Mamborama is an international group comprised of North American and Cuban musicians. Their trademark blend of modern Cuban rhythms with jazz and R&B influences has gained acceptance throughout the world. The latest CD, Directamente al Mambo, was recorded in part in Havana, Cuba with some of the leading musical figures in Cuban music today. The CD features guest appearances by top Cuban singer Sixto Llorente "El Indio," Manolito Simonet, "Pupy" Pedroso, and Klimax bandleader Giraldo Piloto and many more and was nominated for a Cubadisco award (a first for a Yuma!)
Their songs have been featured on the PBS show American Family and have been licensed to several compilation CDs, including the very first track of the recently released Rough Guide To Latin Jazz. Mamborama's music has been played on Mp3.com over 400,000 times.
Founder Bill Wolfer, a Grammy-nominated songwriter and producer, was recently interviewed on two of the top Cuban radio stations while visiting Havana last June. The group's music has been played all over the world--this web site has gotten fan mail from such far flung places as the Ukraine, Kenya and Indonesia.
Bill Wolfer: “One of the most gratifying moments of my life was standing in Casa De La Musica in Havana with El Indio when the DJ put on La Gata Loca for the first time. The whole place got up and danced, even though they'd never heard the tune before. The Cubans are the toughest audience, especially for someone like me, who isn't even Cuban.”
Wolfer has been to Havana, Cuba four times to study the music further. He took piano lessons from two of the top players in the country today, Manolito Simonet of Manolito Y Su Trabuco, and Marcos Greco of the group Klimax.
“The music scene down there is amazing right now—the Cuban conservatories are cranking out musical geniuses by the dozens. The groups are incredible, and the Cuban Salsa known as Timba is fantastic music—very sophisticated. It’s one of those rare moments in time where something completely new is happening in music, like New York in the 40’s and 50’s with the birth of be-bop, or the London rock scene in the sixties. For me, Cuba is where it’s happening today. It felt like being in on something that is on the verge of being discovered by the whole world, a completely new kind of music.”
Mamborama’s music has its roots in traditional Cuban Son and Descargas, as well as having one foot in the newer styles of Songo and Timba. “I wanted the music to be as authentic as possible. I told the guys that I wanted it to sound so Cuban, that you could smell the cigars. On the other hand, I didn’t want to get too authentic—that would just be a reconstruction, and that can get pretty sterile. I am a Yanqui after all, and those sensibilities are going to be there, no matter what, but that’s hopefully what makes our music fresh, that blend of Cuban and American Jazz influences. All music is a fusion of one sort or another.”
