Music

General

Buying Salsa music is fraught with danger. Even established artists don't produce consistently good albums and just as in any other genre they can produce some absolute turkeys, so don't buy on name alone.  Most will put in different styles like cha-cha and merenge, and occasionally some undanceable romantic nonsense. Even hit albums rarely contain more than one or two good danceable tracks. If in doubt, don't buy. You can listen to samples of most stuff on-line and in good music shops.  One golden rule is that anything available in any non-music store will be complete rubbish. Also, most compilations with the word "salsa" in the title are useless, being a loose collection of 20 year old tat and 2 year old pop.

Where to Buy

You can get any music you want online, providing you know the title.  This is probably a better way to buy music than going to a High Street music store.  You can hear more stuff online than in any shop, especially now that there are so few small independent shops.  However, according to the first axiom of online shopping; it is uncommon to want to send back less than 50% of what you buy.  Providing you know the album you want, and have actually heard it before you should be OK.    

Where to Listen

If you like something you hear at the clubs, just ask the DJ what it is. They crave attention, and are always interested in what you like to listen to and dance to.  There are any number of salsa radio stations on the web, mostly in Spanish, but some not.  A couple of terrestrial radio stations have programs dedicated to Latin music.  I can let you know what these are if you want but as these tend to have a short lifespan, and I only update this page every red moon, it's best to write.