Latin Roots: Prog Rock? How About Prog Salsa?

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Sonora Ponceña, a Puerto Rican salsa band, has been active for 50 years. They're one of the bands picked by Ernesto Lechner to showcase the music known as "progressive salsa." Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Courtesy of the artist

Sonora Ponceña, a Puerto Rican salsa band, has been active for 50 years. They're one of the bands picked by Ernesto Lechner to showcase the music known as "progressive salsa."

Courtesy of the artist

For World Cafe's latest Latin Roots segment, Ernesto Lechner from The Latin Alternative is here to discuss progressive salsa. This 1970s music was influenced by the burgeoning prog-rock movement in the U.K. and the U.S., and, as Lechner puts it, there was a conscious effort to be as experimental as possible. He'll play a couple of examples (and include a Spotify playlist) on this page.