Bursting with raw energy, salsa is the highly addictive Latin dance craze that is perennially popular the world over. The line-up on this Rough Guide includes dance tracks by salsa superstars Joe Arroyo, Africando, Grupo Niche and Rubén Blades, and is guaranteed to get you moving in time with that unstoppable clave beat.

The Rough Guide to Salsa is the perfect salsa party soundtrack. The mix of dance-floor-tested tracks make this album suitable for anyone, from accomplished dancers to the double left-footed! The compiler of this album, Pablo Yglesias aka DJ Bongohead has his finger firmly on the salsa pulse, and has jam-packed the track list with tunes ranging from the simple and slow to the super-hot and complicated. The line-up includes a range of styles flowing from ‘message’ music to more mainstream sounds and party styles meant for letting loose or expressing romantic emotions. The overarching vibe is salsa dura (hard salsa) with traditional roots in the sounds of Latin New York, Puerto Rico, Cuba and Colombia.

The line-up includes the best big-hitters alongside some less well-known, but equally excellent, darlings of the contemporary scene. Enjoy the classic sounds of Joe Arroyo, Grupo Niche and José Alberto ‘El Canario’ before discovering the Afro-Latin explorations of La Excelencia, or the stomping retro-boogaloo flavoured salsa of Grupo Fantasma.

A full-length bonus album from contemporary salsa dura pioneers Bio Ritmo completes the package. Some call Bio Ritmo salsa’s best-kept secret, but that is changing. During the last twenty years they have been busy releasing critically acclaimed music and cultivating a solid fan base. The bonus album included on The Rough Guide to Salsa includes the band’s first release, ‘El Piragüero’/’Asia Minor,’ an exclusive previously unreleased live track and their 2012 single, ‘La Muralla’.

Salsa is the dance craze and culture that continues to define Latin life – join the party today with The Rough Guide to Salsa.