Mambo is a genre of Cuban dance music pioneered by the charanga Arcaño y sus Maravillas in the late 1930s and later popularized in the big band style by Pérez Prado. It originated as a syncopated form of the danzón, known as danzón-mambo, with a final, improvised section, which incorporated the guajeos typical of son cubano. These guajeos 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 towards swing and jazz. By the late 1940s and early 1950s, mambo had become a "dance craze" in Mexico and the United States as its associated 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 into salsa.
Salsa music is a style of Latin American music, combining elements of Cuban, Puerto Rican, and American influences. Because most of the basic musical components predate the labeling of salsa, there have been many controversies regarding its origin. Most songs considered as salsa are primarily based on son montuno and son cubano, with elements of guaracha, cha-cha-chá, danzón, descarga, bolero, guajira, rumba, mambo, jazz, funk, R&B, rock, bomba, and plena. All of these elements are adapted to fit the basic Son montuno template when performed within the context of salsa.
Timbales or pailas are shallow single-headed drums with metal casing. They are shallower than single-headed tom-toms and usually tuned much higher, especially for their size. They were developed as an alternative to classical timpani in Cuba in the early 20th century and later spread across Latin America and the United States.
Arsenio Rodríguez was a Cuban musician, composer and bandleader. He played the tres, as well as the tumbadora, and he specialized in son, rumba and other Afro-Cuban music styles. In the 1940s and 1950s Rodríguez established the conjunto format and contributed to the development of the son montuno, the basic template of modern-day salsa. He claimed to be the true creator of the mambo and was an important as well as a prolific composer who wrote nearly two hundred songs.
Mozambique refers to two separate styles of music.
Timba is a Cuban genre of music based on Cuban son with salsa, American Funk/R&B and the strong influence of Afro-Cuban folkloric music. Timba rhythm sections differ from their salsa counterparts, because timba emphasizes the bass drum, which is not used in salsa bands. Timba and salsa use the same tempo range and they both use the standard conga marcha. Almost all timba bands have a trap drummer. Timbas also often break the basic tenets of arranging the music in-clave. Timba is considered to be a highly aggressive type of music, with rhythm and "swing" taking precedence over melody and lyricism. Associated with timba is a radically sexual and provocative dance style known as despelote. It is a dynamic evolution of salsa, full of improvisation and Afro Cuban heritage, based on son, Rumba and mambo, taking inspiration from Latin jazz, and is highly percussive with complex sections. Timba is more flexible than salsa and includes a more diverse range of styles. Timba incorporates heavy percussion and rhythms which originally came from the barrios of Cuba.
Eddie Palmieri is an American Grammy Award-winning pianist, bandleader, musician, and composer of Puerto Rican ancestry. He is the founder of the bands La Perfecta, La Perfecta II, and Harlem River Drive.
A descarga is an improvised jam session consisting of variations on Cuban music themes, primarily son montuno, but also guajira, bolero, guaracha and rumba. The genre is strongly influenced by jazz and it was developed in Havana during the 1950s. Important figures in the emergence of the genre were Cachao, Julio Gutiérrez, Bebo Valdés, Peruchín and Niño Rivera in Cuba, and Tito Puente, Machito and Mario Bauzá in New York. Originally, descargas were promoted by record companies such as Panart, Maype and Gema under the label Cuban jam sessions. From the 1960s, the descarga format was usually adapted by large salsa ensembles, most notably the Fania All-Stars.
Songo is a genre of popular Cuban music, created by the group Los Van Van in the early 1970s. Songo incorporated rhythmic elements from folkloric rumba into popular dance music, and was a significant departure from the son montuno/mambo-based structure which had dominated popular music in Cuba since the 1940s. Blas Egües was the first drummer in Los Van Van, but it was the band's second drummer, José Luis Quintana "Changuito", who developed songo into the world-wide phenomenon it is today.
Tony Vega Cesar, known professionally as Tony Vega is a Puerto Rican salsa singer.
Hans Orifice is a drummer best known as a member of Gwar. Born Jim Thomson, in Alexandria, Virginia, he first took the name Hans Sphincter, and assumed his current name in 1987. Thomson left due to touring commitments with his main band, the Alter Natives, who released three albums on SST Records. Richmond drummer Rob Mosby of the Richmond, Virginia punk group White Cross then joined Gwar until 1989. Hans Orifice returned briefly in 1989 after Mosby left the group. During this time Thomson co-wrote Sick of You with the band and completed a U.S. and Canadian tour. After the tour, Thomson left Gwar on good terms to tour with The Alter Natives. He was replaced by current drummer Jizmak Da Gusha.
Ignacio Piñeiro Martínez was a Cuban musician, bandleader and composer whose career started in rumba and flowered in the rise of the son. He was one of the most important composers of son music; in total he wrote about 327 numbers, mostly sones.
Rumba is a secular genre of Cuban music involving dance, percussion, and song. It originated in the northern regions of Cuba, mainly in urban Havana and Matanzas, during the late 19th century. It is based on African music and dance traditions, namely Abakuá and yuka, as well as the Spanish-based coros de clave. According to Argeliers León, rumba is one of the major "genre complexes" of Cuban music, and the term rumba complex is now commonly used by musicologists. This complex encompasses the three traditional forms of rumba, as well as their contemporary derivatives and other minor styles.
Carlos Valdés Galán, better known as Patato, was a Cuban conga player. In 1954, he emigrated from La Habana to New York City where he continued his prolific career as a sideman for several jazz and Latin music ensembles, and occasionally as a bandleader. He contributed to the development of the tunable conga drum which revolutionized the use of the instrument in the US. His experimental descarga albums recorded for Latin Percussion are considered the counterpart to the commercial salsa boom of the 1970s. Tito Puente once called him "the greatest conguero alive today".
Manny Oquendo was an American percussionist of Puerto Rican ancestry. His main instruments were the timbales and the bongos.
Candela is a San Francisco-based nine piece salsa music and Latin jazz band created in 1986 under the direction of Uruguayan born lead singer and conga drummer Edgardo Cambón. It consists of piano, bass, trombones, conga drums, bongo drums, timbales, and vocals. "Candela" is one of the "oldest" Salsa Bands, in the Bay Area, having performed consistently an average of 4 performances a month for over 30 years!
Comedia (Comedy) is the third solo album by the Puerto Rican musician Héctor Lavoe. It was released on 1978 under the label of Fania Records. It is notable for the song "El Cantante", which was written by Rubén Blades. In 2006, Hispanic included the album on its list of 10 classic salsa albums.
The Lebrón Brothers are a musical family born in Puerto Rico and raised in Brooklyn, New York. The brothers are Pablo, Pedro, Diego, Juan and Fernando. They provide the vocals and rhythm section of the band. Members of the original band were Gabe Gil - alto sax, Tito Ocasio - Timbales, Héctor Lebrón - Congas, Eddie DeCupe - Trumpet, Elliot Rivera, vocals, Félix Rivera, trumpet. Frankie Lebrón later replaced Frankie Rodríguez who replaced his cousin Héctor Lebrón on congas.
Orquesta La 33 is a Colombian salsa music band. The collective was founded in Bogotá in 2001 by brothers Sergio and Santiago Mejía. The name is taken from the city's Calle 33, in Teusaquillo, the 13th locality of Bogotá, where the band first rehearsed.
Rumba Baby Rumba! is an album by the American band Bio Ritmo, released in 1998. The band supported the album by touring with Squirrel Nut Zippers.
