"La Bamba" () is a Mexican

folk song Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be c ...

, originally from the state of

Veracruz Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...

, also known as "La Bomba". The song is best known from a 1958 adaptation by

Ritchie Valens Richard Steven Valenzuela (May 13, 1941 – February 3, 1959), known professionally as Ritchie Valens, was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. A rock and roll pioneer and a forefather of the Chicano rock movement, Valens was killed i ...

, a

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or " con ...

hit in the U.S. charts. Valens's version is ranked number 345 on ''

Rolling Stone magazine ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its cov ...

''′s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. "La Bamba" has been covered by numerous artists, notably by

Los Lobos Los Lobos (, Spanish for "the Wolves") are an American rock band from East Los Angeles, California. Their music is influenced by rock and roll, Tex-Mex, country, zydeco, folk, R&B, blues, brown-eyed soul, and traditional music such as cumbia, ...

whose version was the title track of the 1987 film '' La Bamba'', a

bio-pic A biographical film or biopic () is a film that dramatizes the life of a non-fictional or historically-based person or people. Such films show the life of a historical person and the central character's real name is used. They differ from docudr ...

about Valens; their version reached No. 1 in many charts in the same year.

Traditional versions

"La Bamba" is a classic example of the ''

son jarocho Son jarocho ("Veracruz Sound") is a regional folk musical style of Mexican Son from Veracruz, a Mexican state along the Gulf of Mexico. It evolved over the last two and a half centuries along the coastal portions of southern Tamaulipas state an ...

'' musical style, which originated in the Mexican state of

, and combines

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...

, and

African African or Africans may refer to: * Anything from or pertaining to the continent of Africa: ** People who are native to Africa, descendants of natives of Africa, or individuals who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa *** Ethn ...

musical elements. The song is typically played on one or two

arpa jarocha The arpa jarocha is a large wooden harp that is normally played while standing, although early examples from the 16th through the first three or four decades of the 19th centuries were smaller and were played while seated. It has a wooden frame, ...

s (harps) along with

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

relatives the

jarana jarocha The jarana jarocha is a guitar-shaped fretted stringed instrument from the southern region of the state of Veracruz, Mexico. Typically strung with 8 strings in 5 courses, usually arranged in two single outer strings with three double-courses in ...

and the

requinto jarocho The requinto jarocho or guitarra de son is plucked string instrument, played usually with a special pick. It is a four- or five-stringed instrument that has originated from Veracruz, Mexico. The ''requinto'' is used in conjunto jarocho ensembles ...

. Lyrics to the song vary greatly, as performers often improvise verses while performing. However, versions such as those by musical groups

Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlan Mariachi (, , ) is a genre of regional Mexican music that dates back to at least the 18th century, evolving over time in the countryside of various regions of western Mexico. The usual mariachi group today consists of as many as eight violins, ...

and Los Pregoneros del Puerto have survived because of the artists' popularity. The traditional aspect of "La Bamba" lies in the tune, which remains almost the same through most versions. The name of the dance referenced within the song, which has no direct English translation, is presumably connected with the Spanish

verb A verb () is a word (part of speech) that in syntax generally conveys an action (''bring'', ''read'', ''walk'', ''run'', ''learn''), an occurrence (''happen'', ''become''), or a state of being (''be'', ''exist'', ''stand''). In the usual descri ...

"bambolear", meaning "to sway", "to shake" or "to wobble". In one traditional version of this dance performed at weddings and ''

ballet folklórico Baile folklórico, "folkloric dance" in Spanish, also known as ballet folklórico, is a collective term for traditional cultural dances that emphasize local folk culture with ballet characteristics – pointed toes, exaggerated movements, highly ...

'' shows, couples utilize intricate footwork to create a bow signifying their union.

Early recordings

"La Bamba" has its origin in the state of

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. The oldest recorded version known is that of Alvaro Hernández Ortiz, who recorded the song with the name of "El Jarocho". His recording was released by

Victor Records The Victor Talking Machine Company was an American recording company and phonograph manufacturer that operated independently from 1901 until 1929, when it was acquired by the Radio Corporation of America and subsequently operated as a subsidi ...

in Mexico in 1938 or 1939, and was reissued on a 1997 compilation by

Yazoo Records Yazoo Records is an American record label founded in the mid-1960s by Nick Perls. It specializes in early American blues, country, jazz, and other rural American genres collectively known as roots music. History The first five releases (L 1001 ...

, ''The Secret Museum of Mankind Vol. 4''. According to a 1945 article in ''

Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energ ...

'', the song and associated dance were brought "out of the jungle" at Veracruz by American bandleader Everett Hoagland, who introduced it at Ciro's

nightclub A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music. Nightclubs gener ...

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

. It became popular, and the song was adopted by Mexican presidential candidate

Miguel Alemán Valdés Miguel Alemán Valdés (; 29 September 1900 – 14 May 1983) was a Mexican politician who served a full term as the President of Mexico from 1946 to 1952, the first civilian president after a string of revolutionary generals. His administr ...

who used it in his successful campaign. Later in 1945, the music and dance were introduced at the Stork Club in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Arthur Murray Arthur Murray (born Moses Teichman, April 4, 1895 – March 3, 1991) was an American ballroom dancer and businessman, whose name is most often associated with the dance studio chain that bears his name. Early life and start in dance Arthur Mur ...

. A popular version by Andrés Huesca (1917–1957) and his brother Victor, billed as Hermanos Huesca, was issued on

Peerless Records Peerless Records was a record label based in Mexico. Peerless was founded in 1921 in Mexico City by E. Baptista. Early pressings of their gramophone record were made under contract by Gennett Records. By 1933, Peerless was pressing its own recor ...

in Mexico around 1945–46. Huesca re-recorded the song for

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also Aris ...

in 1947, and the same year the song featured as a production number in the

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, but in some cases, they serve merely as breaks ...

'' Fiesta'', performed by a group called Los Bocheros. The song was featured in the 1946 Mexican movie ''Rayando el Sol'' starring

Pedro Armendáriz Pedro Gregorio Armendáriz Hastings (May 9, 1912 – June 18, 1963) was a Mexican film actor who made films in both Mexico and the United States. With Dolores del Río and María Félix, he was one of the best-known Latin American movie stars ...

. The Swedish-American folk singer

William Clauson William Clauson (May 2, 1930 – September 3, 2017) was a Swedish-American singer of folk songs from various nations, including some of the songs of Carl Michael Bellman in both English and Swedish. Biography Clauson was born in Ashtabula, Oh ...

recorded the song in several languages in the early and mid-1950s. He claimed to have heard the song in Veracruz, and in performance slowed down the tempo to encourage audience participation.Mats Johansson, Magnus Nilsson, "William Clauson", ''sunkit.com''
Retrieved April 13, 2015 Biography, William Clauson official site
Retrieved April 13, 2015 Another version, "somewhat

bowdlerized Expurgation, also known as bowdlerization, is a form of censorship that involves purging anything deemed noxious or offensive from an artistic work or other type of writing or media. The term ''bowdlerization'' is a pejorative term for the practi ...

", was recorded by

Cynthia Gooding Cynthia Gooding (August 12, 1924 – February 10, 1988) was an American folk singer who recorded traditional songs from various countries for Elektra Records in the 1950s and 1960s. Judy Collins wrote that she had been "inspired" by her. Life ...

on her 1953 Elektra album, ''Mexican Folk Songs''.

Ritchie Valens version

learned the song in his youth, from his cousin Dickie Cota. In 1958 he recorded a

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...

flavored version of "La Bamba", together with session musicians Buddy Clark (string bass);

Ernie Freeman Ernest Aaron Freeman (August 16, 1922 – May 16, 1981) was an American pianist, organist, bandleader, and arranger. He was responsible for arranging many successful rhythm and blues and pop records from the 1950s to the 1970s. Birth and fam ...

(piano);

Carol Kaye Carol Kaye (née Smith, born March 24, 1935) is an American musician. She is one of the most prolific recorded bass guitarists in rock and pop music, playing on an estimated 10,000 recordings in a career spanning over 50 years. Kaye began play ...

(acoustic rhythm guitar);

René Hall René Joseph Hall (September 26, 1912 ‒ February 11, 1988) was an American guitarist and arranger. He was among the most important behind the scenes figures in early rock and roll, but his career spanned the period from the late 1920s to the ...

(

Danelectro Danelectro is a brand of musical instruments and accessories, founded in Red Bank, New Jersey in 1947. The company is known primarily for its string instruments that employed unique designs and manufacturing processes. The Danelectro company was ...

six-string baritone guitar); and

Earl Palmer Earl Cyril Palmer (October 25, 1924 – September 19, 2008) was an American drummer. Considered one of the inventors of rock and roll, he is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Palmer was one of the most prolific studio musicians of al ...

(drums and claves). It was originally released as the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

of "

Donna Donna may refer to the short form of the honorific ''nobildonna'', the female form of Don (honorific) in Italian. People * Donna (given name); includes name origin and list of people and characters with the name * Roberto Di Donna (born 1968), ...

", on the

Del-Fi Del-Fi Records was an American record label based in Hollywood, California and owned by Bob Keane. The label's first single released was "Caravan" by Henri Rose released in 1958, but the label was most famous for signing Ritchie Valens. Valens' fi ...

label.María Herrera-Sobek , ''Celebrating Latino Folklore: An Encyclopedia of Cultural Traditions'', ABC-CLIO, 2012, p.651
/ref> The song features a simple verse-chorus form. Valens, who was proud of his Mexican heritage, was hesitant at first to merge "La Bamba" with rock and roll, but then agreed. The song ranked No. 98 in VH1's ''100 Greatest Songs of Rock and Roll'' in 1999, and No. 59 in VH1's ''100 Greatest Dance Songs'' in 2000. Furthermore, Valens' recording of the song was inducted into the

Latin Grammy Hall of Fame The Latin Grammy Hall of Fame is a hall of fame established by the Latin Recording Academy to recognize "early recordings of lasting qualitative or historical significance that were released more than 25 years ago". LARAS is also the same organiza ...

. The song was listed at number 354 in the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time by ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' magazine, being the only non-English language song included in the list. It was also included in

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

's "Basic Record Library" of 1950s and 1960s recordings published in '' Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies'' (1981). Valens was inducted posthumously into the

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), sometimes simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and othe ...

in 2001. In 2019, Valens' version was selected by the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

for preservation in the

National Recording Registry The National Recording Registry is a list of sound recordings that "are culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant, and/or inform or reflect life in the United States." The registry was established by the National Recording Preservati ...

for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". It is also included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's list of 500 songs that were influential in shaping rock and roll.

Charts

Los Lobos version

The

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

directed by

Sherman Halsey Sherman Brooks Halsey (February 22, 1957 – October 29, 2013) was an American music video and television director, producer, and artist manager. Sherman Halsey produced and directed hundreds of television shows and music videos for artists ...

won the 1988

MTV Video Music Award for Best Video from a Film The MTV Video Music Award for Best Video from a Film was first awarded in 1987, recognizing the best videos whose songs were a part of a movie soundtrack or featured in a film. As time went on, though, music videos taken from movie soundtracks beca ...

, also the

had the participation of

Lou Diamond Phillips Louis Diamond Phillips ( born Upchurch; February 17, 1962) is a Filipino-American actor and film director. His breakthrough came when he starred as Ritchie Valens in the biographical drama film '' La Bamba'' (1987). For ''Stand and Deliver'' (19 ...

, the actor who played Valens in the 1987 film namesake. The song was also the fourth wholly non-English language song to top the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The song was later featured in the game ''

Guitar Hero World Tour ''Guitar Hero World Tour'' (initially referred to as ''Guitar Hero IV'' or ''Guitar Hero IV: World Tour'') is a music rhythm video game developed by Neversoft and published by Activision. It is the fourth main installment in the ''Guitar Hero'' ...

''.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

All-time charts

Certifications and sales

Other notable versions

*In 1960,

Harry Belafonte Harry Belafonte (born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr.; March 1, 1927) is an American singer, activist, and actor. As arguably the most successful Jamaican-American pop star, he popularized the Trinbagonian Caribbean musical style with an interna ...

's live version of the song was released on his album ''

Belafonte Returns to Carnegie Hall ''Belafonte Returns to Carnegie Hall'' is a live double album by Harry Belafonte. It is the second of two Belafonte Carnegie Hall albums, and was recorded May 2, 1960. It peaked at #3 on the Billboard Pop albums charts. Belafonte shares the stage ...

''. His previously recorded but unreleased studio version from 1958 was included in a 2001 compilation, ''Very Best of Harry Belafonte'', under the title "Bam Bam Bamba". *In 1965,

Dusty Springfield Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien (16 April 1939 – 2 March 1999), known professionally as Dusty Springfield, was an English singer. With her distinctive mezzo-soprano sound, she was a popular singer of blue-eyed soul, Pop music, p ...

covered the song for her second album, ''

Ev'rything's Coming Up Dusty ''Ev'rything's Coming Up Dusty'' is the second studio album by singer Dusty Springfield, released on Philips Records in the UK in 1965. Springfield's 1964 debut album, '' A Girl Called Dusty'', sold well enough to make her Philips Records' top- ...

''. It was also included on ''

You Don't Have To Say You Love Me "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" (originally a 1965 Italian song, '"Io che non vivo (senza te)", by Pino Donaggio and Vito Pallavicini) is a 1966 hit recorded by English singer Dusty Springfield that proved to be her most successful single, ...

'' in 1966, which was more or less an American re-issue of the previous album. *In 1985, Canadian children's singer

Charlotte Diamond Charlotte Diamond, (born July 31, 1945), is a Canadian musician, best known for her children's music. Biography Charlotte Diamond was born and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia. She graduated from North Delta Secondary School in 1963, a ...

released a cover of the song that is perhaps best known for appearing in the children's television series ''

Ants in Your Pants ''Ants in Your Pants'' is a Canadian children's music video television program made and aired by Treehouse TV that ran from November 1, 1997 to June 15, 2004. The series was created and produced by Kathilee Porter. Plot The show's intro consists ...

''. *A song from a Bosnian pop-rock band

Crvena jabuka Crvena jabuka () is a pop rock band formed in Sarajevo, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1985. Since then they had great success and are still very popular. They were a part of the New primitives movement that started during the 80s. Biography The ...

"Sviđa mi se ova stvar" released in 1988, is heavily influenced by "La Bamba". *Texas rock band

Los Lonely Boys Los Lonely Boys are an American musical group from San Angelo, Texas. They play a style of music they call "Texican Rock n' Roll," combining elements of rock and roll, Texas blues, brown-eyed soul, country, and Tejano. The band consists of th ...

have frequently performed "La Bamba" in concert. They cite Valens as an influence in their music. *A ''

Star Academy ''Star Academy'', called ''Operación Triunfo'' ("Operation Triumph") in Spanish-speaking countries, is a highly successful television pop music talent contest with viewer voting and reality show elements. Format There are many versions of t ...

3'' version of "La Bamba" reached No. 3 in France on December 13, 2003, In January 2004, it reached No. 5 in

Wallonia Wallonia (; french: Wallonie ), or ; nl, Wallonië ; wa, Waloneye or officially the Walloon Region (french: link=no, Région wallonne),; nl, link=no, Waals gewest; wa, link=no, Redjon walone is one of the three regions of Belgium—alo ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. *

Wyclef Jean Nel Ust Wyclef Jean (; born October 17, 1969) is a Haitian rapper, musician, and actor. At the age of nine, Jean immigrated to the United States with his family. He first achieved fame as a member of the New Jersey hip hop group the Fugees, a ...

and

Dora the Explorer ''Dora the Explorer'' is an American children's animated television series and multimedia franchise created by Chris Gifford, Valerie Walsh Valdes and Eric Weiner that premiered on Nickelodeon on August 14, 2000, went on hiatus on June 5, 20 ...

in the 2010 Mega Music Fest on

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

References

Traditional versions

Early recordings

Ritchie Valens version

Charts

Los Lobos version

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

All-time charts

Certifications and sales

Other notable versions

See also

References