Ocean State Libraries

It was the 1970s and a new sound was echoing through New York City like a revolution. It was hot, it was sexy, it was salsa. From a smoky club in the barrio to Madison Square Garden, one man would rise above the rest to become an icon still beloved by fans today. With his dynamic and devoted wife Puchi by his side, Hector Lavoe blazed a path through life that left a legacy of extraordinary music and personal destruction.

Rita, a young girl living in New York's El Barrio, describes the Afro-Caribbean dance music, salsa, and imagines being a salsa director.

Celia & friends live concert features Latin jazz legend Tito Puente, salsa singing sensation La India, band leader Johnny Pacheco, and orchestra director Isidro Infante. Celia's over-the-edge flamboyance - rich with sequins, colorful wigs and gravity-defying high heels - sends audiences into peels of applause. Her wide smile and trademark shrieks of "azucar" (sugar) are unmistakable.