| Mambo Yo Yo | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Ricardo Lemvo |
| Cover: | Mambo Yo Yo.jpg |
| Released: | 1998 |
| Label: | Putumayo World Music[1] |
| Producer: | Niño Jésus Pérez |
| Prev Title: | Tata Masamba |
| Prev Year: | 1996 |
| Next Title: | São Salvador |
| Next Year: | 1999 |
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]
The album was produced by Niño Jésus Pérez. Lemvo sang nine of the album's ten songs in Spanish; he was influenced primarily by Cuban music.[7] [8] Wuta Mayi performed on Mambo Yo Yo. "Aquella Bendita Foto" is a son montuno.[9] The title track is built on the sounds of soukous and salsa.[10]
Robert Christgau deemed the album "Californian Afro-salsa." The St. Petersburg Times stated that "Lemvo has created an articulate mix of Latin derivations, along with soukous stylings of his native Congo region."[11] The Boston Herald called Mambo Yo Yo "a potent, danceable [Putumayo] debut by the Congolese singer."[12]
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."[13] 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."[14]
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."