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New York Latin Music

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.

Jamaican reggae, Bronx rap, and New York Puerto Rican salsa are big contemporary music influences.

The kids are urban. Today, Latin music rules the world.

Latin music features, news, venues, festivals, about

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New York Latin Music Features

New York Latin Music Archive

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. 🇨🇴

New York Latin Music Venues

Kaufmann Music Center (Merkin Hall)

New York Latin Music Festivals

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.
The African put everyone to dance.
In the States, they took away the drum, and we got the blues.”

Eddie Palmieri at the 92nd Street Y 🇵🇷

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.

Promote Latin Music

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

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