For one more night, the papaya bar still beckons at the Conga Room in downtown L.A. The yellow sculptural design from Cuban American artist Jorge Pardo — meant to resemble the tropical fruit split ...

In 1917, Ramon Santamaria Rodriquez was born into poverty in Havana, Cuba. Nicknamed “Mongo” (a tribal chief in Senegal), he began playing the conga drum at an early age and as a teen, Mongo ...

Previously I have written about the differences between Afro-Cuban jazz and American jazz and examined the reasons why the descendants of the same African ancestors, living only 90 miles apart in the ...

Gloria Estefan discusses the strong African roots of Cuban music and performs Miami Sound Machine’s first hit single, “Conga.” Gloria Estefan: For me, it took a long time even to learn about the ...

Aug. 22 (UPI) --Cuban singer Gloria Estefan is celebrating the 40th anniversary of her 1985 hit "Conga." The music artist, 67, performed the song on Good Morning America Friday as part of the show's ...