Leopoldo Tablante, visiting assistant professor of languages and cultures, recently published an analysis of the commercial evolution of salsa music from its origins in the Latino barrios of New York City, its intensive commercialization and exploitation in the US and the Caribbean mainly by the independent group Fania throughout the 1970s, and its more recent incorporation to the catalogue of major global labels such as Sony Music.

The book, El dólar de la salsa. Del barrio latino a la industria global de fonogramas, 1971-1999, constitutes the first systematic venture aiming to trace the commercial life of salsa music and to present it as an example of popular music industrialization. El dólar de la salsa has already inspired this review by Diego A. Manrique, one of the most important music critiques in Spain, and is available through the Iberoamericana-Vervuert publishing house.



Click here for additional information and an interview in Spanish with the author