JOE CUBA - BUSTIN OUT

Joe Cuba “the architect of Boogaloo” passed away on February 2009 and this is our way to pay tribute to this amazing bandleader and percussionist. Joe Cuba’s music embodied a perfect balance of sounds and lyrics (both in English and Spanish) that appealed to both Anglo listeners as well as his core Latin devotees. As architect of the Joe Cuba sound, few entertainers can claim to have performed at Carnegie Hall, the Apollo Theater, Hollywood Palladium, Madison Square Garden, and the Caribbean Pavilion at the 1964 World’s Fair, but Joe certainly could.

Joe Cuba (Gilberto Navarro) was born on April 22, 1931, in Spanish Harlem, New York City, where his Puerto Rican parents moved in the late ‘20’s. A generation of Latinos growing up in Spanish Harlem in the 1960’s were influenced by their parents more traditional musical tastes, but adapted and combined it with the R&B and Bebop of the time to create their own unique style, which became known as Boogaloo. Joe Cuba was instrumental in the development of boogaloo and had the biggest hit of the 60s with “Bang Bang,” which achieved unprecedented success for Latin music in the US in 1966 when it sold over one million copies. Joe’s pivotal role in the boogaloo style had him nicknamed the “Father of Latin Boogaloo,” and his leadership in the community had him coined rightfully so, “the mayor of the barrio” (El Alcalde Del Barrio).