La Engañadora

The song that started it all. In 1953 the violinist Enrique Jorrín, playing with Orquesta América, slowed the danzón-mambo and simplified the beat so...

The song that started it all. In 1953 the violinist Enrique Jorrín, playing with Orquesta América, slowed the danzón-mambo and simplified the beat so ballroom dancers could keep up — and ‘La Engañadora’ became the first cha-cha-chá ever recorded. The lyric teases ‘the deceiver,’ a woman whose padded curves fooled the neighborhood; the rhythm, named for the shuffle of dancers' feet, conquered the world within two years. Tito Puente and Orquesta Aragón carried it into the mambo age; Rubén González returned it to solo piano. Ground zero for a global craze.

Composer

Enrique Jorrín

Year

1953

Lineage

cha-cha-chá