Mambo

A documentary directed by Yves Billon.

Synopsis

When mambo came out in 1950 it cre­ated a tremen­dous shock wave which spread at the speed of “son” through­out con­cert halls and dance halls all over the world — an unprece­dented bout of danc­ing called mam­bo­ma­nia. This per­fect mixed-breed music came from the explo­sive meet­ing between son and jazz. Perez Prado a Cuban musi­cian launched this music suc­cess­fully and soon became the king of mambo.

He was a pre­cur­sor as he was the first to take advan­tage of all the means dis­tri­b­u­tion — records, radio, cin­ema and tele­vi­sion­which expanded world­wide dur­ing the post-war period. The mambo was also the sen­su­ous echo of the young con­sum­ing soci­ety long­ing for plea­sure and fun.