• Tracks

This is Puerto Rico's genuine music before salsa came. Born in the 1960s, salsa ("sauce") is a mix of Puerto Rican, Dominican and Cuban music - with a Puerto Rican sauce. But way before the days of Fania All Stars, Latin America was dancing to even more powerful sounds: the founding bomba, plena and pachanga. Bruno Blum comments this historical insight into the most essential Puerto Rican sounds, featuring giants like Ismael Rivera, Cortijo, Chiquitín Garcia and Eddie Palmieri. From San Juan's working-class area and all the way to the dancefloors, this is dance music par excellence.