Billboard Latin Music Award, presented to Mongo Santamaría: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This award was presented to Ramon "Mongo" Santamaría by Billboard magazine, in 2001. It is a clear glass panel on a black glass base. The panel is engraved:

PREMIOS Billboard DE LA MUSICA LATINA 2001 HALL DE LA FAMA MONGO SANTAMARIA

The Billboard Latin Music Hall of Fame is a rarely presented honor presented by American magazine Billboard at the Billboard Latin Music Awards. The tribute was established in 1994 to recognize musical personalities who have commercially and critically impacted the Latin music industry. Mongo Santamaría was inducted unto the Latin Hall of Fame for “bridging Afro-Cuban grooves, jazz and R&B with his conga performances.”

Ramón "Mongo" Santamaría Rodríguez (1917–2003) was a Cuban percussionist and bandleader who spent most of his career in the United States. Primarily a conga drummer, Santamaría was a leading figure in the pachanga and boogaloo dance crazes of the 1960s. From the 1970s, he recorded mainly salsa and Latin jazz, before retiring in the late 1990s. Santamaria made several recordings as a leader of his own group, as well as a sideman with Fania All-Stars, Tito Puente, Dizzy Gillespie, and Ray Charles.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date made: 2001
• referenced: Santamaria, Ramon "Mongo"
• Object Name: award
• Physical Description: glass (overall material)
• Measurements: overall: 10 7/8 in x 8 in x 2 3/8 in; 27.6225 cm x 20.32 cm x 6.0325 cm
• ID Number: 2005.0030.09
• accession number: 2005.0030
• catalog number: 2005.0030.09
• Credit Line: Gift of Nancy Santamaria
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.