...De siempre

Salsa dura ("hard salsa") is a gritty, high-energy branch of salsa built for dancers and live band firepower rather than pop polish. It foregrounds intense rhythmic drive, brassy horn mambos, extended montuno vamps, and instrumental solos, keeping the spotlight on the groove. Developed in New York City by Afro-Caribbean musicians, salsa dura draws directly from Cuban son and mambo, Puerto Rican bomba/plena, and Latin jazz jam traditions (descargas). Arrangements emphasize heavy trombone lines, call-and-response coros, and vigorous percussion that stays locked to the clave. Compared with later salsa romántica, salsa dura sounds tougher, faster, and more streetwise.

Salsa Puertorriqueña (Puerto Rican Salsa) is a vibrant and rhythmically complex style of salsa that developed in Puerto Rico and among the Puerto Rican diaspora in New York. While sharing the fundamental Afro-Cuban roots of son, mambo, and cha-cha-chá with other salsa styles, it distinguishes itself through the integration of indigenous Puerto Rican rhythms like Bomba and Plena. Musically, it is characterized by a strong emphasis on the 'sonero' (lead singer) who improvises lyrics (soneos) over a call-and-response chorus (coro). The instrumentation typically features a powerful horn section, often favoring trombones or a combination of trumpets and trombones, alongside a rich percussion section of congas, bongos, and timbales. In the 1980s, the Puerto Rican style became the epicenter of 'Salsa Romántica,' a smoother, more commercially viable subgenre focused on love and heartbreak, which contrasted with the grittier 'Salsa Dura' of the 1970s.