In the 1950s and 1960s, African Americans in the United States listened to various styles of music including
rock and roll,
jump blues,
R&B and
doo-wop and
jazz. Latinos in New York City shared these tastes, but they also listened to genres like
mambo or
cha cha chá. There was a mixing of Puerto Ricans, Cubans and African Americans and others in clubs, whose bands tried to find common musical ground. Boogaloo was a result of this search, a marriage of many styles including Cuban
son montuno,
guaguancó,
guajira,
guaracha,
mambo, and American R&B and
soul. Styles like doo wop also left a sizable influence, through Tony Pabón (of the
Pete Rodríguez Band), Bobby Marín, King Nando, and
Johnny Colon. Boogaloo has been called by Izzy Sanabria "the greatest potential that Cuban rhythms had to really cross over in terms of music". Though boogaloo did not become mainstream nationwide until later in the decade, two early Top 20 hits came in 1963:
Mongo Santamaría's cover version of the
Herbie Hancock's "
Watermelon Man" and
Ray Barretto's "El Watusi". Inspired by these successes, a number of bands began imitating their infectious rhythms (which were
Latinized R&B), intense
conga rhythms and clever
novelty lyrics. Boogaloo was the only Cuban-style rhythm which occasionally acquired English lyrics. Established Cuban-influenced orchestras also recorded the occasional boogaloo, including
Tito Rodríguez,
Willie Bobo,
Tito Puente and arranger, composer
Ray Santos and his orchestra, which recorded "Cindy's Boogaloo" in 1968. Most of the other groups were young musicians – some were teenagers – the Latin Souls, the Lat-Teens, the Latinaires,
Pucho & His Latin Soul Brothers, and
Joe Bataan. Use of the term
boogaloo in referring to a musical style was probably coined in about 1966 by
Richie Ray and
Bobby Cruz. The biggest boogaloo hit of the 1960s was "Bang Bang" by the
Joe Cuba Sextet, which sold over one million copies in 1966. "El Pito" was another hit by this popular combo. Hits by other groups included Johnny Colón's "Boogaloo Blues", Pete Rodríguez's "
I Like It like That", The closing marked the end of mainstream mambo, and boogaloo ruled the Latin charts for several years before
salsa began to take over. At the same time, several other rhythmical inventions came to notice: the dengue, the jala-jala and the shing-a-ling were all offshoots of the mambo and chachachá. The craze was mostly over by 1970, perhaps because of the hostility of established bands and key booking agents; the reason is uncertain. It had been an intense, if brief, musical movement, and the music is still highly regarded today. In the 2000s, Latin boogaloo has seen a resurgence in popularity, with artists like Bataan experiencing renewed interest in their Latin boogaloo output, and new groups emerging to form a Latin boogaloo revival. In
Cali, Colombia, boogaloo, salsa and
pachanga are played by
disc jockeys like Heynar Alonso and others in FM and AM radio stations and dance clubs. == References ==