Orquesta América is a Cuban then later Californian latin band or charanga

Charanga

Charanga is a term given to traditional ensembles of Cuban dance music. They made Cuban dance music popular in the 1940s and their music consisted of heavily son-influenced material, performed on European instruments such as violin and flute by a Charanga orchestra....

 orchestra.

The band was founded in 1942 by singer Ninón Mondéjar with Alex Sosa (piano), Enrique Jorrín

Enrique Jorrín

Enrique Jorrín was a Cuban composer, violinist and band director. He is famous as the inventor of a style of Cuban dance music called cha-cha-chá.-Biography:...

, Antonio Sánchez, and Félix Guerra (violins), Juan Ramos (flute) and others. Mondéjar and Sosa went to Mexico, then later revived Orquesta América in California. Success, in Cuba, came in 1953 with Orquesta America's recording of Jorrín's "La Engañadora." However the success of the band led to Mondéjar and Jorrín over whether the bandleader or songwriter should take the credit for the invention of the cha-cha-chá

Cha-cha-cha (music)

The Cha-cha-chá is a style of Cuban music. It is popular dance music which developed from the danzón in the early 1950s.- Origin :As a dance music genre, cha-cha-chá is unusual in that its creation can be attributed to a single composer, Enrique Jorrín, then violinist and songwriter with the...

. The band split during a tour of Mexico in December 1954 and Ramos returned to Havana with half of the band to form Orquesta América del '55 in 1955. In the 1990s leadership of the California-based band passed to Jorge Machado Durán. Ninón Mondéjar died in Havana in 2006.

Partial Discography

• Silver Star Released 1954; Re-Issued 2000
• Siempre A Punto Lujuria 0011 Released 2008