Dos gardenias is a bolero written in 1945 by Cuban composer and pianist Isolina Carrillo. It was first recorded in 1945 by Guillermo Arronte for Havana radio - the earliest recording - and Carrillo would later marry Arronte. The song was published on 2 April 1947 and became a Cuban favorite in 1947 thanks to La Sonora Matancera with an arrangement by Pérez Prado and Daniel Santos on lead vocals. Other early versions that helped popularize it include Avelina Landín in Mexico, Fernando Álvarez whose recording Carrillo favored, and Antonio Machín who made it famous in Spain. In 1948 jazz singer Miguel de Gonzalo recorded it for Peerless Records with Julio Gutiérrez's orchestra, and he later cut another version with Sonora Matancera for Stinson Records under the Conjunto Tropicavana name for legal reasons. The tune achieved international fame years later with Ibrahim Ferrer's 1996 recording with the Buena Vista Social Club, and today it stands as a standard of Latin American music.
