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Where salsa comes from

6.Cousin #3: mambo

Mambo started as a fast, exciting ending added to danzón songs. By the late 1940s it was its own hit style, with a big band of trumpets and saxophones. Who “created” it is still debated.

Mambo was fast and loud, and dancers loved it. In New York, mambo dancers at the Palladium Ballroom built the style that On2 salsa comes from.

ListenQué Rico el MamboPérez Prado and His Orchestra · 1956Pérez Prado turned mambo into a worldwide craze. This official upload is his 1956 re-recording, released under the English title Mambo Jambo. Hear the punchy trumpets and saxophones trading short riffs.