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Today, from the Bond on Vinyl archives, we’re still listening to music featured in Dr. No, From Russia With Love, and Goldfinger!
Dámaso Pérez Prado was born in Cuba in 1916. He studied classical piano in his youth. Later, he played organ and piano in local clubs. By the 1940s, he worked his way up to performing with Havana casino orchestras. In 1949, he moved to Mexico and started his own band with RCA Records which specialized in an upbeat adaptation of Cuba’s official musical genre (the danzón), known specifically as mambo.
Some of Prado’s biggest hits in fact include “Mambo No. 5”, and “Mambo No. 8” in addition to “Patricia”, and “The Peanut Vendor”. His songs have been featured in many television shows and films including Office Space, and Lou Bega’s take on “Mambo No. 5” topped the charts in the decade following Prado’s death.
This 1976 album is named after a patriotic Cuban poem and song “Guantanamera” that has been covered by many artists and leads off this tracklist. While I picked up this record to hear his take on the theme from Goldfinger, my favorite track here is actually “Tema De James Bond”, a very cha-cha-chá version of ‘The James Bond Theme’ from Dr. No., which may make you want to get up and dance.
72. Perez Prado And His Orchestra – Guantanamera
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