Salsa & Bachata Guides

Every salsa and bachata style explained: where it came from, how it sounds, who made it famous, and how it's danced.

Salsa styles

Start with the Salsa Music hub, then go deep on each style.

What Is Salsa Music?

Salsa is not a single genre. It's an umbrella term that covers a whole family of Afro-Cuban and Caribbean…

What Is Son Cubano?

Every branch of the salsa family tree grows from the same trunk. That trunk is son cubano. Here's the…

What Is Guaracha Music?

Fast, funny, and full of sabor. Guaracha is the Cuban vocal tradition that gave salsa its rapid-fire energy…

What Is Guaguancó?

Percussion, voices, and movement. Guaguancó is the African heartbeat that pulses through every salsa track…

What Is Charanga Music?

Charanga replaced brass with strings and created some of the most elegant Latin dance music ever made…

What Is Mambo Music?

Mambo fused Cuban rhythms with jazz orchestration, packed the Palladium Ballroom, and brought Latin music to…

What Is Descarga Music?

Behind closed doors, Cuba's greatest musicians got together and improvised some of the most electric music…

What Is Pachanga Music?

Before salsa had its name, pachanga had its moment. And it was impossible to sit through.

What Is Latin Boogaloo?

In the mid-1960s, young Latino musicians in New York fused mambo with R&B, sang in English, and created the…

What Is the Montuno in Salsa?

The montuno is where salsa comes alive. It's the section where the singer goes off, the pattern that makes…

What Is Salsa Romántica?

Purists hated it. Fans loved it. Salsa romántica divided the community, dominated the airwaves, and brought…

What Is Timba Music?

While the rest of the world was smoothing salsa out, Cuba went the opposite direction. Timba made it harder…

Bachata

Start with the Bachata Music hub, then go deep on each style.