In 1955 Eduardo Davidson, a Cuban Colombian introduced the Marencumbae, a Colombian dance in Cuba. The original music was called La
Pachanga with Marencumbae underneath it. He made up patterns for this dance by
watching musicians keeping time on the band stand. It was then introduced into
the United States to play for the Cuban embassy's annual affair at the Waldorf.
He was simultaneously booked at the Palladium. He had with him two terrific boy
dancers. These boys came out as part of the show and did Cha Cha's with
swiveling and trucking movements. People had never seen this type of Cha Cha
before and asked what it was. Since Fajardo had a Charanga band and spoke no
English, his reply was Charanga. After a big conference of dancers in 1956 the
Pachanga was introduced, but they found out that the Charanga and the Pachanga
were interchangeable. So instead of some calling it Charanga and others Pachanga,
they decided that the music would be called Charanga and the dance Pachanga. A
Charanga band is the typical Spanish Danzon type band that only played in
salons, and the others that played far out and wild were called "orchestra
typical."
