One of my tasks over the holidays was to make sure I had well curated playlists that would cater to all the different music tastes (old school/current) in my family. The perfect Moya Family playlist must have a good amount of merengue from the 80s, urban merengue, meren-house, dembow, reggaeton, perico ripiao, and of course salsa.
Looking at the current state of merengue – where merengueros urbanos are overshadowing the classic representatives, such as Eddy Herrera, Rubby Perez, Sergio Vargas, etc. – makes me wonder about the current state of salsa nowadays. Is salsa dead? Where’s the new generation of salseros?
Not everything is lost, a new breed of salseros have tasked themselves with taking the genre to new audiences while keeping it close to its roots. In the Caribbean you can find the likes of David Kada, Orquesta El Macabeo, Ruina Nuevas, while in the birthplace of salsa (NYC) Flaco Navaja and the Razorblades, La Mecanica Popular, and Melaza are keeping salsa alive and relevant with the youth. Today, Melaza debuted their first ever video to the song “Mal Amigo,” directed by Dani Barbieri and produced by Los Hacheros’ Jacob Plasse.
For those of you looking to get back in shape moviendo el QLOW, be sure to check out Melaza at Brooklyn Bowl tonight.