La Bamba

Click here for La Bamba PDF Drum Chart

La Bamba is a Latin standard and a must know for gigging drummers. The Los Lobos version is the one most played today. Check out the drum chart and the videos to get you ready. Have fun!



This is a folk song whose origins can be traced to the Mexican state of Veracruz over 300 years ago. It is best known from a 1958 adaptation by Ritchie Valens, a top 40 hit the U.S. charts and one of early rock and roll's best-known songs.

Traditional origins Influenced by Spanish flamenco and Afro-Mexican beats, La Bamba uses the violin, jaranas, guitar, and harp. Lyrics to the song greatly vary, as performers often improvise verses while performing. However, versions (such as those by musical groups Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlan and Los Pregoneros del Puerto) have survived because of the artists' popularity and have become the "definitive" versions. The traditional aspect of La Bamba lies in the tune itself, which remains the same through all versions. The name of the dance, which has no direct English translation, is presumably connected with the Spanish verb, bambolear meaning "to shake", or perhaps "to stomp". A dissenting view holds that the dance originated in or near one of the towns named Bamba in Angola or the DR Congo.

The traditional La Bamba was often played during weddings in Veracruz, where the bride and groom performed the accompanying dance. Today this wedding tradition is mostly lost, but the La Bamba dance survives through the popularity of ballet folklórico. The dance is performed in much the same way, displaying the newlywed couple’s unity through the performance of complicated, delicate steps in unison as well as through creation of a bow from a listón, a long red ribbon, using only their feet.

The "arriba" (literally "up") part of the song suggests the nature of the dance, in which the footwork, called "zapateado", is done faster and faster as the music tempo accelerates. The repeated lyric "Yo no soy marinero" ("Lit: I am not a sailor") refers to Veracruz's marine locale and the husband's promise that he will remain faithful to his wife.

At many gatherings, including the youth conventions of Esperanto (IJK, Internacia Seminario), one traditionally dances to La Bamba in a circle. People dance in the circle and people dance out of it. The people within the circle can take a place in the outer circle by kissing one of the people dancing in it, after this ritual one swaps places. Multiple versions are used for this, Spanish as well as partly or completely sung in Esperanto.
Los Lobos released an independent LP in the late 1970s, and an EP in 1983. Their first major-label, critically acclaimed release was 1984's T-Bone Burnett-produced How Will the Wolf Survive? They released a follow up album entitled By the Light of the Moon in 1987. In the same year they recorded some Ritchie Valens covers for the soundtrack to the film La Bamba, including the title track which became a number one single for the band. In 1988 they followed with another album, La Pistola y El Corazón featuring original and traditional Mexican songs. Seen as akin to commercial suicide, the album sold poorly.

The band's first noteworthy public appearance occurred in 1980 at the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles when they were hired by David Ferguson and CD Presents to open for Public Image Ltd. In the late 1980s and early 1990s the band toured extensively throughout the world, opening for such acts as Bob Dylan and the Grateful Dead.

Los Lobos returned with The Neighborhood in 1990, and the creative and wildly experimental Kiko (produced by Mitchell Froom) in 1992. In 1991, the band contributed a lively cover of Bertha, a song which they often performed live, to the Grateful Dead tribute/rain forest benefit album Deadicated. In 1994 they also contributed a track, Down Where the Drunkards Roll, to the Richard Thompson tribute album Beat the Retreat.

On the band's twenty-year anniversary they released a two-CD collection of singles, out-takes, live recordings and hits entitled Just Another Band from East L.A.

In 1995, Los Lobos released the prestigious and bestselling record Papa's Dream on Music for Little People Records along with a young vocal group called Guerro. The band also scored the film Desperado and contributed tracks to several other soundtracks and tribute albums. In 1996 they released Colossal Head. In spite of the fact that the album was critically acclaimed, Warner Brothers decided to drop the band from their roster. Los Lobos spent the next few years on side projects.

Los Lobos signed to Hollywood Records in 1999, and released This Time. Hollywood also reissued 1977's Del Este de Los Angeles. In 2000, Rhino/Warner Archives released the Cancionero: Mas y Mas boxed set.

On the night of October 23, 1999, while the band was on tour, Sandra Rosas, wife of Cesar Rosas, was kidnapped from her house. She was found dead on November 22, 2000. Her half-brother Gabriel Gomez was convicted of her kidnapping and murder and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

In 2002, the band released their Mammoth Records debut, Good Morning Aztlan; they released The Ride in 2004. The Ride featured artists such as Tom Waits, Mavis Staples, Bobby Womack and Elvis Costello covering Los Lobos music along with the band.

Los Lobos released its first full-length live-show DVD Live at¨the Fillmore in 2004. The DVD captures the band's act over a two-day period in July at the famed San Francisco venue.

In September 2006, Los Lobos released The Town and the City to much critical acclaim. The album's lyrics deal with Louis Perez's childhood in East Los Angeles while the music portrays complex and original soundscapes reminiscent of their previous release Kiko. Jaime Hernandez did the artwork for the album.[1]

In 2007 the group performed the song Billy 1, Bob Dylan's cover from Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid album, recorded in I'm Not There soundtrack.

Members David Hidalgo -Vocals, Guitar, Accordion, Fiddle, Requinto Jarocho Louie Pérez -Vocals, Guitar, Drums, Jarana Cesar Rosas -Vocals, Guitar, Bajo Sexto Conrad Lozano -Vocals, Bass, Guitarron Steve Berlin -Keyboards, Horns Unofficial member:

Cougar Estrada -Tour drummer, Percussionist The above article is from Wikipedia