Beautiful Maria of My Soul
"Beautiful Maria of my Soul" (Spanish: Bella María de mi alma) is a song prominently featured in the 1992 motion picture The Mambo Kings. In the film, it is performed in Spanish by Antonio Banderas and in English by Los Lobos. The song was written and composed by Arne Glimcher and Robert Kraft (composer). The film is based on the book The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love.
In the film, the character (Banderas) writes the song for his long-lost love, Maria Riveiro (Talisa Soto).
This song received an Academy Award nomination, finally won by "A Whole New World", from Aladdin. Antonio Banderas refused to sing the song live, and tenor Plácido Domingo became the first Spaniard to perform at the Oscars ceremony.
Italian sisters Paola & Chiara covered this song for the album "festival" (2002)
The song was performed by Robert Moscio in his 1999 album "One By One".