Ray Barretto was already a giant in Latin music when he released Barretto in 1975. Born in New York to Puerto Rican parents, he had spent the previous two decades carving out a singular place for ...

“Mambo Gozón,” “Juventud del Presente,” “El Cayuco,” “Oye Me Guaguanco,” and “Complicación,” by the late great conqueror Francisco Aquabella. He continued with “Ran Kan Kan ...

The duel featured Eduardo Horrach's "Azuree" (RCN Palma) and "Guaguanco IV" (CN Altea), sailed by father-and-son duo Juan and Thierry Lallemand. Horrach, owner of "Azuree", remarked, "La Larga is ...

However complicated "Latin Jazz" may seem—ethnically, rhythmically, politically, culturally—guess again. It is more so. Even the term "Latin" irritates some players, notably Arturo Sandoval, who has ...

The world's love affair with Celia Cruz is a story that has a middle but no beginning. Today, the world remembers Cruz as the Queen of Salsa, with her towering wigs, cackling refrain of ¡Azúcar!

On Sunday afternoons in Havana and nearby Matanzas, it’s not unusual to see Cubans make drums out of stools, domino tables, and glass bottles—and erupt into a spontaneous gathering of song and ...

An example is a Cuban polyrhythm called the guaguanco, one of three rhythmic patterns that live under the umbrella of the rumba. These rhythms have moved and evolved with people from Africa to the ...

During a career spanning over half a century Puente introduced the mambo, cha-cha-cha, guaguanco and other AfroCuban rhythms to generations that may not have always understood the Spanish language ...

His “Vale Mas un Guaguanco,” a tune about the healing powers of Afro-Caribbean music recorded in 1975 by Ray Barretto’s band, gave Ruben Blades his first hit as a vocalist. The next year, ...