Themes

Browse the catalog by style, era, and artist lineage. Buy something in a theme and we'll point you toward more of it.

80's Salsa

The synth-and-brass sound of the salsa boom.

1 transcription

90's

Salsa's biggest crossover decade — big ballads, bigger radio hits.

1 transcription

New York Salsa

Latin jazz and big-band roots distilled into the Nuyorican salsa foundation.

3 transcriptions

Salsa Dura

Hard, horn-driven, uncompromising — New York at its most aggressive.

1 transcription

Salsa Romántica

Salsa romántica's ballad-first, string-heavy sound.

3 transcriptions

Colombian Salsa

Cali, the self-declared "salsa capital of the world" — blistering tempos and horn-driven arrangements distinct from the New York sound.

0 transcriptions

Héctor Lavoe

"El Cantante de los Cantantes" — the definitive voice of 70s salsa, alongside Willie Colón on Fania's classic albums.

1 transcription

Celia

La Guarachera de Cuba, from Sonora Matancera through her Fania years.

0 transcriptions

Willie Colón

Trombone-led arrangements and streetwise storytelling.

1 transcription

Marc Anthony

Salsa's biggest crossover star — from his own hits to reviving the Lavoe/Colón songbook for El Cantante.

1 transcription

Rubén Blades

Panamanian salsa's own "thinking person's" songwriter — Son del Solar and beyond.

1 transcription

Frankie Ruiz

"El Papá de la Salsa" — the voice that defined salsa romántica.

1 transcription

Ray Barretto

"El Watusi"'s conguero — Fania's most in-demand percussionist and a Latin jazz bandleader in his own right.

0 transcriptions

Fania

The Fania All-Stars catalog — the label that defined salsa as a genre.

1 transcription

El Gran Combo

Puerto Rico's "University of Salsa" — decades of dance-floor staples.

0 transcriptions

La Sonora Ponceña

Puerto Rico's Sonora de Oro — Papo Lucca's piano leading the Lucca family orchestra since 1954.

0 transcriptions

Grupo Niche

Cali's own — elegant, horn-forward salsa.

0 transcriptions

Guayacán

Cali's other salsa titan — alongside Grupo Niche in defining the city's orchestral sound.

0 transcriptions

Eddie Palmieri

Nuyorican piano giant — La Perfecta's trombone-heavy sound and decades of Grammy-winning innovation.

0 transcriptions

Tito Nieves

"El Pavarotti de la Salsa" — soaring balladry from the Nuyorican salsa-romántica era.

2 transcriptions

Adolescentes

Venezuela's salsa romántica — Porfi Baloa's three-trombone sound since 1993.

0 transcriptions

Timba

Modern Cuban timba — dense horns and funk-influenced grooves.

0 transcriptions

Son Montuno

Cuba's foundational sound — the guitar-and-tres backbone salsa itself grew out of.

0 transcriptions

Latin Jazz

Jazz harmony and improvisation over Afro-Cuban and Latin American rhythmic foundations.

0 transcriptions

Merengue

Fast Dominican two-step — tambora, güira, and horns in constant motion.

2 transcriptions

JLG

Juan Luis Guerra's genre-bending merengue, bachata, and pop catalog.

1 transcription

Bachata

Dominican guitar-driven romance — bolero roots turned into the island's defining dance genre.

0 transcriptions

Cumbia

Cumbia's scraper-driven pulse, from Colombia's coast to dance floors across Latin America.

0 transcriptions

Colombian Cumbia

Accordion-and-gaita roots through cumbia's orchestral evolution.

0 transcriptions

Vallenato

Accordion-driven storytelling from Colombia's Caribbean coast — the tradition Carlos Vives brought to the mainstream.

1 transcription

Carlos Vives

Vallenato's accordion tradition, fused with pop and rock — La Provincia and beyond.

1 transcription

Reggaeton

Dembow-driven and Puerto Rico–born — dancehall and hip-hop fused into Latin music's biggest export.

1 transcription

Christian Valdés

Original compositions by Noted Sound's own Christian Valdés.

0 transcriptions

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