(gentle music) (singer singing in Spanish) - [Jean] Jaime Nunó is known primarily as the composer of the Mexican National Anthem, (singer singing in Spanish) but his life was so much more remarkable than most remember.

(triumphant music) - [Jaime] I was born in a small town in Catalonia, Spain, but before I can remember, my mother and my father, they died, and I was taken in by my uncle and raised in Barcelona.

Uncle Bernard saw my potential in music at my young age and sent me to Naples in Italy where I could continue my studies and learn piano and organ.

I studied and loved to compose my own music.

(gentle piano music) (dramatic drum music) When I was just old enough, I joined the Spanish military as a band leader.

It was incredible.

I traveled all the way to Cuba, where I even met the former Mexican president, Antonio López de Santa Anna.

We became friends, and eventually, I returned with him to Mexico, where he could become president once more and I could lead the military bands.

Then an amazing opportunity presented itself.

Santa Anna held a contest to find original music for a new national anthem.

The lyrics had already been chosen from a poem by Francisco Bocanegra.

- Nunó wanted to apply for this job, but he was pretty sure that he wouldn't get it because he was not Mexican.

Santa Anna leaked the names of the judges to Nunó, and Nunó said, "Well, they know me, these guys, they're going to know my handwriting on the score."

So he wrote the entire anthem, and then he had his friend rewrite it in his writing so that it wouldn't be recognizable, and then put his name at the end, JN.

He won fair and square, having written the best music for this poem.

People loved that anthem.

- [Jaime] But the people did not love Santa Anna.

He was overthrown as president, and I began to worry about my safety because people knew how close we were.

I made the difficult choice to leave Mexico and move to the United States.

I settled in New York City, where I tried to make a living as a musician.

- Once he arrived in New York City in 1855, he launched a tour of the United States.

He would play piano with the orchestra, or he would direct the orchestra and performed all over the place.

He was so tired of being on the road for about 15 years.

His friend, Gustav Schirmer, suggested that he go to a city where it was not quite so pressure oriented as New York, and he suggested Buffalo as a place where music was appreciated.

- [Jaime] I was nervous at first.

I didn't know Buffalo.

I didn't know how I could be received, but I found it to be just what I needed.

After the exhausting years of being on tour, here, I could focus on my music and live a simpler life, conducting small orchestras and church choirs in the area.

I was out of the public eye for years until 1901, where all eyes were on Buffalo for the Pan-American Exposition.

- [Jean] One of the main focuses of the exposition was our sister Republics, Canada and Mexico.

Mexico had a large delegation of both officials of the government, of the military, including a regimental band that played at the Pan-Am.

- [Jaime] That band heard that the composer of the Mexican National Anthem might still be alive and in Buffalo living on Delaware Avenue.

They wanted to find me to tell me how much they liked my work.

It was an unexpected, unpleasant surprise.

Soon, I could hear them coming down my street.

- [Jean] They had the regimental band march up and down the street in front of the building, playing the National Anthem until he came out.

- [Jaime] I went to greet them and I said, "Enter my home."

I welcome Mexico with open arms.

The people of Mexico, and even the president at that time, Porfirio Díaz, invited me back to Mexico, a kind of a celebration tour.

Everywhere I went, the National Anthem played.

I was greeted with cheers, fancy dinners, and praised in every town.

I finally understood what the National Anthem of Mexico meant to the people and just how important it was.

I returned to Buffalo after those few exciting months.

For a tired, old man, it made me feel proud that my music could connect the people of Mexico in such a meaningful way.

- Jaime Nunó died in 1908 and was buried at Forest Lawn.

He was resting there until 1942, when his body was exhumed and moved to Mexico City to the Rotunda of Illustrious Persons, which was a great honor.

He was reburied next to the poet who wrote the lyrics to the National Anthem.

Even though he was not a Mexican, he contributed to the honor in which people held Mexico in this part of the United States.

(crowd applauding) (triumphant music) (triumphant music continues)