Salsa music is a style of Caribbean music, combining elements of Cuban, Puerto Rican, and American influences. Because most of the basic musical components predate the labeling of salsa, there have been many controversies regarding its origin. Most songs considered as salsa are primarily based on son montuno and son Cubano, with elements of cha-cha-chá, bolero, rumba, mambo, jazz, R&B, rock, bomba, and plena. All of these elements are adapted to fit the basic Son montuno template when performed within the context of salsa.
The Music of Puerto Rico has evolved as a heterogeneous and dynamic product of diverse cultural resources. The most conspicuous musical sources of Puerto Rico have primarily included African, Taino Indigenous, and European influences. Puerto Rican music culture today comprises a wide and rich variety of genres, ranging from essentially native genres such as bomba, jíbaro, seis, danza, and plena to more recent hybrid genres such as salsa, Latin trap and reggaeton. Broadly conceived, the realm of "Puerto Rican music" should naturally comprise the music culture of the millions of people of Puerto Rican descent who have lived in the United States, especially in New York City. Their music, from salsa to the boleros of Rafael Hernández, cannot be separated from the music culture of Puerto Rico itself.
Reggaeton is a modern style of popular and electronic music that originated in Panama during the late 1980s, and which rose to prominence in the late 1990s and early 2000s through a plethora of Puerto Rican musicians. It has evolved from dancehall, with elements of hip hop, Latin American, and Caribbean music. Vocals include toasting/rapping and singing, typically in Spanish.
Andrés Montañez Rodríguez, better known as Andy Montañez, is a Puerto Rican singer and songwriter.
Héctor Juan Pérez Martínez, better known as Héctor Lavoe, was a Puerto Rican salsa singer. Lavoe is considered to be possibly the best and most important singer and interpreter in the history of salsa music because he helped to establish the popularity of this musical genre in the decades of 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. His personality, style and the qualities of his voice led him to a successful artistic career in the whole field of Latin music and salsa during the 1970s and 1980s. The cleanness and brightness of his voice, coupled with impeccable diction and the ability to sing long and fast phrases with total naturalness, made him one of the favorite singers of the Latin public.
Raymundo "Ray" Barretto Pagán was an American percussionist and bandleader of Puerto Rican descent. Throughout his career as a percussionist, he played a wide variety of Latin music styles, as well as Latin jazz. His first hit, "El Watusi", was recorded by his Charanga Moderna in 1962, becoming the most successful pachanga song in the United States. In the late 1960s, Barretto became one of the leading exponents of boogaloo and what would later be known as salsa. Nonetheless, many of Barretto's recordings would remain rooted in more traditional genres such as son cubano. A master of the descarga, Barretto was a long-time member of the Fania All-Stars. His success continued into the 1970s with songs such as "Cocinando" and "Indestructible". His last album for Fania Records, Soy dichoso, was released in 1990. He then formed the New World Spirit jazz ensemble and continued to tour and record until his death in 2006. He is the father of American vocalist and saxophonist Chris Barretto, best known for his work with Periphery and Monuments.
Ismael Miranda, also known as El Niño Bonito de la Salsa is a Puerto Rican singer and songwriter.
The Fania All-Stars is a musical group formed in 1968 as a showcase for the musicians on Fania Records, the leading salsa music record label of the time.
Edgardo Armando Franco, better known as El General, is a Panamanian former reggae artist considered by some to be one of the fathers of reggae en Español and a precursor to reggaetón.
Larry Harlow was an American salsa music pianist, performer, composer, band leader and producer. He was born into a musical American family of Jewish descent.
Juan Pablo Knipping Pacheco, known as Johnny Pacheco, was a Dominican musician, arranger, composer, bandleader, and record producer. Born in the Dominican Republic, Pacheco became a leading figure in the New York salsa scene in the 1960s and 1970s as the founder and musical director of Fania Records.
Bachatón is a fusion genre of reggaeton from Panama and Puerto Rico as well as bachata from the Dominican Republic. Bachaton combines bachata melodies and reggaeton style beats, lyrics, rapping, and disc jockeying. The word "bachatón" is a portmanteau of "bachata" and "reggaeton". "Bachatón" was coined and widely accepted in 2005. It is a subgenre of reggaeton and bachata.
Adalberto Santiago is an internationally known salsa singer.
While the Dominican Republic is known for shaping merengue and bachata music, its musicians have also melded these influences into the early development of salsa music amongst the Latin community of New York City in the early 1960s. A major development in those initial days of salsa occurred when Johnny Pacheco, a Dominican-born musician living in New York City, teamed with partner Jerry Masucci to create Fania Records in 1964. They started selling records from the trunk of cars on the streets of Spanish Harlem, signing up young artists, creating new sounds, and eventually having hit records. Over the next 15 years, Fania Records helped define the sound, culture, and language associated with the salsa genre, a musical movement that arose partly from the unavailability in the United States of music produced in Cuba.
Juan Carlos Ozuna Rosado , known simply by his surname Ozuna, is a Puerto Rican singer, born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico to a Dominican father and a Puerto Rican mother. Five of his studio albums have topped the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart, with Aura (2018) charting at number seven on the Billboard 200. His musical style is primarily defined as reggaeton and Latin trap, although he has collaborated with several artists from different genres and his music takes influences from a wide variety of genres, including pop, rock, hip hop, R&B, reggae, bachata, dembow, and electronic, amongst others.
Jose Vazquez-Cofresi is an American conga drummer, bandleader, composer and producer of Puerto Rican & Italian ancestry. He is also called Manos de Hierro, literally translated ‘Iron Hands’, a name given to him by a salsa bass player. Throughout his career as a percussionist, he has played a wide variety of Latin music styles. The first composition by Vazquez-Cofresi that was featured in a movie is Sentencia, featured in the salsa movie The Big Shot Caller (2008). One of his most famous compositions is Aña Pa Mi Tambor, recorded by La Excelencia in 2009 that was featured on ZIN 33 for Zumba Fitness and So You Think You Can Dance Canada. Monday Night Football on NBC started using La Economia, another composition written by Vazquez-Cofresi for salsa dance touchdowns made by American Football star Victor Cruz while playing for the New York Giants. Vazquez-Cofresi has also been quoted and featured in various publications about the History of Salsa and his major impact in the salsa dura musical style and movement.
Harvey Averne has been described as "one of several prominent Jewish Americans in New York's bustling Latin music scene."
Nicky Marrero is an American Latin jazz percussionist, of Puerto Rican descent best known as the timbale player in The Fania Allstars and as a recording artist during the 1970s salsa boom in New York.
This article includes an overview of the major events and trends in Latin music in the 1970s, namely in Ibero-America. This includes recordings, festivals, award ceremonies, births and deaths of Latin music artists, and the rise and fall of various subgenres in Latin music from 1970 to 1979.
Juan “Juancito” Torres Velez, also known as "La Trompeta Nacional De Puerto Rico", was a Puerto Rican salsa and jazz trumpet player, composer, arranger, producer and musical director best known for his association with the Fania All-Stars from 1979 to 1985. He was known as a great soloist, specializing in upper register.
