Salsa City Forum » Salsa Music and Dance » Salsa music

Hi there

I'm totally new to Salsa - started lessons 3 weeks ago. I'm absolutely loving the dancing and the music. I was wondering if any of you know of any good CDs of Salsa music to buy?

Thanks!

The Oxfam salsa compilation is quite a good one to start with, as is Salsa Clasica (Nascente).

Finding good salsa cds is not easy. There are not many in the shops so you can't listen before you buy. Many are rather short in playing time and by no means all of the tracks will be suitable for dancing, so building up a collection can get expensive.

India's salsa cds are generally beginner-friendly (except her first one, Llegó la India).

I've been meaning to start writing some cd reviews for a while, so this has prompted me to get on with it.

One of my favourite single-artist salsa CDs is Sidestepper's 'More Grip' - fast, Columbian, loads of familiar tracks.

Another nice compilation, which has slower/easier music, is 'African Salsa' on the Earthworks label - some great Senegalese tracks from people like Papa Fall and Africando.

If you like NY-style the Fania All Stars retrospective 'Salsa Caliente de Nu York' on Nascente has some good stuff on it.

Sorry Hugh but India is awful!

for anyone starting off in the salsa scene u MUST get a compilation. Despite what anyone might recommend to you, everyone has very different tastes & so ur better off finding what types of salsa u like first, then expanding from there. Eg let's say u find out u like one song written in the 80s, then u can do a bit of research over the web and quickly u'll find similar artists etc...

there is a problem in my recommendation: compilations tend to be very bad themselves! Having said that, they are getting much better I've noticed. Fork out a bit more for an expensive compilation and generally it should be ok. All the cheap ones I have seen have been total nightmares.

Ok - so u still want a recommendation?? for a compilation, go for anything with "Fania" written on it. Fania was THE record label when salsa commercially started off in the 70s. Ask any DJ what they think of the fania stuff, and all will say that ultimately this is the music which they hold closest to heart. the 'Salsa Caliente de Nu York' mentioned above is pretty good

For individual artists I can only recommend 2 which I guarantee to be absolute corkers: Oscar D'Leon (a major salsa legend though his mid career has had some patchy work) + El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico (one of THE most important salsa bands of all time). No club night will pass without a least a couple playings of both these two.

INDIA on the other hand hasn't been played (I've noticed) in AGES!!! literally since the late 90s

aight!
enjoy

I've got some pretty good compilations if anyone wants one, Salsa, Salsa and Merenge, Lambada and some funky salsa.

All at a bargain price of £5. By all means listen to it before you accept it I can bring a cd walkman along...

email ejaws@ejaws.co.uk

Ayuda, Ayuda!I have been trying to find this song for like two years now. It's very hard to find when you have only heard the ending of it. It is an old school Salsa song. The singer he starts out low, but modulates through different cords. More towards the end of the song the Back up singers start singing "La(repeatatively)" then there is a music break, then they go back to the "La" and also I Love to live in America. And they repeat it all over again until the end. Does this song sound familiar to anyone......

Hi Srta DeRosarioGomez

I asked around and tumbao and kaysee from the rec.music.afro-latin newsgroup say this song is Pedro Navaja by Rubén Blades from the CD Siembra by Willie Colón and Rubén Blades, released in 1978 but still available. The lyric in Spanish and English is here.

Tengo este canción en el disco 'Best of Ruben Bladés'. Creo que esta en el disco barato 'Latin Hot' también.