Mambo Yo Yo is an album by the Congolese musician Ricardo Lemvo, released in 1998.[2][3] He is credited with his band, Makina Loca.[4] Lemvo supported the album with a North American tour that included shows as part of his label's AfroLatino Nights tour.[5][6]
Production
The album was produced by Niño Jésus Pérez.[7] Lemvo sang nine of the album's ten songs in Spanish; he was influenced primarily by Cuban music.[8][9]Wuta Mayi performed on Mambo Yo Yo.[10] "Aquella Bendita Foto" is a son montuno.[11] The title track is built on the sounds of soukous and salsa.[12]
Robert Christgau deemed the album "Californian Afro-salsa."[14] The St. Petersburg Times stated that "Lemvo has created an articulate mix of Latin derivations, along with soukous stylings of his native Congo region."[15] The Boston Herald called Mambo Yo Yo "a potent, danceable [Putumayo] debut by the Congolese singer."[16]
Newsday determined: "Whether it's the band's easygoing syncopations or Lemvo's sweet, sandpapered tenor, what comes across is a gently insistent sound that glides along on Latin clave rhythms."[17] The Sun-Sentinel noted that, "in Makina Loca, listeners will hear elements from Afro-Cuban music and soukous, but also merengue from the Dominican Republic, konpa from Haiti and a little Calypso."[18]
AllMusic wrote that "the music on Mambo Yo Yo can be characterized as mainly Cuban style son montuno with trumpets (sometimes muted, giving that 'tropical moonlight' sound), driving piano, even a tres on many numbers."[13]