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| Cultural origins | Late 1930s,Havana,Cuba |
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Mambo is a genre of Cuban dance music pioneered by the charangaArcaño y sus Maravillas in the late 1930s and later popularized in thebig band style byPérez Prado. It originated as a syncopated form of thedanzón, known asdanzón-mambo, with a final, improvised section, which incorporated theguajeos typical ofson cubano (also known asmontunos). Theseguajeos became the essence of the genre when it was played by big bands, which did not perform the traditional sections of the danzón and instead leaned towardsswing andjazz. By the late 1940s and early 1950s, mambo had become a "dance craze" inMexico and theUnited States as itsassociated dance took over the East Coast thanks to Pérez Prado,Tito Puente,Tito Rodríguez and others. In the mid-1950s, a slower ballroom style, also derived from the danzón,cha-cha-cha, replaced mambo as the most popular dance genre in North America. Nonetheless, mambo continued to enjoy some degree of popularity into the 1960s and new derivative styles appeared, such as dengue; by the 1970s it had been largely incorporated intosalsa.
The earliest roots of mambo can be traced to thedanzón de nuevo ritmo (danzón with a new rhythm), later known as danzón-mambo, made popular by thecharanga Arcaño y sus Maravillas conducted by flautistAntonio Arcaño.
Orestes López and his brotherIsrael López "Cachao", main composers ofthe Maravillas, were the first to denominate a final upbeat, improvised section of the popular Cubandanzón as amambo. This innovation was a key step in the process of evolution of the danzón, which over the years had progressively lost its structural rigidity to the benefit of musicians and dancers alike. Prior to thedanzón de nuevo ritmo, in 1910,José Urfé had first added amontuno (typicalson improvised closing section) as a final part of his compositionEl bombín de Barreto. This was a swinging section consisting of a repeated musical phrase, which introduced some elements of the son into the danzón. During the mid-to-late 1930s, some members of the Arcaño group were sayingvamos a mambear ("let's mambo") when referring to the montuno or final improvisation of the danzón.[1] It was Arcaño's cellist,Orestes López, who created the first danzón called "Mambo" (1938).[2] In this piece, some syncopated motives taken from the son style were combined with improvised flute passages.[3]
Antonio Arcaño described the mambo as follows: "Mambo is a type of syncopatedmontuno that possesses the rhythmic charm, informality and eloquence of the Cuban people. The pianist attacks the mambo, the flute picks it up and improvises, the violin executes rhythmic chords in double stops, the double bass inserts atumbao, thetimbalero plays the cowbell, thegüiro scrapes and plays themaracas rhythm, the indispensabletumba (conga drum) reaffirms the basstumbao and strengthens thetimbal."[4]
Dámaso Pérez Prado, a pianist and arranger fromMatanzas, Cuba, established his residence in Havana at the beginning of the 1940s and began to work at night clubs and orchestras, such as Paulina Alvarez's and Casino de La Playa. In 1949 he traveled to Mexico looking for job opportunities and achieved great success with a new style, to which he assigned a name that had been already used byAntonio Arcaño, themambo.[5]
Perez Prado's style differed from the previous mambo concept. The new style possessed a greater influence from North-Americanjazz, and an expanded instrumentation consisting of four to five trumpets, four to five saxophones, double bass, drums, maracas, cowbell, congas and bongos. This new mambo included a catchy counterpoint between the trumpets and the saxophones that induced the body to move along with the rhythm, stimulated at the end of each musical phrase by a characteristic deep throat sound expression.
Because his music was aimed at an audience that lived primarily outside Cuba, Pérez Prado used a large number of international influences, especially North-American, in his arrangements. This is evident in his arrangements of songs such as "Mambo Rock", "Patricia" and "Tequila", where he uses a triple meter U.S. "swing" rhythm fused with elements fromCuban rumba and son.Pérez Prado gained hits such as "Mambo No. 5"[6] and "Mambo No. 8" in 1950. The mambo boom peaked in the US in early 1950s, when Pérez Prado hit the Americancharts at number one with acha-cha-chá version of "Cherry Pink (and Apple Blossom White)". Pérez Prado's repertoire included numerous international pieces such as "Cerezo Rosa", "María Bonita", "Tea for Two", "La Bikina", "Cuando Calienta El Sol", "Malagueña" and "En Un Pueblito Español", among many others.[7]
Prado's recordings were meant for the Latin American and U.S.latino markets, but some of his most celebrated mambos, such as "Mambo No. 5" and "Que Rico El Mambo", quickly crossed over to a wider U.S. audience.[8]
Cuban singerBeny Moré also lived in Mexico between 1945 and 1952.[9] He composed and recorded some mambos there with Mexican orchestras, especially the one led by Rafael de Paz; they recorded "Yiri Yiri Bon", "La Culebra", "Mata Siguaraya", "Solamente Una Vez" and "Bonito Y Sabroso".[9] Benny and Perez Prado recorded 28 mambo songs including "La Múcura", "Rabo Y Oreja", and "Pachito E'ché".[10] At this time Benny also recorded with the orchestra of Jesús "Chucho" Rodríguez.
Mambo arrived in 1947 and mambo music and dance became popular soon after.[11] Recording companies began to usemambo to label their records and advertisements for mambo dance lessons were in local newspapers. New York City had made mambo a transnational popular cultural phenomenon. In New York the mambo was played in a high-strung, sophisticated way that had thePalladium Ballroom, the famous Broadway dance-hall, jumping. The Ballroom soon proclaimed itself the "temple of mambo", for the city's best dancers—the Mambo Aces, Cha Cha Taps,"Killer Joe" Piro, Augie and Margo Rodriguez. Augie and Margo were still dancing 50 years later (2006) inLas Vegas.
Some of New York's biggest mambo dancers and bands of the 1950s included: Augie & Margo, Michael Terrace & Elita, Carmen Cruz & Gene Ortiz, Larry Selon & Vera Rodríguez, Mambo Aces(Anibal Vasquez and Samson Batalla), Cha Cha Taps (Carlos Arroyo and Mike Ramos),Killer Joe Piro, Paulito and Lilon, Louie Maquina,Pedro Aguilar (nicknamed "Cuban Pete"),Machito,Tito Rodríguez,Jose Curbelo, andNoro Morales.[2]
By the early 1960s, tastes had shifted, and the Palladium closed in 1966, partly because a drug raid in 1961 led to the loss of its license to sell liquor. Dancers' and music fans' enthusiasm for the music was not entirely diminished, however.
TheVillage Gate inGreenwich Village offered Latin Night on Mondays and Wednesdays. Federico Pagani started Latin Nights with radio hostSymphony Sid Torin and Joe Gaines. Federico Pagani offered a Latin Night at various clubs, including Tony Roma's El Corso on 86th Street andThird Avenue, Barney Googles, and theCheetah, Casa Blanca, Caboroeno, Broadway 96, Trudiheller's Trix, Peppermint Lounge, Les Violins, Village Gate Nightclub, The Roseland, Manhattan Center, The 3 In One In Brooklyn HeightsProspect Park, St. George Hotel, La Epoca, Cerromar, Nightclub, Hippocampo, Caravana Club, Hunt's Point Palace, Bronx Casino, La Campana Bar Restaurant, and Carlos Ortiz El TropicoroBronx. These venues hosted "the scene" after the Palladium. Pagani was an advisor forNuestra Cosa (Our Latin Thing ) at the Cheetah and The Red Garder with Symphony Sid Torrin.('Mambo Kings'). Pagani produced and was responsible for all the Latin concerts.
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