3 salsa songs to make your balls explode

Bullshit intro (skip bellow for music recs)

My dearest Canaries have a pretty long history of cultural exchange with the Caribbean, particularly Venezuela, with a long, mostly uninterrupted, chain of back and forth migration that goes back to the times of the Spanish empire and persisted to the modern age with Islanders fleeing to Venezuela during the Franco regime in the 30’s and Venezuelans migrating to the archipelago after Chavez came to power. The resulting influence here is particularly notable in the music that’s popular with merengue bachata and salsa being fixtures of everyday life. This, as well as my family being part of the 2000’s Venezuela diaspora, has led to me to grow up surrounded by latin music and taking a particular liking to salsa.

I’ve however come to find that the whole genre is kind of underdiscussed among music nerds in the online spaces I frequent. I think that’s a shame, so here’s my attempt at remedying that, 3 (only 3) salsa songs that i think are a good as a gateway drug for those interested or just anyone who feels like broadening their musical horizons:

Vigilante (Hector Lavoe y Willie Colón)

Willie Colón & Héctor Lavoe - Vigilante (Audio Oficial)

The piano! The Saxofone! The trombone! The bongos! The fucking electric guitar that starts absolutely, positively, shredding at the 4 minute mark and then never appears again in the whole album, everything is fucking here mashing together elements of soul and jazz  into one the slickest most stylish songs you’ll ever hear. I’ll tell you one good thing about this song: it sounds exactly like the cover looks, the pinnacle of cool, just pouring that 80s charisma all over the place, feeling like something to come out of a gritty, film noir type crime thriller, because it is actually, unfortunately I’m told the movie is pretty shit BUT THE SONG IS NOT, GO LISTEN TO IT, NOW!

Or alternatively you could listen to some other of Colón or Lavoe’s catalogue (don’t tell anyone i said this, I’m only supposed to give you 3 songs)

Aguanile is a fun incredibly frenetic and danceable track with lyrics inspired by afrocaribbean spirituality (santería), a characterization that extends to the rest of record, fyi

Aguanile

Oh Qué Será? is a cover of a song by Brazilian musician and writer Chico Buarque with an intro taken from writer Clarice Lispector. Very smooth, passionate and desperately romantic take on the original and a personal favorite of mine, definitely recommend checking the lyrics for that one if you don’t speak the language.

Willie Colón - Oh que será?

El Día De Mi Suerte is a festive yet bittersweet narration of Lavoe 's hardest moments in life. I’m putting this one here as a way to point towards the rest of the record, which was the first salsa album I listened to in full and would honestly recommend others to do the same, the whole thing’s a clasic.

El Día De Mi Suerte

Indestructible (Ray Barretto)

Ray Barretto - Indestructible

STAND UP, come on GET THE FUCK UP, dont even bother whiping the tears and snot off your face, you don´t have time for that, because you my friend are an UNSTOPPABLE FORCE OF NATURE, you are a THOUSAND TRAINS GOING FORWARD WITH STRENGH NEVER BEFORE SEEN BY MAN, may god forgive every soul that stands on your way or even worse those that have slighted against you because friend you are INVINCIBLE, you are INDESTRUCTIBLE, YOU CAN DO IT, YOU WILL DO IT. 

The word triumphant seems like it was made for this song, with Barreto’s simple, silly, very jovial yet emotionally earnest lyrics being accompanied by an orchestra that feels right out of the cheesiest superhero movie you’ve ever seen, the whole thing comes together into a complete adrenaline rush of a song. Great gym music btw

and uhhhhh don’t tell mom i’m telling you this but if you want you could also listen to some these other songs (but seriously don’t tell mom, she said only 3 tracks in this blog)

Praise for indestructible can also be said a thousand times over Eddie Palmieri’s Oyelo Que Te Conviene, with a pretty animated first part, followed by a long, calm before the storm type interlude, followed and ending which turns the track a manic cacophony of timbals and trumpets that feels like it's trying to blow up the recording equipment. Another personal favorite.

https://youtu.be/8ms6iO8AIug?si=KMLrnFAAoClfbCUv

Ya Vez is a romantic song about clinging onto a love that’s never going to come back, pretty melancholic stuff that however is accompanied by this unabashedly cheery instrumentalization. A juxtaposition that reframes the whole song into this sort of joyful acceptance of grief, or maybe i’m just pretentious.

Ray Barretto - Ya Vez (Audio Oficial)

For a third song that stands out for its orchestral crescendo I’m picking El Sonido Bestial, if you like Oyelo Que Te Conviene also check this one, It’s a life version too!

Richie Ray & Bobby Cruz - Sonido Bestial (Live)

Vivir lo nuestro (La India y Marc Anthony)

India feat. Marc Anthony-Vivir lo Nuestro.mpg

I’m deciding to not be an annoying hipster here and just pick a good popular song, Vivir lo Nuestro is omnipresent in every hispanic or hispanic adjacent party playlist so if you already know it, take this as a chance to give it a re-listen or maybe discover this live version. 

The star of the show here is obviously India, absolutely flexing her vocal cords through the whole duration of the track. Since this is a live version you can see her do that while smoking a cigar! Or just generally appreciate her tremendous stage presence, what the kids call aura I believe. Marc Anthony is also here, he’s fine, I’m told the two hate each other now but here they have a decently fun to watch chemistry.

salsa caliente de Japón. orquesta de la luz.

As a bonus pick (just a bonus, remember, only 3 songs) you can also enjoy another live performance by the tremendously charismatic Nora Susuki, here she’s interpreting “salsa caliente del Japón” in front of a cheering crowd of Japanese fans. An unusual curiosity and a pretty good song, if you ask me

Or you could watch Eric Fukusaki’s excellent rendition of Hector Lavoe’s El Cantante, just to appreciate a bit more the unusual relation between Japan and Latin America, since I've heard you nerds are like, into Japan, or something

EL CANTANTE | Ken Morimura & Eric Fukusaki y Orquesta Beyond Generations

THAT’S IT YOU CAN GO HOME NOW HOPE YOU LIKE THE MUSIC