Mambo Santa Mambo by the Enchanters is a classic Xmas cash-in. By the winter of 1956/57, the Mambo music and dance craze that had swept through the dancehalls of Latin America and the US east coast had passed its underground phase and firmly entered the mainstream consciousness.
Mambo was everywhere and the original, largely improvised, dance style was being codified into a form of 'Salsa on 2s' that could be taught as a Latin Ballroom dance.
The Enchanters were a Doo-Wap band from Detroit led by the Holloway brothers, Alton, Gerald and Ulysses. Searching around for a theme for their next hit, they lit upon the happy idea of combining Mambo with a surefire big-selling Xmas theme. What if, imagined the brothers Holloway, Santa was doing the Mambo this Christmas?
The resulting track is one of the great forgotten Xmas songs of the 20th Century - and has earned a well-deserved place on the Finnginn Xmas playlist. But you're not going to hear it on Heart Christmas Radio any time soon.
Despite being a certified Xmas banger, Mambo Santa Mambo entirely failed to chart in either the US or the UK. And I have a theory as to why...
Mambo Santa Mambo
Release date: January 1st 1957
Photo by Matias Eduardo on Unsplash
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