Latin  •  Latin America

Latin Soul

Overview Artists Albums Songs

Strikingly similar to boogaloo music, Latin Soul is a blend of mambo and pop tinged with R&B and Latin jazz, emphasizing short, ultra-catchy tunes and infectious rhythms. The style took shape in New York City and was primarily associated with young musicians, who were seeking to make Latin music accessible to broader audiences -- hence, many Latin soul tunes were performed in English. While Latin soul was fairly short-lived, its fingerprints were all over the fertile New York salsa movement of the '70s, when many former Latin soul artists became more interested in their musical heritage and made their own music jazzier and more complex.