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Salsa has grown with little help from the music industry. Spanish radio and television stations tend to be conservative, preferring to feature traditional Mexican and South American musicians. Four years ago, Latin-rock Guitarist Carlos Santana introduced salsa to the national youth market with his hit single of Tito Puente's Oye Como Va. In an attempt to win a bigger audience, some of the new generation of salsa musicians urge a more commercial sound ("going Americano"), Trombonist Willie Colon, 25, frequently deviates from traditional Cuban rhythms. Others, like Conga Drummer Ray Barretto, remain purist ("tipico"). Barretto, 39, experiments harmonically in his jazz-inflected scores but retains the Cuban beat. Seguida, a new Latin-rock group, compromises by combining Latin rhythms with English lyrics.
Last year Latin music outstripped jazz in record sales; yet at the music industry's annual Grammy awards it was ignored. "Salsa sells $50 million worth of records a year and there is no category for it," complains Orchestra Leader Larry Harlow, who is currently trying to remedy the situation. Izzy Sanabria, publisher of Latin NY magazine, is not waiting. He has organized a Latin Recognition ceremony to be held at Manhattan's Beacon Theater next week. "This is music's hip new sound," says Sanabria. "It is vibrant and intense, and nobody has yet needed to put an amplifier on a conga."