Derived from Cuban danzón, the cha-cha-chá emerged in the wake of 1950s mambo and turned out to be even more popular. A fabulous, danceable, influential, international music, it produced the indispensable original version of Santana's famous hit "Oye Como Va," for example, as well as "Chanchullo," the Cuban piece that inspired it (both included here). Bruno Blum recounts the birth of cha-cha-chá and comments on it-a peak in Cuban music, before the 1959 revolution that led so many Cuban musicians to flee to the USA. The golden age of cha-cha-chá is typical of exchanges between Cuban and American musicians such as Tito Puente, who soon made this style his own. It is, however, the authentic, original Cuban sound that is prioritised here.

Patrick Frémeaux