Orquesta América is a Cuban charanga orchestra founded in Havana in 1942, and later based in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...

and

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. The band pioneered the cha-cha-chá in 1953.

History

The band was founded in 1942 by singer Ninón Mondéjar with Alex Sosa (piano),

Enrique Jorrín Enrique Jorrín ( Candelaria, Pinar del Río, December 25, 1926 - Havana, December 12, 1987) was a Cuban charanga violinist, composer and music director. He is considered the inventor of the '' cha-cha-chá'', a popular style of ballroom music de ...

, Antonio Sánchez, and Félix Reina (violins), Juan Ramos (flute) and others. Mondéjar and Sosa went to Mexico, then later revived Orquesta América in California. Success, in Cuba, came in 1953 with Orquesta America's recording of Jorrín's "

La engañadora "La engañadora" (translated in the US as "Anything Can Happen When You're in Havana", "The Gay Deceiver" or simply "The Deceiver") is a song written by violinist Enrique Jorrín and first recorded by Orquesta América in March 1953. Shortly after ...

". However the success of the band led to Mondéjar and Jorrín over whether the bandleader or songwriter should take the credit for the invention of the cha-cha-chá. The band split during a tour of Mexico in December 1954 and Ramos returned to Havana with half of the band to form Orquesta América del '55 in 1955. During that same year Juanito Ramos was replaced by Rolando Lozano flutist (formerly of Orquesta Aragon) and his brother Clemente Lozano also a flutist. In the 1990s leadership of Orquesta America passed to Jorge Machado Durán. Ninón Mondéjar died in Havana in 2006.Ninón Mondéjar Obituary (in Spanish)
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Partial discography

Singles

/ Silver Star (Panart, 1953) * El alardoso / Negro de sociedad (Panart, 1953)

Compilations

* ''Siempre a Punto'' (Lujuria, 2008)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Orquesta America Musical groups established in 1942 Cuban musical groups Cha-cha-cha 1942 establishments in Cuba