News & Updates — Salsa

New 7 inch 45 from Orquesta El Macabeo - Yankee Go Home!

New 7 inch 45 from Orquesta El Macabeo - Yankee Go Home!

The latest effort by Puerto Rico’s salsa rebels Orquesta El Macabeo is a very timely cover version of the Daniel Santos anti-imperialist anthem “Yankee Go Home” appropriately coupled with the title song from their last LP, “La Maldición Colonial” on the flip side. In choosing to reinterpret “Yankee Go Home”, the original of which was released decades ago on the LP “Los Patriotas” (a joint release from Daniel “El Jefe” Santos and Pedro “Davilita” Ortiz Davila) as a daring protest song that sang “truth to power”, Orquesta El Macabeo give a fresh new take on the long, rich tradition of...

Read more →


The First Flowers of Spring with Flor de Toloache

The First Flowers of Spring with Flor de Toloache

Spring is in the the air and guess what? We've got a fresh bouquet of Flor de Toloache songs for you! The amazing all-woman Flor de Toloache and your humble servants at Peace & Rhythm have teamed up again, this time to reissue—for the first time ever on vinyl—the band’s auspicious debut recording, the 2015 Latin Grammy Nominated album Mariachi Flor De Toloache. In 2016 our label released a 45 of two dance floor tracks from the album ("Dicen" / "When We Love") just in time for us to present them, along with Deans Beans Fair Trade Coffee, on the stage at Green River Festival that...

Read more →


Héctor Lavoe / Sept 30, 1946 - June 29, 1993

Héctor Lavoe / Sept 30, 1946 - June 29, 1993

One of the greatest figures in salsa music, Puerto Rican sonero Héctor Juan Pérez Martínez was born on this day in 1946. Born in Ponce PR, Héctor Lavoe was childhood friends with Papo Lucca. He moved to NYC at 16, joined Willie Colón's revolutionary band and they proceeded to slay their way to the top of the salsa world. With a smash band, he was thrown into a lifestyle of hard drugs and partying. Combined with several tragedies in his family and community, his habits started catching up to him. In '73 he started his solo career and he had...

Read more →


Cachao / Sept 14, 1918 - March 22, 2008

Cachao / Sept 14, 1918 - March 22, 2008

The greatest. Bassist, composer, Cuban music figure, master of the tumbao, inventor of Latin jazz, fine-tuner of the charanga, Israel López "Cachao" Valdéz was born in Old Havana, into a family of bass players. He grew up in the house that Jose Martí used to live in. He started at 8 on bongos, and was playing bass by age nine accompanying silent films. He received classical training and as a teenager joined Orquesta Filharmónica de La Habana, which included guest conductions by Stavinski & Villa-Lobos. He stayed thirty years with the orchestra. Along with his brother Orestes "Macho' López, he...

Read more →


Chamaco Ramirez / Sept 10, 1941 - March 27, 1983

Chamaco Ramirez / Sept 10, 1941 - March 27, 1983

With a documentary due out soon on this tragic Puerto Rican salsa sonero and songwriter, we should honor him on his date of birth. Chamaco Ramirez is most famous for singing with Tommy Olivencia, but his Alive & Kicking album is a (formerly) lost classic. From Santurce, Puerto Rico, he joined the Olivencia band as a teenager, sharing lead vocals with Paquito Guzmán. He wrote "Plante Bandera" (which later became a reggaeton hit), "Trucutu" (covered by Marc Anthony) and "Evelio Y La Rumba". He also sang with Kako and the Alegre All-Stars, among others, before his '79 classic...which turned out...

Read more →