A Night Of Salsa

International recording star Celia Cruz is the dynamic, reigning queen of Afro-Cuban salsa music. Her over-the-top flamboyance - rich with sequins, colorful wigs, and gravity defying high heels - sends excited audiences into fits of applause. Her wide, joyous smile and trademark cries of "azucar" ("sugar") are unmistakable. And her music has captivated Latin music fans for five decades with new admires discovering her every day

Celia Cruz is nothing less than the personification of the joyous, sex, irresistible music known as salsa, a genre she helped to define. CELIA CRUZ & FRIENDS: A NIGHT OF SALSA features Celia Cruz with special guest stars Latin jazz legend Tito Puente, young salsa singing sensation La India, flautist and bandleader Johnny Pacheco, and the RMM Orchestra directed by Isidro Infante.

Recorded on May 12, 19999 at The Bushnel in Hartford, Connecticut, Celia Cruz performs a wide collection of songs, from classic Latin standards to her most recent recordings. Songs performed include her latest hit "Mi Vida Es Cantar" ("Singing is My Life"), "Celia y Tito", an electrifying duet with Tito Puente, "La Voz de la Experiencia" ("The Voice of Experience") with La India, "Cucala" with Johnny Pacheco, and a rousing finale of the standard "Guantanamera" with Celia and all the artists.

Latin music and Latin-inspired pop music are arguably more popular in America today than ever before. CELIA CRUZ & FRIENDS: A NIGHT OF SALSA is a wonderful opportunity for American music fans to discover who truly started the Latin music craze - a woman who is to salsa music what Ella Fitzgerald is to jazz.