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Latin house is an electronic dance music subgenre that mixes together house and Latin American music, such as that of Brazilian, Puerto Rican, Mexican, Cuban, Dominican and Colombian origin.

  History

  Origins

In the second half of the 1980s, some of the pioneers of house music of Latin-American descent gave birth to this genre by releasing house records in Spanish. Early examples include "Amor Puertorriqueño" by Raz on DJ International and "Break 4 Love" by Raze. One influential artist was the Puerto Rican singer Liz Torres, who released Spanish versions of her songs "Can't Get Enough", "Mama's Boy" and "Payback Is A Bitch".

  1990s to present

In the 1990s a new generation of producers and labels broke into the market. Nervous Records released "Quiero Saber" by the Latin Kings, produced by Masters at Work, as well as "Everything's All Right" by Arts of Rhythm and "Philly The Blunt" by Trinidad. Strictly Rhythm employed producer Armand van Helden, who released "Pirates of The Caribbean Vol. III". Songs from the same label include DJ Dero's "Sube", The Tribe's "Go-san-do", R.A.W.'s "Asuca" produced by Erick Morillo, Rare Arts' "Boricua Posse", Escandalo's "Mas Buena" and Fiasco's "Las Mujeres" produced by Norty Cotto, Latin Kaos' "El Bandolero" and "Muevete Mama" and "Sugar Cane" by Afro-Cube.

During the same period (1991 -1992), Chicago native Pizarro produced "The Five Tones", "New Perspective EP", "Plastica", "Caliente" and "Perdoname". Other producers like Ralphi Rosario and Masters at Work created Latin house classics, for instance Ralphie's production "Da-Me-Lo" and his remix of Albita's "No se parece a nada" as well as "Sul Chu Cha" by Rosabel, while Louie Vega and Kenny Gonzales remix "Sume Sigh Say" by House of Gypsies (Todd Terry), and a remarkable Latin house hit "Robi Rob's Boriqua Anthem" by C&C Music Factory.

In the meantime hybrid experiments are put on the market by the likes of New York's Proyecto Uno, who combined house and merengue in their LPs " Todo el mundo" and "In Da House". Their female counterpart is Lisa M from Puerto Rico, who can be heard on the "No lo derrumbes" and "Flavor of the Latin" albums. Another merengue-house record worth of mention is "Así mamacita" by Henry Rivera on Los Angeles Aqua Boogie. Duo Sandy & Papo are known for their LPs "Sandy & Papo" and "Otra Vez".

During the mid-1990s Cutting broke into the Latin house scene and became the most representative label of this genre. Cutting's DJ Norty Cotto was deemed the most representative producer of Latin house. Among the various hits are 2 In A Room's "Las Mujeres", "Carnival" and "Dar la vuelta", Fun City's "Padentro" and "Baila", Sancocho's "Tumba la Casa", "Alcen las manos" and "Que siga el party" (LP) and Los Compadres' "La Rumba". Norty Cotto's mixed compilations also became classics. Fulanito and their LP "El hombre mas famoso de la tierra" is a good combination of house and Latin-American rhythms from that time.

Today many other Latino house artists have emerged to create many successful songs of this genre, and also remixes.

  External links

• The Home of Latin House - showcase, reviews and forums on Latin House music.
• Latin House Message Board - a forum focusing on Latin House music.