Five styles from the Caribbean and Latin America: two from Jamaica, where the studio itself became an instrument, salsa from New York's Caribbean communities, bossa nova from Rio, and reggaeton from Puerto Rico and Panama.
| Style | Where and when | Tempo | Core instruments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reggae | Jamaica, especially Kingston, late 1960s | Slower than ska or rocksteady | Bass guitar, drums, offbeat guitar or piano chords, organ |
| Dub | Jamaica, late 1960s | That of the reggae it remixes | The mixing desk: drums and bass, echo, reverb |
| Salsa | Puerto Rican, Cuban and Dominican New York; 1970s bands | Typically 160–220 BPM | Bongos, congas, timbales, piano, bass, horns, voice |
| Bossa nova | South Zone of Rio de Janeiro, late 1950s | Calm, relaxed samba | Nylon-string guitar, voice, light drums and percussion |
| Reggaeton | Panama in the late 1980s; Puerto Rico and Miami in the early 1990s | Not stated in our sources | Dembow drum pattern on drum machine, voice, samples |
Reggae
Reggae came out of Jamaica in the late 1960s, from ska and rocksteady. Toots and the Maytals' 1968 single "Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use the word and so named the genre. It is slower than ska or rocksteady, with a strong downbeat in the drums and bass and short, staccato chords on the offbeat.
Defining records. Larry Marshall's "Nanny Goat" and the Beltones' "No More Heartaches", both from early 1968, are taken as the first real reggae records. Trojan Records released reggae in the UK from 1968; in 1970 alone Trojan and B&C put out about 500 singles.
Production notes. The bass guitar is central: a thick, heavy tone with the highs cut to bring out the low end, often played like a percussion instrument. The slower tempo leaves room for the "double skank", two guitar strokes on each offbeat. Jackie Mittoo and Winston Wright's organ shuffle marked the move from rocksteady to reggae.
Dub
Dub grew out of reggae in the late 1960s and early 1970s. A dub is a remix: the vocal mostly taken out, the drums and bass brought forward, effects such as delay and reverb applied, and snippets of voice or instruments dropped in and out. It began on the B-sides of Jamaican 45s, the "version" of the A-side.
Defining records. "The Undertaker" by Derrick Harriott and the Crystallites, engineered by Errol Thompson, was one of the first strictly instrumental reggae albums. Lee "Scratch" Perry's "Blackboard Jungle Dub" (1973), mixed with King Tubby, and Keith Hudson's "Pick a Dub" (1974), the first deliberately themed dub album. UB40's "Present Arms in Dub" was the first dub album in the UK top 40.
Production notes. King Tubby, Scientist, Lee Perry and Errol Thompson treated the mixing console as an instrument. Start from a multitrack, mute the vocal, and perform the mix: echo throws, reverb, mutes and drops.
Salsa
Salsa is dance music shaped by Caribbean traditions, above all the Cuban son, with roots also in Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Colombia and Venezuela. La Sonora Habanera's "Salsa" (1957) was the first album to put the word on its cover; self-identified salsa bands formed among Puerto Rican, Cuban and Dominican musicians in New York in the 1970s.
Defining records. Fania's first album, "Cañonazo" (1964); the Fania All-Stars, formed in 1968; Larry Harlow's salsa opera "Hommy" (1973); Rubén Blades' "Siembra", heard everywhere in Cuba in the mid-1980s.
Production notes. Salsa usually runs between 160 and 220 BPM, and the tempo may climb through the montuno to build excitement. The band follows Arsenio Rodríguez's son montuno line-up, with a horn section and congas added, and bongos, congas and timbales as the standard percussion.
Bossa nova
Bossa nova is a relaxed style of samba developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s in the South Zone of Rio de Janeiro: a calm, syncopated rhythm on the guitar, with chords and fingerpicking that imitate a samba groove.
Defining records. Elizeth Cardoso's "Canção do Amor Demais" carried the first Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes songs in the style. João Gilberto's "Chega de Saudade" (1959) consolidated it. "Getz/Gilberto" (1964), by João Gilberto, Stan Getz and Tom Jobim, won Grammy Awards.
Production notes. João Gilberto's guitar reduces the samba percussion to one instrument: the thumb plays the surdo and the fingers phrase like a tamborim. Gilberto's way of singing samba, after Dorival Caymmi, was as new as the guitar. Its harmony overlaps with jazz, and many of its songs are now jazz standards.
Reggaeton
Reggaeton grew in Puerto Rico from the Spanish-language reggae of Panama in the late 1980s, and the name became common in the early 2000s. It is built on the dembow beat, a pattern rooted in dancehall, soca and calypso.
Defining records. The first tracks by DJ Playero and DJ Nelson were built on the Jamaican "Dem Bow" riddim produced by Bobby "Digital" Dixon. Daddy Yankee's "Barrio Fino" and its single "Gasolina" opened reggaeton to the world. Shakira's "Hips Don't Lie" with Wyclef Jean carried the dembow beat with a salsa-inflected trumpet sample.
Production notes. The dembow takes its name from Shabba Ranks' 1990 dancehall song "Dem Bow". It is a 3+3+2 tresillo cross-rhythm with a slight syncopation on every other half-beat, usually run as a loop: write it first, then everything else. Dancehall producers in the mid-1980s made their riddims on electronic keyboards and drum machines, and reggaeton producers carried that on.
Sources
Every date, name, tempo and origin on this page comes from these pages, read on 2026-10-24.