Casa Amadeo, you come in with stupefying nostalgia for me when I attended Junior High School nearby and walked past this shop to hop on the BX4 to go home. Located on Prospect Ave by the 2 & 5 L trains in The South Bronx, Casa Amadeo is both Puerto Rican-focused and owned.
Some of the greatest Bronx success stories have the humblest roots- and Casa Amadeo, truly fits that bill. A story that is too long for me to tell- but let's just say the man behind Casa Amadeo- Miguel Angel Amadeo and its namesake shop, is renowned, still remains as the only and longest running Latin music store in The Bronx- hell, probably in all of the U.S AND has its own Wikipedia page.
Without giving my husband any Father's Day clues as we saw a show about Casa Amadeo's history on NYC channel 22, that just sparked my curiosity to come here on a Friday after work to gift him a Puerto Rican Salsa cowbell. Weird as it sounds, the cowbell was used for several things- including music as it became a staple in the percussion part of most Latin Tropical Salsa bands (isn't used for Merengue music) to create a steady beat, glue all the rhythms together and hold the music down. That's the role of the cowbell in Salsa.
And since hubs has been honing his Conga, Bongos and goblet-shaped Darbuka drum skills, coming to this shop, was a no-brainer. The shop is small- with a bit of every Salsa music instrument imaginable. Mr. Amadeo was wrapping things up the day I visited but helped me tremendously when he suggested a low pitch cowbell instead of a high pitched one. What do I know? And that was that. It was an easy $60 for a cowbell.
You know how you meet someone who has a gazillion accolades and they're just downright arrogant asses? Not this owner. He's so charismatic. It's amazing how, with enough determination and a will to get the job done to establish Casa Amadeo to the level of where it's at now and continues to thrive. This shop isn't just for Puerto Ricans- this shop is for anyone who enjoys Salsa music period! read more