Kiko Kids – Mambo Rumba

Meanwhile, you had the afro-rhumba, imported from West Africa to Cuba and then brought back to East Africa beginning in the 30s. This began a huge rhumba craze throughout the continent, which lasted for several decades. The above recording is from 1963, and is basically indistinguishable from what you might hear in a pre-Castro Havana nightclub, except they’re singing in Swahili instead of Spanish. The name of the track is a sort of polyglot pun: “Mambo” is the name of the famous Cuban dance, and the traditional Swahili greeting.

Ly