Edmundo Ros: Dead

[Guest]

But didnt' he do well!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-15414606

[MrGongGong]

A good innings indeed

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I have fond memories of a 78rpm disc of his Relatives Calypso ("Where there's a will there's a relative"). Cheerful, unpretentious Music-making.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

[amateur51]

I seem to remember his being on the Light Programme, nice danceable music to which my mother & i would dance while trying to get the washing machine to empty or the mangle to mangle. His cheery enthusiastic voice and rhythms are forever associated with the smell of hot washing and sudsy water for me

[Stillhomewardbound]

.

[EdgeleyRob]

Not my cup of tea but a favourite of my late dad

[Chris Newman]

My late mother always had the Light Programme (later Radio 2) on in every room as she flitted around with her dusters and Electrolux. Edmundo Ros was very much part of her furniture. His thick, smokey, lived-in West Indian/Latin American accent was a strong part of the charm of his rhythmic music making. I shall always think of his introductions:

"A-a-a-one-a-two-a-a-a-one-two-three-four".

He seemed to bring a Latin-American sunshine into dull winter days.

[PatrickOD]

He seemed to bring a Latin-American sunshine into dull winter days.

Spot on Chris!

I'm pleased to say I have a CD of his, 'Doin' the Samba', which I love playing. The samba was the only dance I could 'do' in the old dance hall days - something about the rhythm.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUDN2T8LcUE

Hey feet! Keep still!

[Serial_Apologist]

Wasn't Edmundo Ros about the establishment presenting a cutesy image of West Indian immigrants to make them acceptable to the indigenous population? Jazz and blues was always represented as the seedy side of black culture in popular movies of the 50s. Edmundo made a lot of money for himself out of that!

[Anna]

Yes. I have mixed race family, not me, I ain't no Shirley Bassey!!! My immediate family, via Windrush on their paternal side, are mixed. Lovely boys, couldn't care less about heritage, one of them even wants to play rugby for England!

[amateur51]

Yes. I have mixed race family, not me, I ain't no Shirley Bassey!!! My immediate family, via Windrush on their paternal side, are mixed. Lovely boys, couldn't care less about heritage, one of them even wants to play rugby for England!

Often the case with modern youngsters, Anna - no ambition

[John Wright]

Wasn't Edmundo Ros about the establishment presenting a cutesy image of West Indian immigrants to make them acceptable to the indigenous population? Jazz and blues was always represented as the seedy side of black culture in popular movies of the 50s. Edmundo made a lot of money for himself out of that!

Nah, he was 'accepted' long before that sort of thing would be considered. In the late 1940s Princess Elizabeth ventured out to a dance hall for the very first time, and she danced to the music of Edmundo Ros, from then on he was the tops for latin music. 'The Wedding Samba', 1949, sold three million records. He already owned a club, and dance school and an artiste's agency, and in 1951 bought London's Coconut Grove on Regent Street.

[johncorrigan]

He was a regular in our living room when i was a kid- that smoky voice always seemed really cheering and appealing. In the vinyl cupboard I've got an LP, Hollywood cha-cha-cha and this one was always a favourite - don't ask me why.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmySe86puw8