Papa Mambo

Created by Chilean-born classical guitarist Rodrigo Muñoz in 1989, Winnipeg’s Papa Mambo started out as a spirited party band but soon became recognized as one of the most skillful, exciting and important innovators in Canada’s Latin music scene. This free wheeling octet, whose bubbling rhythmic drive is a classic mix of “percolation and punctuation,” has always emphasized great playing and inspired arrangements. Their diverse array of jazz-inflected Latin rhythms and progressive musical ideas has never been clearer than on their newest CD, Amanecer (Spanish for “sunrise”), which promises a performance full of hot solos, driving ensemble work, and tempo-shifting dance-floor madness. This is Latin music at its most modern and exciting.

“The music is a thinking person ’s groove, a mix of the intelligent and the infectious. ”
– Winnipeg Free Press Thanks to the Canada Council for the Arts