Search - Rumba Blues 1953-57: Mambo Years :: Rumba Blues 1953-57: Mambo Years

2010 collection, the second installment in the How Latin Music Changed Rhythm And Blues series. 1954 was the year of the mambo in America as crowds flocked to the ballrooms to see the exciting new Latin bands. To cash in on the craze, record companies encouraged their pop and R&B artists to write songs in a Latin vein with the word mambo in the title. The samba was also making its presence felt during the mid-50's. Its roots are linked to the rituals of the Candomblé religion from Bahia in north east Brazil. It is the spring in the beat and the almost imperceptible skip at the end of each measure that differentiate it from Cuban rhythms. The repetitive riff making over a groove so beloved of the 60's and 70's springs not from the blues but from Latin song-form and the vamps and montunos found in samba and mambo.