Boys blown away by ‘Macarena’ success

David Renzi

Monday, Oct. 7, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

The "Macarena" is No. 1. Some people think it's No. 2, but that's the thing about the "Macarena." You either love it or hate it.

Carlos De Yarza and Mike Triay, alias the Bayside Boys, love it. The dance-club hit turned national phenomenon has lined the pockets of the Miami producers.

"It's unbelievable," De Yarza says. "That's all we can say. Don't make us say anything else. We're flabbergasted."

That it reached No. 1, where it has stayed for 10 weeks, was completely unexpected, they say.

"We knew it was going to be a big dance hit," De Yarza says. "It was already in the discos in Miami, especially the Latin ones. The song was huge."

And that was just the Spanish version by Los Del Rio. It didn't become an English-language smash until a Miami radio station solicited De Yarza and Triay, who run Bayside Productions, to come up with an alternate mix.

"We have an associate who works here, Jammin' Johnny, and he along with the station came to us and said, 'We want to play this 'Macarena' song, but it's all in Spanish. We need something in English," Triay says.

They brainstormed and created, in two days, what is now the definitive version. And, as a result, they became the Bayside Boys.

"That's the name that got stuck with us," Triay says.

De Yarza expected it would go nationwide, but wasn't prepared for the craze it would create and the exposure it would receive.

"Everywhere you look, there it is."

Says Triay: "I was blown away when I was watching the Olympics, and the gymnastics team starts doing it. I thought, 'OK, this is big.'"

"Everywhere we go," says De Yarza, "the crowd and the people are excited. We always have fun with them."

For their live shows, Triay, singer Carla Ramirez and two dancers take the stage, while De Yarza handles the sound.

The Bayside Boys have released a follow-up to the "Macarena," called "Caliente," but it hasn't had the same impact.

"It's hard because the 'Macarena' is out there," De Yarza says.

"Caliente," Triay says, "is the illegitimate son of 'Macarena.'"