MUSIC RECOMMENDATIONS
Compilations
When you are new to salsa music, pick yourself up a compilation salsa CD from your nearest record store or an online store. Compilations allow you to sample a wide variety of salsa music and style from different artists. We can recommend compilation CDs such as Salsa Fresca, Salsa con Golpe, Salsa Legends Live!, Salsa Hits, Mojito Passion, and Viva la Salsa to name a few.
Hector Lavoe
He was a Puerto Rican singer who moved to New York City and started out as the lead vocalist for Willie Colon's band before going solo. With hits such as El malo and Canto a Bonrinquen, he was perhaps most well-known for his hit El Cantante which was recently turned into a movie of the same name.
Celia Cruz
She was a Cuban salsa singer who spent most of her career living in New Jersey, and working in the United States and several Latin American countries. Cruz was one of the most successful Cuban performers of the 20th century, with twenty-three gold albums to her name and has earned the moniker "La guarachera de Cuba". (Wikipedia)
Willie Colon
He is a Puerto Rican salsa music icon who is first and foremost a trombonist. However, beyond his skills on the trombone, he rapidly excelled as a composer, arranger, and singer, and eventually as a producer and director. Combining elements of jazz, rock, and salsa, his diverse work incorporates the rhythms of traditional music from Cuba, Puerto Rico, Brazil, and "that 'other' ancestral homeland, Africa", representing the mostly one-way flow from Puerto Rico to the New York-based diaspora. (Wikipedia)
Fania All-Stars
The Fania All-Stars was an illustrious and widely distinguished musical ensemble established in 1968 by composer Johnny Pacheco as a showcase for the leading musicians and singers of the record label Fania Records, the leading salsa record company of the time.
Among the many musicians that performed as members or guests of the Fania All-Stars were, in alphabetical order:
Adalberto Santiago, Andy Montañez, Barry Rodgers, Billy Cobham, Bobby Cruz, Bobby Rodriguez, Bobby Valentin, Celia Cruz, Eddie Palmieri, Hector “Bomberito” Zarzuela, Héctor Lavoe, Ismael Miranda, Jimmy Sabater, Joe Bataan, Johnny Pacheco, Jorge Santana, Jose Cheo Feliciano, Larry Harlow, Larry Spencer, Louie Ramírez, Luis "Perico" Ortiz, Manu Dibango, Nicky Marrero, Orestes Vilato, Papo Lucca, Pete "El Conde" Rodriguez, Ralph Robles, Ramon Mongo Santamaria, Ray Barretto, Renaldo Jorge, Ricardo Richie Ray, Roberto Roena, Rubén Blades, Santitos Santos Colon, Tito Puente, Victor Paz, Willie Colón, and Yomo Toro. (Wikipedia)
Gloria Estefan
She is a Cuban American singer and songwriter. Named the "Queen of Latin Pop", she is in or near the top 100 of best selling music artists with over 90 million albums sold worldwide. With five Grammy Awards and several number one hits she is the most successful crossover performer in Latin music to date. (Wikipedia)
Victor Manuelle
He is a successful Puerto Rican-American salsa singer, songwriter, and improvisational sonero, known to his fans as El Sonero de la Juventud ("The Youth's Sonero"). He is identified primarily with salsa romantica or "salsa monga", but has also experimented with styles ranging from Colombian vallenato to urban reggaeton. That said, unlike other young salsa performers such as Marc Anthony, he has neither recorded in English, nor made a Latin pop album, nor (with rare exceptions) ventured into acting, preferring to remain a musician grounded within the salsa music genre he loves.(Wikipedia)
