Papo Ross moved to Montreal (Canada) in 1990 to serve as a musical director for another Dominican group based in the city. In April 1992 he founded Pambiche. Since then, this 13-piece powerhouse has established itself as a leader of Canada’s latin music scene with its groovin’ Afro-Latin rhythms deeply rooted in the Caribbean. Papo Ross & Orquesta Pambiche has performed over 500 concerts and have received rave reviews for their shows at the International Hispanic Fiesta (Toronto), Montreal’s ¡Oyé! Series, the 1994 Detroit/Montreux Jazz Festival and for 4 explosive performances in front of 20,000 people at the 1993, 94, 96 and 99 editions of the Montreal International Jazz Festival. The Pambiche is derived from the Dominican rhythm merengue, and its roots can be easily traced back to 1916, the year that marked the first United States intervention in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Most of the American soldiers, who came for Palm Beach, were tempted by the intensity of merengue, but could not dance to the fast tempo. A reduction of the rhythm was then accommodated to make it easier for the Americans to keep up to the beat. Hence this new musical version of merengue became known as “El Palm Beach”. For most Dominicans however, it was difficult to pronounce this word in Spanish. Over the years, a new expression was adopted, and whenever people talked about this particular style it was simply referred to as Pambiche.
Papo Ross has toured extensively in support of their Juno nomination debut CD, Vamo’ a Pambicha’ . The infectious combination of merengue, salsa, bachata, cumbia and others latin rhythms makes Papo Ross & Orquesta Pambiche the hottest Latin act north of the border.