House of Clave
Standard

Mambo No. 5

The mambo, numbered. Dámaso Pérez Prado — ‘El Rey del Mambo’ — turned out instrumental mambos so fast he numbered them, and No. 5 (1949) is the one that...

Open in the interactive experience

The mambo, numbered. Dámaso Pérez Prado — ‘El Rey del Mambo’ — turned out instrumental mambos so fast he numbered them, and No. 5 (1949) is the one that stuck: grunting brass stabs, that unmistakable ‘¡uhh!’, a rhythm engineered for the floor. Fifty years on, Lou Bega bolted a pop-rap lyric onto it and sent it back to No. 1 around the world — proof that Prado's engine still runs.

Composer
Dámaso Pérez Prado
Year
1949
Lineage
Original mambo

Sources