent youth parties in countries under totalitarian regimes, became an important part of the National Army (or National Movement), both ideologically and militarily, still as an independent organization but strengthening the regular insurgent Army in the combat lines, which caused plenty of falangist casualties, and the Cara al Sol was their anthem throughout "the war days", the lyrics acquiring an even more special signification for its remembering of the "fallen comrades".

In Francoist Spain, the Falange, merged with other far-right groups into "Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las JONS", became the only legal political party. Cara al Sol became an official hymn together with the Oriamendi the hymn of the carlist movement, often played alongside the official anthem, the Marcha Real, and was regarded as the battle song of the Spanish far right.