"Conga" is the first hit single released by the American band Miami Sound Machine, led by Gloria Estefan, on their second English-language album, Primitive Love. The song was written by the band's drummer and lead songwriter Enrique Garcia. The song first appeared on August 31, 1985, as part of the album. The single was released in Australia on September 9, 1985[1]
According to Gloria Estefan in an interview in the Netherlands television show RTL Late Night,[2] Conga was written after the band had performed "Dr. Beat" in a club called Cartouche in Utrecht, the Netherlands. The single was released in 1985 (see 1985 in music) and became a worldwide hit, reaching #10 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and winning the Grand Prize at the 15th annual "Tokyo Music Festival" in Japan.
The single was certified Gold by the RIAA in the U.S. for shipments of 500,000 copies.[3]
A rerecorded version of "Conga" was included in Estefan's 2020 album Brazil305. Because of the new percussive arrangement it was renamed "Samba."[4] ¨Conga¨ is written in the key of E minor.[5]
"Conga" became a worldwide success and is recognized as the Miami Sound Machine and Gloria Estefan's signature song. The single reached the top 10 in various countries, including the United States and the Netherlands. The song was not a hit in the United Kingdom, failing to chart on the top 75. There the attention was based more on the single "Bad Boy". In Billboard magazine'syear-end chart in 1986, "Conga" finished at number 40.[8]
The video is set in the fictional Miami night club Copacabana, hosting a reception for an unspecified ambassador. After a boring piano recital, the Miami Sound Machine is announced as the next featured act (though Gloria insists the setting is not appropriate for the song). Despite the initial shock of his wife, the more upbeat song becomes a hit with the audience and ambassador.
^Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (Illustrated ed.). Sydney: Australian Chart Book. p. 199. ISBN0-646-11917-6. N.B. The Kent Report chart was licensed by ARIA between 1983 and 26 June 1988.