Lyrics | Artists | Mongo Santamaria

Mongo Santamaria

A great Afro-Cuban jazz percussionist who made his name in the 1960s and '70s, Mongo Santamaria was a master conga player whose mesmerising, intoxicating rhythms became influential in bringing together traditional Latin sounds with black American music. Brought up on Cuba's rumba beats, he learned to play in the streets of Havana in the 1920s, where African drummers, bongo and conga players and all sorts of percussionists would fill the air with different rhythms and styles. He was mentored by Clemente 'Chico' Piquero who played with bandleader Beny Moré, and got his start playin...