New York Latin Music is as diverse as we are, a mix of Indigenous, European, and African traditions. We also have Arab traditions from Mother Africa.
Music and dance together, are the core of day-to-day life.
Haitian meríngue, Cuban rumba, Brazilian samba, and New Orleans jazz are roots musics. So are Andean and Regional Mexican traditions.
- ALTERNATIVE bomba, kompa, plena, punta, soca, zouk
- CLASSICAL opera
- GLOBAL afrobeats, champeta
- JAZZ bossa nova
- POP
- PORTUGUESE mpb, samba, sertaneja
- REGIONAL MEXICAN banda, fandango, mariachi, norteño, tejano
- ROCK
- TRADITIONAL fado, flamenco, folk, tango
- TROPICAL bachata, changüi, cumbia, merengue, rumba, salsa, soca, son, timba, vallenato
- URBAN house, rap, reggaeton, rhythm & blues, Latin trap
New York Latin Music Sponsors
Thank you for sponsoring Latin music at New York Latin Culture Magazine!
- Flamenco Festival
- CUNY Graduate Center
- Harlem Stage
- Hostos Center 🇵🇷
- Jazz at Lincoln Center
- Le Poisson Rouge
- Little Island
- Live Nation / Ticketmaster
- Madison Square Garden
- Red Bull
- Robert Browning Associates
- Sheen Center
- Skirball Center (NYU)
- Terraza 7 🇨🇴
- World Music Institute
New York Latin Music Features
Happy Birthday Shakira!
Thursday, February 2, 2023
🇨🇴
Marc Anthony Viviendo Tour Brings Puerto Rican Salsa to Madison Square Garden
Thursday, February 9, 2023
MADISON SQUARE GARDEN
Chelsea, NYC
🇵🇷
El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico Headlines India, Jerry Rivera & Puerto Rican Power for Salsa at Radio City Music Hall
Saturday, Febuary 11, 2023
RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL
Rockefeller Center, Midtown
🇵🇷
Jerry Rivera Joins Gran Combo, India & Puerto Rican Power for Salsa at Radio City Music Hall
Saturday, Febuary 11, 2023
RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL
Rockefeller Center, Midtown
🇵🇷
India Joins Gran Combo, Jerry Rivera & Puerto Rican Power for Salsa at Radio City Music Hall
Saturday, Febuary 11, 2023
RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL
Rockefeller Center, Midtown
🇵🇷
Remember “Tite” Curet Alonso, The Salsa Poet
Sunday, February 12, 2023
🇵🇷
Pedrito Martinez and his Rumba Bring Echoes of Africa to Drom
Wednesday, February 15, 2023
DROM
East Village, Manhattan
🇨🇺
ALBA Musik, the Bárbara Martínez duo, Performs Spanish Flamenco and Brazilian Bossa Nova at City Winery
Thursday, February 16, 2023
The Vineyard at City Winery
Chelsea, NYC
🇪🇸🇦🇷🇻🇪
Fleur Seule Big Band Plays Salsa for Dancing at the Hard Rock Hotel
VALENTINES WEEK
Saturday, February 18, 2023
HARD ROCK HOTEL
Times Square Theater District
🇵🇷
New York Latin Music News
Ongoing
Arturo O’Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra play Birdland in Hell’s Kitchen, on Sunday nights at 8:30 & 10:30pm. From $30. 🇨🇺
January 2023
The Annette A Aguilar Trio, featuring Uruguayan guitar hero Bele Beledo, plays late night jazz on New Year’s Eve morning at the Uptown Garrison in Hudson Heights, Manhattan on Sunday, January 1, 2023 from 1:30-4:30am. No cover. 🇧🇷🇳🇮🇺🇾
Fleur Seule plays Salsa Night at the Hard Rock Hotel, in the Sessions Lounge, in the Times Square Theater District, on Tuesdays in January 2023 from 5-8pm. 🇵🇷
Pedro Giraudo Tango Quartet plays Argentine Tango at the Django in Tribeca, Manhattan on Tuesday, January 3, 2023 at 7:30pm. 🇦🇷
Vince Giordano and The Nighthawks play vintage hot jazz at the Birdland Theater in Hell’s Kitchen; Tuesday, January 3, 2023 at 8:30pm. From $36. 🇮🇹
Los Hacheros with Jeremy Bosch play Puerto Rican salsa at The Django in Tribeca on Tuesday, January 3, 2023 at 10:30pm. 🇵🇷
The Prototype Festival 2023 of contemporary opera and musical theater presents new voices, including Mexican folk singer Silvana Estrada’s beautiful “Marchita;” at Here in Hudson Square and other NYC venues; for one week Thursday, January 5-13, 2023. From $40. 🇲🇽
Remember Juan Gabriel, the Mexican Elvis,” on his birthday, Saturday, January 7, 2023.
Bárbara Martínez sings and dances New York Argentine, Venezuelan, Spanish flamenco at Flamenco Tuesdays at Sala Astoria, a Spanish restaurant in Astoria, Queens, on Tuesday, January 10, 17, & 24, 2023 at 7pm. 🇦🇷🇻🇪🇪🇸
French Tunisian saxophonist and composer Yacine Boularès plays a “Night in Tunisia;” a Tunis Opera commission that blends Tunisian traditions into Dizzy Gillespie’s classic jazz anthem with rapper Mehdi WMD and singer Nessrine Jabeur; at Lincoln Center’s David Rubenstein Atrium; Wednesday, January 11, 2023 at 7:30pm. FREE! 🇫🇷🇹🇳🇺🇸
The Winter Jazzfest 2023 festival of jazz showcases is at multiple venues in Manhattan and Brooklyn, for one week Thursday-Wednesday, January 12-18, 2023. The Manhattan Jazz Marathon is Friday, January 13. The Brooklyn Jazz Marathon is Saturday, January 14. From $65. 🇧🇷🇨🇺🇩🇴🇫🇷🇭🇹🇵🇦🇵🇹🇪🇸
Locobeach plays psychedelic cumbia rock at the Sultan Room in Bushwick, Brooklyn on Friday, January 13, 2023 at 11pm. $20. 🇻🇪
Pianist Dayramir Gonzalez plays Cuban jazz at the Winter Jazzfest Brooklyn Marathon at National Sawdust in Williamsburg on Saturday, January 14, 2023 at 7pm. $65. 🇨🇺
Happy birthday Ricardo Arjona! The Guatemalan pop singer was born in Jocotenango, Guatemala on January 19, 1964.
American flautist Clair Chase plays works by renowned Mexican American experimental composer Pauline Oliveros in Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall on Saturday, January 21, 2023 at 9pm. From $54. 🇲🇽
European African Indigenous American singer, fiddle and banjo player, and MacArthur Fellow Rhiannon Giddens (Carolina Chocolate Drops), and Italian singer-songwriter Francesco Turrisi play selections from their 2022 Grammy-winning Best Folk Album “They’re Calling Me Home” in Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall on Tuesday, January 24, 2023 at 7:30pm. From $84. 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇮🇹
Bárbara Martínez performs Spanish flamenco; at Mercado Little Spain in Hudson Yards, NYC; on Thursday, January 26, 2023 at 6pm. 🇪🇸🇦🇷🇻🇪
Moroccan gnawa sacred singer Samir LanGus and New York Iraqi DJ Omar Aena play North African and Iraqi healing dance music (Global Music Afrobeats) for the World Music Institute at Nublu 151 in Manhattan’s East Village, on Thursday, January 26, 2023 at 8pm (7pm doors). From $20. 🇲🇦
The Gipsy Kings, featuring Nicolas Reyes, play French rumba flamenca at City Winery in Chelsea, NYC; on Friday, January 27, 2023 at 7pm and 9pm. 🇪🇸🇫🇷
Vince Giordano and The Nighthawks play vintage hot jazz at the Birdland Theater in Hell’s Kitchen; Tuesday, January 3, 2023 at 8:30pm; and Friday-Sunday, January 27-29, 2023 at 7 & 9:30pm. From $36. 🇮🇹
Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Flórez and Italian American pianist Vincenzo Scalera perform Bellini, Rossini, Tosti, Donizetti and Verdi on Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage on Sunday, January 29, 2023 at 2pm. From $24. 🇮🇹 🇵🇪
February 2023
Grammy nominated early music ensemble El Mundo; plays 17th-18th century music from “Archivo de Guatemala,” the archive of the Guatemala City Cathedral which captures the mix of European, African and Indigenous American traditions in Colonial Guatemala; in Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall on Wednesday, February 8, 2023 at 7:30pm. From $67. 🇬🇹
Scottish classical guitarist Sean Shibe celebrates the Spanish influence on classical guitar through non-Spanish artists including Barrios, Ginastera, Poulenc, Villa-Lobos; at the 92nd Street Y Kaufmann Concert Hall; on Wednesday, February 8, 2023 at 7:30pm. From $25. 🇦🇷 🇧🇷 🇫🇷 🇵🇾 🇪🇸
Marc Anthony “Viviendo Tour” brings Puerto Rican Salsa to Madison Square Garden in Chelsea, NYC on Thursday, February 9, 2023 at 8pm (7pm doors). From $99. 🇵🇷
Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Montero: Westward explores the immigrant experience through Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff and Stravinsky (three great Russian composers who emigrated to the United States), and improvisations to Chaplin’s short film “The Immigrant” which inspired her selections. It’s at the 92nd Street Y Kaufmann Concert Hall; on Friday, February 10, 2023 at 7:30pm. From $25. 🇻🇪
El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico headlines India, Jerry Rivera, and Puerto Rican Power for a night of Puerto Rican salsa at Radio City Music Hall in Rockefeller Center on Saturday, February 11, 2023 at 8pm. From $96. 🇵🇷
ALBA Musik, the Albert Alabedra and Bárbara Martínez duo, performs Brazilian bossa nova and Spanish flamenco; in the City Vineyard at City Winery in Chelsea, NYC; on Thursday, February 16, 2023 at 6pm. $25. 🇦🇷🇧🇷🇪🇸🇻🇪
Gilberto Santa Rosa “De Amor y Salsa” brings Puerto Rican salsa to Bergen PAC in Englewood, New Jersey; on Friday, February 24, 2023 at 8pm. From $49. 🇵🇷
South African pianist Nduduzo Makhatini and Brazilian mandolin virtuoso Hamilton de Holanda show how we, the African Diaspora, turn the colonial mess into something beautiful at Jazz at Lincoln Center in the Appel Room on Friday-Saturday, February 24-25, 2023. From $81. 🇿🇦🇧🇷
Puerto Rican Panamanian DJ Bembona and Dominican Latin Fusion band Afrodominicano play the Urban and Tropical sounds of the Caribbean street, for the World Music Institute at Nublu 151 in Manhattan’s East Village on Saturday, February 25, 2023 at 8pm (7pm doors). From $20. 🇩🇴 🇵🇦 🇵🇷
March 2023
A New Day, the Il Divo Greatest Hits Tour, a Carlos Marín Tribute (1968-2021) with Mexican guest baritone Steven Labrie, brings pop opera to the Beacon Theatre in the Upper West Side on Friday, March 10, 2023 at 8pm. From $102. 🇫🇷🇲🇽
Multiple Grammy-winning South African choir Ladysmith Black Mambazo (Graceland, 1986), plays for the World Music Institute at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan’s Upper East Side on Saturday, March 18, 2023 at 7:30pm (7pm doors). From $35. 🇿🇦
Two Latin Grammy winners: Flor de Toloache and Nella play Mexican mariachi and Venezuelan pop at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall in Midtown, Manhattan on Friday, March 24, 2023 at 7:30pm. From $64. 🇲🇽🇻🇪
Spanish Catalan duo Tarta Relena sing Electronic Folk for the World Music Institute at National Sawdust in Williamsburg, Brooklyn on Thursday, March 30, 2023 at 8pm. From $20. 🇪🇸
April 2023
Paquito D’Rivera joins the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis for premieres of Elio Villafranca’s “Tres Aguas” and Edmar Castaneda’s “Music of Colombia;” at Jazz at Lincoln Center on Columbus Circle; on Friday, April 14, 2023 at 8pm. From $41. 🇨🇺🇨🇴
Ana Gabriel “Por Amor a Ustedes World Tour” brings Mexican pop mariachi to Barclays Center in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn on Thursday, April 20, 2023. From $61. 🇲🇽
May 2023
Bárbara Martínez joins Danza España Flamenco Co for Spanish flamenco at the Thalia Spanish Theatre in Sunnyside, Queens; weekends from May 4-21, 2023. 🇪🇸🇦🇷🇻🇪
May 2024
J Balvin brings Colombian reggaeton to Barclays Center in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn on Wednesday, May 22, 2024. 🇨🇴
Gilberto Santa Rosa “De Amor y Salsa” Brings Puerto Rican Salsa to Bergen PAC
Friday, February 24, 2023
BERGEN PAC
Englewood, New Jersey
🇵🇷
Vince Giordano & the Nighthawks Play Hot Jazz in the Birdland Theater
Tuesday, February 28, 2023
BIRDLAND THEATER
Hell’s Kitchen, NYC
🇮🇹
Happy Birthday Lady Gaga!
Tuesday, March 28, 2023
🇮🇹
Happy Birthday Eliane Elias!
Sunday, March 19, 2023
🇧🇷
Il Divo Brings French & Spanish Pop Opera to the Beacon Theatre
Friday, March 10, 2023
BEACON THEATRE
Upper West Side, NYC
🇫🇷🇲🇽
Remember Antônio Carlos Jobim and The Girl From Ipanema!
Wednesday, January 25, 2023
🇧🇷
The Gipsy Kings Featuring Nicolas Reyes Play French Rumba Flamenca at City Winery
Friday, January 27, 2023
CITY WINERY
Chelsea, NYC
🇪🇸🇫🇷
Happy Birthday Maluma!
Saturday, January 28, 2023
MEDELLÍN, Colombia 🇨🇴
Arturo O’Farrill & the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra Play Birdland
Sundays
BIRDLAND
Hell’s Kitchen, NYC
🇨🇺
New York Latin Music Venues
Kaufmann Music Center (Merkin Hall)
New York Latin Music Festivals
- AfroPunk
- Blue Note Jazz Festival
- FERUS Festival
- Electric Zoo
- Flamenco Festival *
- Governors Ball
- MEGA Bash and MEGA Mezcla are reggaeton & Latin trap concerts.
- New York Philharmonic Concerts in the Parks
- New York Salsa Festival
- Nublu Jazz Festival
- Prototype Festival of contemporary opera and musical theatre.
- Rock the Bronx
- Soulfrito
- Summer For the City
- SummerStage
- Winter Jazzfest
About Latin Music
Latin music is an expression of family, faith, community and love. It comes from the most marginalized communities. In the colonial context, guarding your heritage is a form of resistance.
Most Latin music is dance music because traditional communities orient themselves around dance.
New styles are usually suppressed as naughty and low class – before they take over the world. Latin music is fun!
Latin jazz, salsa, rap and urban bachata are from New York. Reggaeton passed through. House was created in Chicago by a New Yorker. It takes two to tango, and New York played a role in tango, twice.
This is a great description of Latin music.
“The Spaniard brought the African.
Eddie Palmieri at the 92nd Street Y 🇵🇷
The African put everyone to dance.
In the States, they took away the drum, and we got the blues.”
Blues, based on Haitian Creole and North African traditions, is the root of most American popular music.
The U.S. southern border is more than an imaginary line in the dirt. North of the border, the Colonial Indigenous genocide diminished the impact of Indigenous traditions. South of the border Indigenous and African Diaspora traditions remain.
Musicians on both sides keep blending traditions back together into new musical forms. The same is true with Mother Africa. African Dahomey, Yoruba, and Kongo traditions evolved into different forms such as meríngue, son/salsa, and samba in the Americas. Fela Kuti brought some of those traditions back to Mother Africa as Nigerian Afrobeat. This keeps bearing fruit as Afrobeats or African pop.
The incredible diversity of Cuban music is a world unto itself.
Latin alternative, bachata, bomba, bossa nova, champeta, classical, cumbia, fado, fandango, flamenco, folk, house, jazz, mariachi, merengue, mpb, opera, plena, pop, portuguese, rap, regional mexican, rhythm & blues, rock, rumba, salsa, samba, soca, son Cubano, tango, timba, traditional, trap, tropical, urban, vallenato