Salsa Romántica

From the early 1980s a new commercial emphasis took hold. Salsa romántica reweighted the music toward the singer and the studio — polished arrangements,...

From the early 1980s a new commercial emphasis took hold. Salsa romántica reweighted the music toward the singer and the studio — polished arrangements, clean hooks, and lyrics that turned romantic, and in the "erótica" strain frankly sensual. It crystallised with Louie Ramírez and Isidro Infante's 1982–83 "Noche Caliente" projects, which recast contemporary pop ballads for salsa production. The centre of gravity sat in an interdependent Puerto Rico and New York, where Frankie Ruiz and Eddie Santiago sold gold and platinum and Gilberto Santa Rosa kept the improvising sonero's prestige alive inside the commercial market. This was a shift in emphasis, production and image — not the disappearance of salsa dura, which kept going alongside it.

Years

1982-1995

In the app

Timeline