Edmundo Ros, Latin American music pioneer, dies aged 100
Trinidadian-born musician who introduced rumba sound to Britain’s dance halls died at home in Spain Edmundo Ros, the man who kept British feet tapping through the war years and during the period of austerity that followed, has died at his home in Spain at the age of 100. Ros was the leading Latin American musician and vocalist of his era and his charisma and infectious rythmns introduced the rumba sound to Britain’s dance halls. His death was confirmed on Saturday by the secretary of the Grand Order of Water Rats, the charitable showbusiness fraternity. “He died last night peacefully at his home in Spain, two months short of his 101st birthday,” said John Adrian. Ros became a household name when Princess Elizabeth, the future Queen, arrived at a party at London’s Bagatelle restaurant and made her first public foray on to the dance floor accompanied by the music of Ros’s band. The South American beat, or at least an anglicised version of the authentic time signatures, quickly became popular all over Britain and Ros’s tunes such as The Wedding Samba, Zing, Zing Boom and The Cheeky Parakeet became favourites. Ros was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad on 7 December 1910. His father was Scottish and his mother a Venezuelan. As a teenager, the musician lived in Caracas, Venezuela, and he began to play with the country’s military academy band as well as learning to play the drums in the national symphony orchestra. He received a government scholarship to study music and, between 1937 and 1942, he learned harmony, composition and orchestration at the Royal Academy of Music in London. In 1941 he recorded his first tracks with Parlophone and then played regularly with his own rumba band at the Coconut Grove in Regent Street, London, a club he later bought and renamed Edmundo Ros’s Dinner and Supper Club. At the age of 64 Ros broke up his band and destroyed his musical arrangement sheets before retiring to Spain. Vanessa Thorpe guardian.co.uk
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on October 22, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News.
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Edmundo Ros, Latin American music pioneer, dies aged 100
Trinidadian-born musician who introduced rumba sound to Britain’s dance halls died at home in Spain Edmundo Ros, the man who kept British feet tapping through the war years and during the period of austerity that followed, has died at his home in Spain at the age of 100. Ros was the leading Latin American musician and vocalist of his era and his charisma and infectious rythmns introduced the rumba sound to Britain’s dance halls. His death was confirmed on Saturday by the secretary of the Grand Order of Water Rats, the charitable showbusiness fraternity. “He died last night peacefully at his home in Spain, two months short of his 101st birthday,” said John Adrian. Ros became a household name when Princess Elizabeth, the future Queen, arrived at a party at London’s Bagatelle restaurant and made her first public foray on to the dance floor accompanied by the music of Ros’s band. The South American beat, or at least an anglicised version of the authentic time signatures, quickly became popular all over Britain and Ros’s tunes such as The Wedding Samba, Zing, Zing Boom and The Cheeky Parakeet became favourites. Ros was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad on 7 December 1910. His father was Scottish and his mother a Venezuelan. As a teenager, the musician lived in Caracas, Venezuela, and he began to play with the country’s military academy band as well as learning to play the drums in the national symphony orchestra. He received a government scholarship to study music and, between 1937 and 1942, he learned harmony, composition and orchestration at the Royal Academy of Music in London. In 1941 he recorded his first tracks with Parlophone and then played regularly with his own rumba band at the Coconut Grove in Regent Street, London, a club he later bought and renamed Edmundo Ros’s Dinner and Supper Club. At the age of 64 Ros broke up his band and destroyed his musical arrangement sheets before retiring to Spain. Vanessa Thorpe guardian.co.uk
Posted by
on October 22, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News.
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