Latin music is reaching more listeners than ever before. In the first quarter of 2026, 54 percent of U.S. listeners reported casually tuning into Latin music each month, a record high, according to music data company Luminate.
The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry reported that recorded music revenue in Latin America rose 17.1 percent in 2025, marking a 16th consecutive year of growth, with streaming accounting for 88.1 percent of revenue.
As Latin music expands globally, the conversation is not only about growth but also about preservation. While newer genres often dominate headlines, styles such as salsa carry decades of cultural history rooted in specific communities and traditions.
For Oscar Hernández, pianist, arranger and musical director of the Spanish Harlem Orchestra, salsa's continuing relevance depends on keeping that history connected to its future.
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Keeping History Alive
Salsa's history reflects the movement of people and cultures. African and Caribbean musical traditions, migration from Cuba and Puerto Rico, and the experiences of Latino communities in New York all helped shape the genre.
During the 1970s, salsa also became closely associated with the city's Puerto Rican identity and community life. Its history is therefore about more than a recognizable rhythm. It is rooted in the communities, migration patterns and cultural exchanges that helped create it.
Hernández has spent decades learning from and performing alongside many of the musicians who helped define salsa's modern history. He worked with performers including Tito Puente, Machito, Ray Barretto and Celia Cruz, gaining experience across salsa and Latin jazz before establishing the Spanish Harlem Orchestra.
A four-time Grammy winner, including three Grammy-winning albums with the orchestra, Hernández also served as musical director for Rubén Blades, one of salsa's most influential figures, during a career that has included collaborations with artists ranging from Paul Simon to Gloria Estefan.
'I Learned From the Best People Who Are No Longer Here'
Growing up as the youngest of 11 children in the South Bronx, Hernández says music changed the course of his life. He told Newsweek that music "saved" him, setting him on a path that would eventually take him around the world and onto some of the biggest stages in music. "I learned at the hands of all the best people who are no longer here, and I represent those people by what I do."
For Hernández, carrying that legacy forward does not mean reproducing the past indefinitely.
"We're steeped in the history, but we're also relevant in terms of 2026," he said.
That balance has become a familiar challenge across many musical traditions. Global audiences can introduce new listeners to a genre, but wider popularity can also separate music from the cultural contexts that shaped it. For Hernández, preserving salsa's future means ensuring new audiences encounter not only the sound itself, but also the history, communities and musicians behind it.
The distinction is central to the orchestra's approach, maintaining the musical foundations of salsa while allowing its arrangements and performances to reach new audiences.
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New Audiences Without Losing the Past
The orchestra's May 2026 collaboration with conductor Gustavo Dudamel, music and artistic director of the New York Philharmonic, offered one example. Three sold-out concerts at David Geffen Hall were followed by a sold-out performance at the United Palace in Washington Heights featuring Rubén Blades.
According to The New York Times, two-thirds of the audience at the United Palace had never attended a Philharmonic concert before. The collaboration reached well beyond each institution's traditional audience, bringing salsa and classical music listeners into the same space.
The performances also carried personal significance. For Hernández, who grew up poor in the South Bronx, standing alongside Dudamel and nearly 90 New York Philharmonic musicians represented a journey he could scarcely have imagined as a child. The moment reflected not only salsa's ability to reach new audiences but also how far the music, and the communities that shaped it, have traveled.
Reaching younger listeners remains another challenge. Hernández compares their interest in music's heritage and origins to the renewed appeal of vinyl.
"They want a piece of the history," he said.
Whether through concerts, educational initiatives or international salsa congresses, Hernández believes people are often drawn to the music through experiences that connect them to its cultural roots. Those encounters can provide an entry point for listeners who are curious about the music's origins, even if not everyone chooses to explore them further.
Hernández also recognizes that salsa will not appeal to everyone. "Not everything is for everybody," he said.
Nevertheless, his ambition is to reach audiences willing to discover the music and its wider significance. As salsa reaches new listeners around the world, Hernández believes its future will depend on preserving the cultural legacy that shaped it.
Contact Newsweek editor on this story: Edward Pearcey.