Puerto Rican Music

Puerto Rican music is a living testament to the island’s complex history and rich cultural synthesis. From the ancestral echoes of bomba and plena to the global beats of salsa and reggaeton, each genre tells a story, contributing to a vibrant and ever-evolving soundscape. It is a powerful force that transcends geographical boundaries, connecting generations, celebrating heritage, and continually asserting Puerto Rico’s indelible mark on the world’s musical stage.

Salsa

This is a style of dance music popularized in New York City during the 1960s by Cuban and Puerto Rican musicians. While the base of modern salsa is Cuban son— a style of music that combines popular Spanish songs with Afro-Cuban percussion, Puerto Rican salsa, in particular, is known for its strong influence from jazz and big band music. It has sub-genres like salsa romántica (romantic salsa), which has a slower, softer sound, and salsa gorda or dura, a style that features a fast, driving beat and long instrumental segments. Some of the best-known classic salsa performers and composers from Puerto Rico or of Puerto Rican descent include Tite Curet Alonso, Ray Barretto, Héctor Lavoe, Cheo Feliciano, Willie Colón, Ismael Rivera, Andy Montañez, Roberto Roena, Richie Ray and Bobby Cruz, El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico, and La Sonora Ponceña. 

More modern salsa singers to reach even higher levels of commercial success include Marc Anthony, Victor Manuella, La India, Gilberto Santa Rosa, and the Rivera brothers Jerry and Edwin.

Merengue

Merengue is a style of danceable music that originated in the Dominican Republic and spread throughout Latin America and the United States. While not native to Puerto Rico, merengue became a significant part of the Puerto Rican music scene in the late 1980s. Merengue típico or perico ripiao is the traditional style that uses string instruments like guitars and bass, accordion, conga, and other drums, and can be either fast-paced with a marching dance step (known as merengue derecho) or slower-paced with syncopated rhythm (known as pambiche). There’s also merengue de Orquesta, or big band merengue, which is also a popular style to dance to and incorporates more instruments.