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"Anabacoa" is a guaracha composed by Puerto Rican trumpeter Juanchín Ramírez which has become a Latin music standard. Its most famous recording was made in Mexico in 1949 by Beny Moré backed by Pérez Prado and his orchestra. Recorded as a mambo, Moré's recording became a hit throughout Latin America. It was followed by the version made by Arsenio Rodríguez and his conjunto in 1950, which further cemented the piece as a standard of the Cuban music repertoire. Arsenio's rendition, although labeled as a guaracha, was driven by a guaguancó pattern on the tumbadora.

In the 1970s, "Anabacoa" became the signature song of the Grupo Folklórico y Experimental Nuevayorkino, a New York-based descarga ensemble originally known as Conjunto Anabacoa. It was founded by Jerry González and his brother Andy in 1974. Like Arsenio's version, their rendition is also "a guaguancó based on a two-measure montuno pattern that is unchanging throughout the entire piece".

In the 1990s, Sierra Maestra recorded another descarga rendition of the song for their album Tíbiri tábara, which included other "familiar songs of the Cuban repertoire".

References

1. Radanovich, John (2009). Wildman of Rhythm: The Life & Music of Benny Moré. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida. p. 57. ISBN 978-0-8130-3393-8.
2. Díaz Ayala, Cristóbal (Fall 2013). "Benny Moré" (PDF). Encyclopedic Discography of Cuban Music 1925-1960. Florida International University Libraries. Retrieved October 30, 2017.
3. ^ García, David (2006). Arsenio Rodríguez and the Transnational Flows of Latin Popular Music. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press. p. 175. ISBN 9781592133871.
4. Díaz Ayala, Cristóbal (Fall 2013). "Arsenio Rodríguez" (PDF). Encyclopedic Discography of Cuban Music 1925-1960. Florida International University Libraries. Retrieved October 30, 2017.
5. ^ Figueroa, Frank M. (1994). Encyclopedia of Latin American music in New York. St. Petersburg, FL: Pillar Publications. pp. 103, 105.
6. Rondón, César Miguel (2008). The Book of Salsa. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press. p. 242.
7. Rondón, César Miguel (October 21, 2014). "Anabacoa" (in Spanish). Retrieved October 30, 2017.
8. Gerard, Charley (2001). Music from Cuba: Mongo Santamaria, Chocolate Armenteros, and Cuban Musicians in the United States. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers. p. 117. ISBN 9780275966829.
9. "Sierra Maestra - Tíbiri tábara". Jazz Times. 28 (6–10). 1998.
10. "Sierra Maestra - Tíbiri tábara". The Beat. 17: 88. 1998.

• 1949 songs
• Guaracha
• Mambo
• Pérez Prado songs
• RCA Victor singles
• 1949 singles