¡Cubanismo! is a modern Cuban orchestra that celebrates Cuba’s deepest musical traditions, proudly performing compositions in Cuban genres like, “son,” rumba and chachachá.
They also play the ever-popular Mambo. In the 1930s, Cuban big band musicians added some elements of “son” to danzón to form a new up-tempo dance music. The mambo is based on the 3-2 clave and uses a 4/4 beat,with a dancer counting “quick quick slow,” moving his/her feet on the second beat of the four beat phrase, shifting weight to the other foot on the third, and returning to the original foot on the fourth. In other words, 1-2-3, 5-6-7. Mambo became most popular not in Cuba, but in Cuban refugee communities in New York and Mexico City. This video of a ¡Cubanismo! performance from the UK shows us that everyone can love it.
