| "Anabacoa" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single byBeny Moré &Pérez Prado | ||||
| B-side | "Batiri RCA" | |||
| Released | 1949 | |||
| Recorded | 1949 | |||
| Genre | Guaracha-mambo | |||
| Length | 3:03 | |||
| Label | RCA Victor | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Juanchín Ramírez | |||
| Beny Moré &Pérez Prado singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Anabacoa" is aguaracha composed by Puerto Rican trumpeterJuanchín Ramírez which has become aLatin musicstandard. Its most famous recording was made in Mexico in 1949 byBeny Moré backed byPérez Prado and his orchestra.[1][2] Recorded as amambo, Moré's recording became a hit throughout Latin America. It was followed by the version made byArsenio Rodríguez and hisconjunto in 1950, which further cemented the piece as a standard of the Cuban music repertoire.[3][4] Arsenio's rendition, although labeled as a guaracha, was driven by aguaguancó pattern on thetumbadora.[3]
In the 1970s, "Anabacoa" became the signature song of the Grupo Folklórico y Experimental Nuevayorkino, aNew York-baseddescarga ensemble originally known as Conjunto Anabacoa.[5][6][7] It was founded byJerry González and his brotherAndy in 1974.[5] Like Arsenio's version, their rendition is also "a guaguancó based on a two-measuremontuno pattern that is unchanging throughout the entire piece".[8]
In the 1990s,Sierra Maestra recorded another descarga rendition of the song for their albumTíbiri tábara, which included other "familiar songs of the Cuban repertoire".[9][10]