Pachanga (genre)
The pachanga , also called merenconga , was a Latin American fashion dance in the early 1960s. Orquesta Sublime had a hit in 1959 with La pachanga , which the composer of the piece, Eduardo Davidson (* 1929 as Claudio Cuza in Baracoa , Cuba, † 1994 in New York ) was able to repeat after moving to New York in 1960. As the name "Merenconga" suggests, it is musically a mixture of Conga and Merengue . The pachanga was typically played by charangas and replaced the cha-cha-chá wave in this scene . Short accompanying riffs are typical with a high proportion of melodically identical notes in strings, piano and bass.
The style term Charanga , which was popular at the same time , is mostly explained by the popularity of Pachanga, which spread to the non-Latin American audience, and which is said to have confused style and orchestral type. However, this is contradicted by the fact that Cuban orchestras such as Fajardo y sus Estrellas have also recorded "Charangas" - the reason could also be a ban on "Pachanga" in Cuba. There are also LPs on which Pachangas and Charangas are represented (these are very similar to Cha-cha-chás ).
The pachanga is still danced in Cali, which is known for its salsa scene .