Qué Rico el Mambo
Mambo Jambo
Welcome to Qué Rico el Mambo, a website dedicated to the rich musical history of Mambo and Cha Cha Cha in the 1950s. This music and dance craze escaped the shores of the Cuba in the late 1950s, and soon was flourishing in Miami, New York, Los Angeles, Mexico City and San Juan. It didn't take long for popular culture to grab a hold. By the mid 1950s, Mambo and Cha Cha Cha were prominently featured on television and in motion pictures. From masters of Mambo, Pérez Prado and Tito Puente to the; crooning vocals of Tito Rodriguez and the exotic shimmer of Yma Sumac you will find it here. Qué Rico el Mambo... ¡Dilo!
Perez Prado
Peréz Prado - "El Cara de Foca"
Perez Prado was born in Matanzas, Cuba, his mother was a school teacher, his father a newspaper man. He studied classical piano in his early childhood, and later played organ and piano in local clubs. For a time, he was pianist and arranger for the Sonora Matancera, Cuba's best-known musical group. He also worked with casino orchestras in Havana for most of the 1940s, and gained a reputation for being an imaginative (his solo playing style predated bebop by at least five years), loud player. He was nicknamed "El Cara de Foca" ("Seal Face") by his peers at the time. Continue