Latin Boogaloo
Exciting mashup of Latin and Black music born in New York City
ROOTS: The sounds that gave birth to Boogaloo
“In this test tube, you put a little Cuban guajira, son montuno, cha cha cha, blues chords, some R&B vocal stylings, start shaking it up, throw it down and what do you get? Latin boogaloo. Latin soul!”
- Bobby Sanabria in “We Like It Like That”
Soul and Funk
Latin Boogaloo was heavily influenced by Motown, Stax and other soul and R&B artists like James Brown. Brown and duo Tom & Jerrio even recorded different songs titled “Boo-Ga-Loo” although neither recording featured cha cha or son rhythms associated with Latin Boogaloo hits of the same time period.
“The boogaloo and way we think of it existed far longer than we remember. It’s a cha cha beat. Smokey Robinson was doing it when he [produced] ‘My Girl,’” said Joe Bataan when interviewed in 2015 by Vice Magazine. In New York City, African Americans and Latin Americans lived in the same neighborhoods and listened to music from both cultures. Boogaloo was a hybrid that developed from that close proximity.
Listen to examples of Soul influences here
Cuban Music
Cuban charanga, cha cha, and son montuno were giant influences on the Latin Boogaloo sound. There are many definitions of boogaloo but Latin Soul Brothers bandleader Henry “Pucho” Brown’s is likely the best known: “cha-cha with a backbeat.” The Paris Review’s article of the same name explains this further by adding “cha-chas are set in traditional Afro-Cuban two-three clave, and boogaloo’s backbeat came from soul and rock and roll and emphasized the second and fourth beat of each measure”.
Cuban music was very popular in New York especially in the Mambo King heyday of the 1940s and 1950s. Cuban musicians who performed other syles like charanga and son montuno would often travel to New York to perform on Manhattan stages and radio shows.
Listen to examples of Cuban influences here
Doo Wop
The vocal harmonies and stylings of doo wop were a key ingredient in the musical stew that became Latin Boogaloo. In the documentary “We Like it Like That”, musician and producer, Bobby Marin, explains “Growing up I wasn’t really into in Latin music. I got more interested in and what I was listening to on the radio was doo wop. I just fell in love with that music.”
Doo wop recording artists including Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers (pictured above) , Little Anthony and the Imperials and the Flamingos were very influential to many Boogaloo musicians and the layered harmonies are very present in several boogaloo recordings.
Listen to examples of Doo Wop influences here
Major artists of the Latin Boogaloo era
Latin boogaloo was born in New York neighborhoods like East Harlem and the South Bronx but it didn’t come out of nowhere. As Latinos, Afro-Caribbeans and African Americans lived together, young musicians blended latin polyrhythms with soul’s beat. Like the inner city teenagers who created it, boogaloo songs utilized English and “spanglish” words to communicate its message.
Before Latin boogaloo music was noticed by promoters and recorded by record labels, a few songs in the early 1960s portended its arrival. Mongo Santamaria’s “Watermelon Man” and Ray Barretto’s “El Watusi” were early examples of the mashup of soul with danceable latin rhythms. By 1969, a few years after Latin boogaloo entered New York’s music scene, it was a dead genre. Latin Boogaloo was a short lived “fad” but some wonderful songs came out of that time period and it retrospect has been seen as a pivotal umping off moment that set the stage for salsa and hip hop.
Citations
A Fusion of Culture and Identity: Joe Bataan’s Latin Boogaloo Music. 2020. Smithsonian Education
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=se9hYSAl72s
An Illustrated NYC Mambo, Boogaloo and Salsa Family Tree | Red Bull Music Academy Daily. 2016.
https://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2016/05/mambo-boogaloo-salsa-music-family-tree
“Boogaloo - New World Encyclopedia.” Www.Newworldencyclopedia.org, www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/boogaloo.
“BOOGALOO.” www.Salsacrazy.com, www.salsacrazy.com/salsaroots/boogalu.htm. Accessed 6 Dec. 2020.
“Joe Cuba, Bandleader Known as the Father of Latin Boogaloo, Dies at 78”. 18 February 2009. New York Times (Online).
https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/18/arts/music/18cuba.html Joe Cuba obituary[LW2]
Flores, Juan “Cha cha with a backbeat”: Songs and stories of Latin Boogaloo. Black Renaissance . 1999.
http://www.afrolatinoforum.org/cha-cha-with-a-backbeat-songs-and-stories-of-latin-boogaloo.htm
Flores, Juan. Boogaloo Soul. In Salsa Rising. Oxford University Press. 2016. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199764891.003.0004
Goldman, Jonathan. “Fania at fifty”. The Paris Review. 9 October 2014. https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2014/10/09/cha-cha-with-a-backbeat/
Kempton, Arthur, “Boogaloo: The Quintessence of American Popular Music,” Pantheon Books. 2003.
Kent, Mary. “ SALSA TALKS! A Musical Heritage Uncovered”. Digital Domain. 2005.
Lipsky, Jessica. "The Boogaloo Never Died": How the Quintessential Music of 1960s New York Is Making a Comeback” 4 August 2015. Vice Magazine.,
https://www.vice.com/en/article/rjxjd3/boogaloo-new-york-joe-bataan-johnny-colon-interview-we-like-it-like-that-documentary
“The Latin Boogaloo” Quine, Tim. The Rubber City Review. 25 January 2014.
https://rubbercityreview.com/2014/01/the-latin-boogaloo-2/
Latin Dance Party – 1960s Boogaloo. Compiled by Mike Delanian, Warner Music UK Ltd. 2000. CD.
Morales, Ed. "The Latin Beat: The Rhythms and Roots of Latin Music from Bossa Nova to Salsa and Beyond." Da Capo Press (2003): 60-7. Print.
The Salsa Revolution, Latin Music USA. Written by Jeremy Marre and Daniel McCabe. PBS. 2009.
Wang, Oliver, “We like it like that: the songs that defined New York City's boogaloo craze” The Guardian, 5 April 2016,
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/apr/05/we-like-it-like-that-film-boogaloo-new-york-latin-soul-music
We Like it Like That. Directed by Matthew Ramirez Warren and Elena Ramirez, performances Joe Bataan, Johnny Colon, Ricardo Ray. 2015
“We Like it Like That Official Film Site”. www.latinboogaloo.com, https://latinboogaloo.com/about. Accessed 1 Dec 2020
YOUTUBE CITATIONS
Arsenio Rodriguez - Papaupa (RECOMENDADO). YouTube. 16 August 2011.
https://youtu.be/jD69upksknU
Dee Dee Sharp – Mashed Potato Time. YouTube. 13 July 2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51eJ3-h86JQ
The Flamingos “I Only Have Eyes for You”. 24 November 2012.
https://youtu.be/nrzusdilnKQ
Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers – Baby Baby. 11 July 2010
https://youtu.be/_QjO3fA4xpQ
In the Still of the Night – Fred Parris and the Satins. 17 December 2006
https://youtu.be/fBT3oDMCWpI
James Brown performs "Night Train" on the TAMI Show (Live). YouTube. 16 March 2013
https://youtu.be/ZF_rZrH4yBY
Jose Curbelo and His Orchestra: La Ruñidera. 17 December 2015
https://youtu.be/bhcVsB7btkM
Machito and his Afro-Cuban Orchestra – Contillon Mambo. 10 April 2010
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xI4nsBAa-ac
“Mickey's Monkey” The Miracles with Smokey Robinson. YouTube. 16 October 2011
https://youtu.be/ZVkAQUPGqpk
Stay – Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs. 20 June 2018
https://youtu.be/2RRPGmA_9Eo
The Temptations - My Girl ( Original Video Recording 1965 WS)” YouTube. 26 September 2018
https://youtu.be/g4Ftj1HZcU0
Tito Puente – Cuban Pete. YouTube. 24 August 2014
https://youtu.be/-S-VgW1VQ80