Orquesta Mambarito

Get ready for London’s salsa sensation Orquesta Mambarito! They’ll be burning up red-hot classics from 70s New York, Colombia, Puerto Rico and beyond. The 13-strong group has a classic salsa line-up of trumpets, trombones, baritone sax and full Afro-Cuban rhythm section, fronted by fabulous singers Nestor Rojas (Venezuela), Diego Abril (Colombia) and Victor Mastrangioli (Venezuela). ¡A gozar!Bandleader David Strahan (baritone sax) brought the group together during dark days of Covid lockdown to make online video recordings of salsa classics like Ray Barretto’s Indestructible.

Since then they have been gigging hard and building up an enthusiastic following in London’s Latino and salsa-dancing communities. The band’s name is a combination of ‘mambo’ and ‘baritono’ – the Spanish for baritone.Along with many gigs around London, Mambarito has played major festivals like Carnaval del Pueblo and the Sidmouth International Jazz Festival, and plays regularly at Pizza Express Soho and Hyde Park Bandstand.

The band’s first single, The Mambarito Mambo, written and produced by Colombian vibes player and bandleader Dorance Lorza, is now available on all the main streaming platforms.

Singers: Victor Mastrangioli, Diego Abril, Nestor Pedrales; Trumpets: Lindsey Lowe, Vito La Sala; Trombones: Alex Bouhl, Janine Swan; Baritone: David Strahan; Piano: Simon Jackson; Bass: Alexander Rawlinson; Bongo: Johny Espana; Conga: Sarah Wackett; Timbale: Veer Karer.