1960s – 2000sPeak: 1970s
Salsa Dominicana
About Salsa Dominicana
Dominicans helped build salsa and then made their own version of it. Johnny Pacheco, born in Santiago de los Caballeros, co-founded Fania Records in New York and became the architect of the sound that conquered Latin America. At home, singers like Cuco Valoy fused Cuban son and guaracha with a Dominican swing, producing a warmer, merengue-inflected salsa that filled dance halls across the island through the 1970s and 1980s.