Celia Cruz & Johnny Pacheco

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Celia Cruz & Johnny Pacheco · Johnny Pacheco was born in 1935 in Santiago de los Caballeros in the Dominican Republic and moved with his family to New York at the age of eleven. His father led the big band Orquesta Santa Cecilia. As a child Pacheco learned many instruments, studied percussion at the Juilliard School and played percussion in orchestras such as those of Tito Puente and Xavier Cugat. In the 1960s he became a leading figure in New York salsa as founder and musical director of Fania Records. He popularised the word salsa and founded the Fania All-Stars to showcase the best artists of the genre.

Music and breakthrough

Pacheco was also one of the forerunners of the pachanga, a blend of Cuban rhythms and Dominican merengue from the late 1950s. He died in 2021, and in 2005 received a Latin Grammy for his lifetime achievement. Celia Cruz was the Cuban singer who is regarded as the queen of salsa. Together they recorded the album Celia & Johnny in 1974, which includes Quimbara.

Influence

Salsa blends Cuban son and other rhythms with jazz and the energy of New York. Quimbara shows what that music sounds like: tight percussion, sharp brass and a big, clear voice that engages in a call-and-response game with the chorus. The duo belongs among the makers who made Latin American music popular worldwide.

Listening

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  Quimbara · Celia Cruz & Johnny Pacheco, 1974
  Apple Music ↗