la Vida features the eleven core Salsa Celts joined by a dozen or so guests, with participants hailing from such far-flung locales as Scotland, Venezuela, England, Cuba, Columbia, and New York. Their initial impetus to fuse the aching modal sounds of Scottish traditional music with the rhythmic flexibility of classic Cuban salsa has been brought to full fruition over the course of ten tunes, brimming with congas, tenor banjos, pandeiros and pipes in equal measure. Something so audacious as Salsa Celtica s fusion of Afro-Latin grooves and Celtic sonorities does not just occur. The members of Salsa Celtica (who have played with such renown folk groups as Capercaillie, Old Blind Dogs, and Blazin Fiddles) first mastered their own native musical traditions before setting sale for ...  (less)

The style has covered a lot of ground since its inception in New York during the 1970s and now boasts fanatic adherents all over the globe. Some of these, such as Japan's Orquestra de la Luz, have achieved astonishingly literal recreations, but the most interesting permutations add a wicked local twist. For example, Scotland's Salsa Celtica perform in kilts, quote centuries-old Irish tunes, and sometimes explode into bagpipe solos. Italy's Havana Mambo features a baroque harpsichordist gamely pounding out montunos. Curaçao's own Arnell i Su Orkesta obviously admire Africando and other Senegalese salseros, while Shaan, from India, with their Santana-esque guitars and demented keyboards, are a Bollywood-tinged fever dream. -- Christ...  (less)

countries with the most complete Latin music traditions and culture. 39 tracks. Metro.  (less)

tilted toward the jazz end of spectrum, this diverse collection includes Lazaro Ros's profound, drum-driven invocation of the Santeria deity "Elegba," musica campesina star Celina Gonzalez's rough-hewn "roots salsa," the nimble, acoustic guitars and voices of old-school balladeers Vieja Trova Santiaguera, and Havana's renowned Sierra Maestra, the supple son revivalists who comprise the Buena Vista Social Club's musical backbone. Maria Bauza's "Mamba Rincon" shows how the bandleader fused Cuban and North American jazz in the 1940s, a hot hybrid that perseveres in the music of such great Cuban dance bands as Los Van Van and Orquesta Riverside, as well as in more musically ambitious groups like Irakere and Ritmo y Candela (all included here). ...  (less)

dancers and listeners alike, while the DVD features video segments from Willie Villegas's public access TV show "Salsa En La Calle". Recorded live at the club El Flamingo are Ernie Acevedo y Conjunto Imagen, Fajardo Jr. y Sus Estrellas, Orlando Marin and Willie Villegas Y Entre Amigos. Willie also interviews (in English) the band leaders making this CD + DVD set essential for anyone remotely interested in the history of salsa music. From label: "Willie Villegas Y Entre Amigos, which means Among Friends in English, is the gateway between those old days and the ones that are about to come giving the dancers as well as the listeners of this infectious music we love so much the multiple pleasures of joy only experienced on the dance floor." "Entre Amigos are a hard and funky...  (less)

all over Latin America including: Puerto Rico, Cuba, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Peru, Colombia and Mexico. OTR's stunning rhythms create a contagious energy that revives the almost extinct Salsa sound of generations past. Since 2000, Orquesta Tabaco Y Ron has recorded four studio albums and one remix compilation for Dimelo! Records. These recordings were accepted with positive and gratifying reviews by new and old fans, earning them numerous tours to various cities and countries. Their arsenal of hard Salsa tracks has gained OTR recognition and respect by tropical music aficionados worldwide.  (less)

the deep grooves of his native Cuba with the contemporary stylings he’s picked up since relocating to France. Back in Cuba NG La Banda offer "La Cachimba" their mission statement announcing the virtues of a new musical style that’s sure to make you dance. Next the party travels to Colombia, where the collective known as La-33 is revitalizing salsa by reconnecting it to the genre’s golden era of the 1960s and 70s. Not to be outdone, however, New York delivers a rhythm-driven one-two punch with The Spanish Harlem Orchestra and Yerba Buena contributing the best of the old school and the new. On the West Coast, Argentinean ex-pats Los Pinguos and Congo native Ricardo Lemvo integrate various Latin elements that keep the party people...  (less)