Anabacoa

"Anabacoa" is a guaracha composed by Puerto Rican trumpeter Juanchín Ramírez which has become a Latin music standard. Its most famous recording was made in Mexico in 1949 by Beny Moré backed by Pérez Prado and his orchestra.[1][2] Recorded as a mambo, Moré's recording became a hit throughout Latin America. It was followed by the version made by Arsenio Rodríguez and his conjunto in 1950, which further cemented the piece as a standard of the Cuban music repertoire.[3][4] Arsenio's rendition, although labeled as a guaracha, was driven by a guaguancó pattern on the tumbadora.[3]

In the 1970s, "Anabacoa" became the signature song of the Grupo Folklórico y Experimental Nuevayorkino, a New York-based descarga ensemble originally known as Conjunto Anabacoa.[5][6][7] It was founded by Jerry González and his brother Andy in 1974.[5] Like Arsenio's version, their rendition is also "a guaguancó based on a two-measure montuno pattern that is unchanging throughout the entire piece".[8]

In the 1990s, Sierra Maestra recorded another descarga rendition of the song for their album Tíbiri tábara, which included other "familiar songs of the Cuban repertoire".[9][10]