Ran Kan Kan
Tito Puente · 1963 · from the album The Latin World of Tito Puente · written by Tito Puente
A mambo by the King of the Timbales, built for his own instrument: learn what the timbales sound like here.
- timbales
- mambo
The upload is the recording on Puente's 1963 album The Latin World of Tito Puente, as its description says.
Why it matters
Tito Puente, a New Yorker of Puerto Rican descent, was called “El Rey de los Timbales”, the King of the Timbales. In the 1950s he led one of the big mambo bands of New York's Palladium Ballroom, the “Home of the Mambo”, and he helped make the timbales a solo instrument.
Ran Kan Kan is one of his own tunes, one of his best-known, and a showcase for the timbales.
What to listen for
- The timbales, up front: the sharp crack of the drums, the rolls that lead the band into a new section, and the bell keeping time.
- In salsa, timbale rolls and fills usually announce a new section. Learn to hear them here, and they'll tell you when a change is coming in every other song.