Salsa music is a style of Latin American 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 Guaracha, Cha-cha-chá, Danzón, Descarga, Bolero, Guajira, Rumba, mambo, Jazz, Funk, 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 European, Indigenous, and African influences, although many aspects of Puerto Rican music reflect origins elsewhere in the Caribbean. Puerto Rican music culture today comprises a wide and rich variety of genres, ranging from essentially native genres such as bomba, 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.
Eddie Santiago is a salsa singer from Puerto Rico.
Rubén Blades Bellido de Luna, known professionally as Rubén Blades, is a Panamanian musician, singer, composer, actor, activist, and politician, performing musically most often in the salsa, and Latin jazz genres. As a songwriter, Blades brought the lyrical sophistication of Central American nueva canción and Cuban nueva trova as well as experimental tempos and politically inspired Son Cubano salsa to his music, creating "thinking persons' (salsa) dance music". Blades has written dozens of hit songs, including "Pedro Navaja" and "El Cantante". He has won eleven Grammy Awards out of seventeen nominations and eleven Latin Grammy Awards.
Plena is a genre of music and dance native to Puerto Rico.
Linda Viera Caballero, better known as La India, is a Puerto Rican singer and songwriter of salsa, house music and Latin pop. La India has been nominated for both Grammy and Latin Grammy Awards, winning the Latin Grammy Award for Best Salsa Album for the Intensamente La India Con Canciones De Juan Gabriel album.
Eddie Palmieri is an American Grammy Award-winning pianist, bandleader, musician, and composer of Puerto Rican ancestry. He is the founder of the bands La Perfecta, La Perfecta II, and Harlem River Drive.
Cheo Feliciano was a Puerto Rican singer and composer of salsa and bolero music. Feliciano was the owner of a recording company called "Coche Records". He was the first tropical singer to perform at the "Amira de la Rosa Theater" in Barranquilla, Colombia, and in 1987 he played the role of Roberto Clemente's father in the musical Clemente.
Gilberto Santa Rosa Cortés, nicknamed "El Caballero de la Salsa", is a Puerto Rican bandleader and singer of salsa and bolero. He is a six-time Grammy Award winner and has sold over three million records in the United States and Puerto Rico. Santa Rosa also starred in a comedy.
Julio César "Tito" Rojas López, also known as "El Gallo Salsero", was a Puerto Rican salsa singer and songwriter.
Ubaldo Rodríguez Santos, known professionally as Lalo Rodríguez, was a Puerto Rican salsa singer recognized as one of the pioneers of the subgenre of Romantic or Erotic Salsa.
Melina Almodóvar, also known as La Muñeca de la Salsa and La Chica Del Bling, is a Puerto Rican salsa singer, songwriter, dancer, and entertainer. Known for her high-energy performances and salsa dancing skills, she combines old-school salsa moves with contemporary styles of dancing and singing. She is also credited with establishing the first successful salsa orchestra in the Southern United States, Orquesta Caliente.
Miguel Zenón is a Puerto Rican alto saxophonist, composer, band leader, music producer, and educator. He is a multiple Grammy Award nominee, and the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and a MacArthur Fellowship. He also holds an Honorary Doctorate Degree in the Arts from Universidad del Sagrado Corazón. Zenón has released many albums as a band leader and appeared on over 100 recordings as a sideman.
Jorge Manuel López, also known as Giro Lopez, is a Puerto Rican salsa musician. Giro began his career as part of the boy band of Puerto Rico called Los Chicos. Two singles by "Giro" Jorge López, "Si Tu Supieras" and "Mi Forma de Sentir", reached #1 on the Latin Tropical Airplay. In 1995, Giro received a Lo Nuestro award for "New Tropical Singer of the Year" and in 1996 also was nominated for Best Male Tropical Singer of the Year. He won a Gold Record at the New Jersey OTT Awards, presented by Billboard magazine.
Viceversa is the 14th studio album recorded by Puerto Rican salsa singer Gilberto Santa Rosa, It was released by Sony Music Latin on September 3, 2002. The album became his fourth number-one set on the Billboard Tropical Albums chart. The album received a nomination a Latin Grammy Award for Best Salsa Album and the single "Por Más Qué Intento" received a Latin Grammy Award for Best Tropical Song in the 4th Annual Latin Grammy Awards on September 3, 2003.
The Lo Nuestro Award for Tropical Album of the Year is an honor presented annually by American television network Univision at the Lo Nuestro Awards. The accolade was established to recognize the most talented performers of Latin music. The nominees and winners were originally selected by a voting poll conducted among program directors of Spanish-language radio stations in the United States and also based on chart performance on Billboard Latin music charts, with the results being tabulated and certified by the accounting firm Deloitte. However, since 2004, the winners are selected through an online survey. The trophy awarded is shaped in the form of a treble clef.
Mikey Perfecto, is a Puerto Rican reggaeton recording artist. He was first thrust into the music scene as the lead vocal, leader, and songwriter for the Latin urban music group, 3-2 GET FUNKY. With 3-2 Get Funky, Mikey Perfecto recorded 5 studio albums from 1993 to 1998. He recorded his first solo album in 1999, "Angel Perdido", a mixture of salsa, hip hop, and reggaeton urban music. His second studio album Evolucion Arrestada (2004) reached number nineteen on the Billboard Tropical Albums chart. The lead single "La Matadora" featuring fellow recording artist Daddy Yankee reached number thirty-five on the Billboard Tropical Songs chart. Perfecto was featured on Cuban singer Celia Cruz's 2002 hit single "La Negra Tiene Tumbao". It reached number thirty on the Billboard Latin Songs chart and number four on the Billboard Tropical Songs chart. The song received nominations for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Music Video of the Year at the Latin Grammy Awards of 2002. The parent album won the Latin Grammy Award for Best Salsa Album. It was nominated for Album of the Year. The song was also nominated Tropical Song of the Year at the 2003 Lo Nuestro Awards. Mikey Perfecto whose real name is Miguel Angel Soto Cordova, obtained a master's degree in Social Work and a post-master's degree in Clinical Social Work from the Doctorate Program of the Interamerican University Of Puerto Rico. He is the author of the Book "En Cuerpo y Alma" where he details his struggles and challenges during the first wave of Puerto Ricos’ urban artist movement. He currently works with troubled youth, and communities afflicted by poverty, addiction, and other obstacles produced by these conditions.
Angel Rafael "Papo" Vázquez is an American trombonist, composer, arranger, and bandleader of Puerto Rican descent who performs and records jazz, Latin and Afro-Caribbean music. He is known as one of the pioneers of the bomba jazz style and is a Grammy Award nominee.
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 advancement and adjournment of the genre from 1970 to 1979.
Los Pleneros de la 21 is a New York City-based drum and dance ensemble that has been active since 1983. They specialize in Afro-Puerto Rican bomba and plena music and related dance forms. In addition to performing, they run a community-based, not-for-profit educational company dedicated to preserving and celebrating Puerto Rican traditional culture and "fostering the legacy and history of Puerto Rican artistic traditions of African and Creole descent."
