Day 269: From Afro-Cuban Rhythms to Latin Jazz

Mongo Santamaría can be credited with making the Cuban drum known as the conga (or tumbadora) into an integral part of U.S. music,
whether jazz, rock-and-roll, soul, reggae, or other modern genres. No other percussionist achieved greater impact on the diffusion of Afro-Cuban folkloric music or recognition within mainstream jazz as well as through his own unique mixture of Cuban, jazz, and soul music. Following in the footsteps of Chano Pozo, Mongo’s labor, along with that of other percussionists such as Armando Peraza, Patato Valdés, Francisco Aguabella, and Cándido Camero, brought about a transformation in the traditional sound of jazz, rock, and R&B drumming. Today the conga is everywhere, either as lead instrument or as fundamental accompaniment to all kinds of music, from U.S. pop to Mexican norteña, from Latin jazz to Las Vegas show orchestras.

The musical biography of Mongo Santamaría reveals a constant back-and-forth between two styles of performance and recording. On the one hand, he distinguished himself as a performer of Cuban music in very traditional forms: folkloric rumbas, mambos, pachangas, and so forth. On the other hand, he developed his own style of fusion by combining jazz, Cuban-origin rhythms, and the sounds of soul music. Despite this ambidextrous career, Mongo was, in the end, a Cuban sonero, pure and simple. On several occasions he stated his commitment to maintaining the traditional styles of Cuban music and indeed helped preserve and develop Afro-Cuban drumming styles. His criticisms of salsa, which he considered an imitation of Cuban music, did not make him many friends. Yet he clearly admired and promoted the native sounds of all of the countries of the Caribbean basin.

Ramón “Mongo” Santamaría was born in the Jesús María barrio of Havana on April 17, 1917, the son of Ramón and Felicia. His father worked as a carpenter and mason and participated in the neighborhood activities of a national political party. His mother sold coffee, cigarettes, and candy in a street-corner stand.1 Mongo scarcely knew his African-born paternal grandfather, who had arrived in Cuba in a contraband slave-trading ship in the second half of the nineteenth century. But his maternal grandmother often cooked for bembés of the Santería religion, where Mongo began his drumming apprenticeship.


Growing up in Jesús María, a barrio famous for its drummers and the popular street carnival comparsa (band) La Jardinera, he was exposed from an early age to a rich musical environment. The year of Mongo’s birth coincided with the year the first Cuban son was recorded, the beginning of an era that it is still going strong with the Buena Vista Social Club, Cuarteto Patria, and many other groups. He witnessed firsthand the evolution of the son groups, from the original trios and quartets to the expanded sextetos and septetos, which added a trumpet and substituted the acoustic bass for the folkloric marímbula. Mongo was influenced musically by his maternal uncle, José Rodríguez (“Macho”), who led a neighborhood trio and played maracas with the Conjunto Jiguaní. Mongo’s mother wanted her son to learn to play the violin. But after a few lessons, the youngster decided that percussion was his calling. He played maracas and sang with neighborhood groups, La Lira Infantil first and, later, La Lira Juvenil. There were other important sources of inspiration. A cousin on his father’s side, Luis Santamaría, was a distinguished akpwón (singer) in Lucumí religious events. (He eventually became a founding member of Cuba’s national folkloric ensemble.) Mongo decided to take up the bongos after watching the amazing bongosero Clemente Piquero (“Chicho”)— who later played in Beny Moré’s orchestra—perform feats of dexterity on that double-headed Cuban drum.

Mongo was still in his teens when he became a professional musician. He played bongos for a group led by Alfredo Boloña and Marcelino Guerra—the latter the composer of many Cuban and salsa standards such as “Pare cochero” and “Me voy p’al pueblo.” Mongo’s first gig was at a well-known Havana nightspot, the Eden Concert club. In rapid succession, he went on to play with the most notable son groups of the 1930s. He played with the Alfredo León sexteto with pianist Silvio Contreras, composer of the catchy danzón “Masacre,” and bassist Cristóbal Dobal, who later would join the famed Conjunto Casino of the 1950s. Mongo also played with the Carabina de Ases sexteto. He recorded for the first time in the late 1930s with the show orchestra Lecuona Cuban Boys and with the veteran sonero vocalist Antonio Machín.

For many aspiring youngsters like Mongo, the dream of becoming a professional musician was nearly impossible given the realities of Cuban social conditions. The musicians’ ability to produce music was simply one more commodity in a capitalist market, and as such, it was subject to the tendency toward overproduction characteristic of capitalism. Simply put, there were too many musicians for the jobs available. Cuba’s sugarcane monoculture economy, dependent as it was on the United States, translated into structural unemployment in all branches of production. The local economy, built on a weak base, became further dislocated by the severe crisis of the 1930s. Within the vast mass of the unemployed, there was a musical reserve army of musicians desperately seeking opportunities.

~~From Afro-Cuban Rhythms to Latin Jazz -by- Raul A. Fernandez