NYC NOW - The Sound of Salsa in New York City

Episode Date: July 10, 2026

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From WNYC, this is NYC now. I'm Elizabeth Shui, filling in for Jene Pierre. Fania Records is a long and famed music label, known for making salsa music a global phenomenon. In this episode, we look back at the history of the label and those who are keeping the golden era of Latin music alive. This music, the Fania, they live the best golden years of music

because not many people is recording this music as used to be. Fania Records is a long and famed music label known for making salsa music a global phenomenon. In this episode, we look back at the history of the label and those who are keeping the golden era of Latin music alive. But first, here's what's happening around the city. The structural failure at the Pfizer building in Midtown is raising an important question. Would you want to live in a building that had a history of problems? Construction consultant Ross Spivak says tenants might think twice about signing a lease there when it opens. This project will definitely have a stigma.

Structurally here's convinced you the building's fine. You still think it's fine? But some real estate brokers disagree. They say New York City's housing shortage means tenants are just desperate for a place to live. Executives at the development firm Metrolofts say they're rebuilding a section of the high-rise and are still on pace to open next year. City officials are still determining what exactly caused the columns in the building to bend. Manhattan's Riverside Park is hosting an eating contest for goats next Saturday.

The goats will feast on invasive plants like poison ivy, mugwort, and other weeds during the annual Great Goat Graze off. The Riverside Park Conservancy says last year's winner, Malamore, will be returning to defend his title against fan favorite Romeo and newcomer Big Buddy. After the event, the goats will continue eating through the summer. This is the seventh year the park is using this pesticide free way to recover. remove invasive plant species. New York City is rolling out new rules that ban so-called junk fees and require companies to allow one-click subscription cancellations.

The first rule requires businesses to display the full price of goods and services up front, rather than tacking on hidden fees at the end. The second mandates companies offer customers a one-click option to cancel a subscription. Mayor Zoran Mamdani says the regulations are part of a wider effort to make the city more affordable. Together, these laws are estimated to save New Yorkers more than $162 million per year.

And for any who have built a business model on hidden fees and exploitation, consider this to be an official notice. Mamdani says the new rules address consumer complaints about gym memberships and subscriptions for streaming services. Penalties begin at $525 per violation. New York City is known for being one of the most walkable places in the country. But what about walking for a long time? I'm talking about 15 or 20 miles. Well, I got into doing these absurdly long walks after a friend invited me to trek the 32-mile perimeter of Manhattan. I go to Manhattan all the time, but walking through the different neighborhoods really changed my perspective of the city,

like how each neighborhood has its own vibe and distinct architecture. After that, I started looking for even more long routes to walk to see more of the city. One time I spent seven hours walking all the way from Greenpoint to Coney Island. Another time I walked 15 miles in the Bronx and upper Manhattan. But it's not just me who's always down for long walks. More people are doing them as a shared intentional activity to see more of the city and not just a way to get somewhere. Isabella Carr is a model known for her viral videos of quote,

psychotically long walks she does from places like Williamsburg to the Rockaways or from Bushwick to New Jersey. says walking helps her connect with herself, but also helps expose her to more of the city beyond where she lives. I think a large issue of major cities and especially New York is people come to these cities and they don't get exposure. So they don't actually know the city that they're living in. If you're only existing in like the small area you're in a 20 block radius, you're really not embracing that city and you're not showing an appreciation for that place that you're in. Sophia Selleckowski also hosts long group walks under the name APEC, PEPA,

pedestrian. She said she used to live in Austin, Texas, where she walked everywhere possible to walk in the city. But New York City is different. Even within the same neighborhood, there's so many levels to like the stores that are underground and then things that are maybe tucked behind an alley or a little park that you missed because you were on the opposite side of the street. And then when you re-walk it, your view from the opposite side of the sidewalk is completely different. And so that richness of what there is to see and interact with and over here, here is really fun to me.

If you want to start doing absurdly long walks yourself, here are some tips. First, choose a neighborhood you haven't been to before or at least haven't spent a lot of time in, then loosely map it out on Google Maps. And look for streets with bike lanes and tree covers and smaller streets instead of wide avenues, which typically have a lot of vehicle traffic. You also might ask, how do I keep myself entertained during these long walks? Doesn't it get kind of boring? You might be tempted to listen to music or listen to a podcast.

Zilikowski recommends walkers to put their photographer glasses on and to just pause and appreciate the view. As for what to bring, Isabella says don't forget the lip balm. There's nothing worse than lip dryness. Headphones, wired and like the plug type because if your plug type dies, you need the wired. A beverage of sorts. I love coconut water. It's like my strange addiction. So I usually have a coconut water or some sort of health beverage. And beyond that, like I don't know a book, if you want to stay, in the destination you're going to.

And you know, not everyone needs to go on these psychotically long walks to see more of the city. You can start anywhere, go on a 20-minute walk and add five minutes more every day. Or instead of taking the train somewhere, walk halfway first. Spending more time on your feet, like working at a standing desk, will also help make these long walks easier. And don't constantly check how many miles you've walked because that can really trip you up. And you can always bring a friend to make the time go by faster. Up next, a look into salsa and its New York City origins. That's after the break.

By the early 1970s, New York City had become a major stage for salsa with Fania Records and its artists helping bring the music to global audiences. That history is at the center of the new Futuro Media podcast called Our Thing, The Birth of Salsa in Nueva, York. The series looks at the people and places that helped shape salsa's rise in the city. Recently, Jenae sat down at WNYC's Green Space with composer Ella Brick, a two-time Latin Grammy winner whose work brings together classical training, Afro-Venezuelan rhythms, and jazz. Ella composed the music for the podcast series. They talked about Ella's path as a composer, what winning a Grammy changed for her career, and how the history of salsa continues to echo through New York today. Here's Janay's interview with Ella Brick. Come on, you can do better than that.

Praise the heat to be here. Give it up for yourselves. You look so good. Good evening, everyone. It is so nice to have all of you here at the Green Space here at WMYC. My name is Jene Pierre. I host NYC now. That's WNYC's Local News Podcast.

And if you haven't heard about it, I'm going to take a moment to tell you. Basically, it's a show for everyday New Yorkers. We make sense of the city for the people who live here. and for the people who want to stay here. Now, I don't know about you, but I'm feeling like a little groove. I'm feeling like, you know, we don't have enough space to dance, but you can move your shoulders, right? Ma'am, you got it?

All right, just back here, just want to do a shoulder check over here. Everybody's feeling good. Okay, cool, because I am really in the mood with some music. And I don't know about you, but I could sure use some live music. I wonder if anyone has a piano. Or a trumpet. Wow. When did you get there?

All right, y'all. I want to welcome to the stage now. Venezuelan-born musician Ella Brick. Before we get started, I just want to know what's the first song you have for us? We have La Monarcha. All right. Well, let's do it.

Thank you. I'll be right here, Groovin, with you. I want to dedicate this song to the people of Venezuela. Yes. I'm a desire to Your desire, No, no No,

give you A single message When that's For the night That's all that The Monkida always is

If you you're If you you can't Then you can't CENT For that, Canta,

Linda, Kanta, That can't That's your super-pd- Pouet That's beautiful, Ella. Thank you. You were born and raised in Venezuela before we get deeper into this conversation.

You know, our hearts are with your family, your loved ones, and all of Venezuelans, impacted by the earthquakes. I'm wondering, like, how did that news unfold for you? I heard a voice note from my mom saying that she, survived thanks because she was she did a special prayer and that gave her enough

time to buy time to take her dogs, my brother, to run she's on an eight floor and she have enough time surprisingly to go down and wait for whatever it's going to unfold after that and then the second

earthquake impact her while she was on the street already and many of my family members saw buildings falling next to them. Many kids trapped in the moment. Many people very confused not understanding what's going on.

They didn't know if this was related to something else. At the beginning, everybody was like, okay, one building fall here, but then as the time started passing, we start receiving devastating news about

the whole country being affected by this. It's pretty much according to our report that in the CNN a mix of 9-11 and the images similar to what we've been seeing happening and in other parts of the world. I'm so sorry to hear that. How's your mom now?

She's just good. Most of my family lost a lot. But they're good, better than the rest. I can't imagine being a daughter so far away from home during a natural catastrophe like this.

How does music help you cope in times like this. I feel like music always helps. But during this moment, I recognize that I have to remind myself that I'm a human being first, and I have to allow myself to feel the anger, the grief, and allow myself to just try to be present for them, trying to do the activism using the platform that I have available at the same time of knowing when to stop and do meditation, prayers, and try to send as much as prayers to those who are still affected and, you know, suffering. Yeah, yeah. Tell us about, you know, your musical background.

I saw you pick up that trumpet so quickly. Like, it just came to your hand, like you guys have spent a lot of time some years together. Can you tell me about your background? Yeah, I come from a musician's of family. I come from a family of musicians. My uncle was one of the saxophone players for Mario Bowsa, Tito Ponte. His name is Rolando Brizeno. And, yeah, props to them.

And he left a lot of impact on my dad's. Although that they didn't grow up together, he came to New York City very early, and my dad, you know, he took a different route, staying in Venezuela, and that's where I came. And yeah, my dad never stopped talking to me about jazz and about the importance of, you know, knowing your roots, and he did a lot of, like, mixing.

And then that's pretty much how I got involving music. Also, Venezuela has an amazing program name, El Sistema, where we were exposed at a very young age, exposed to classical music, and that was my training, right? They started with classical music, then I switched to jazz, and then I started improvising, and I started mixing with all the genres, pop music and I start producing music also. Let's talk a bit more about classical music

because mixing that into the fold, it's a lot. How does that influence your overall sound? Well, I feel like thanks to classical music, I allow myself to have a good technique and the instrument trumpet is a very physical instrument that requires a lot of discipline, a lot of techniques, and I use a lot of like the formations of classical trumpet players just as Maris Andres and a lot of big names who have paved the way for

us to be able to build a solid career as trumpet players, right? And then I took a different route, but I feel like the switch between classical music, it adds something else to the voice that I wanted to develop as a musician first. All right, so we have a whole set list to get through. What's the next song you have for us? I think we are going to start with the funny thing is that this music is the music that we created specifically thanks to Jan Montalvo who gave me this gig. Yeah, for the podcast.

Yeah, and for the podcast. And it was a big responsibility to write music for a podcast that is talking about the finalist starts. Yeah. But we try to honor them and get closer the most I can with the tools that we were given. So I think we're going to do Should we do

Rumba? Okay. I was very lacing in naming the tracks so they still had the tracks. I saw Theme 7 and I was like, is it called theme 7? Is it called? So

we don't have a percussionist today, but we have the beautiful and amazing genius. Right from Kua Camilla Cortina. She's composer, musicologist, joining us today. So we're gonna, yeah, let me find my chart because I don't remember my own music.

He should have told me I could have brought a drummer to. Oh my God. I know. I should have. This is my moment to shine. I know. I'm sorry. Linda Brissigno, you've used that name throughout your career and now you're going by Ella Brick.

Yes. Why the change? This change is because I'm very, in a good sense, I'm a good sense. I'm a prideful and independent woman. Come on now. And there comes a time where a lot of people were associating me only as the daughter of or the niece of.

And I wanted to create a name by myself doing things that neither my uncle or my dad did. And then I was able to discover the music of Velafichero. And I'm like, what a beautiful story and how hard it is, everything that she went through. and the figure that she represents, I feel like this figure represents me.

I would like to call my name Ella and cut my last name in half and create my own last name, at least artistically, and show the world that, yes, I will always honor my ancestors, but at the same time, they're gonna hear something new coming from these veins. Yeah, I love that, you know, breaking away to make a name for yourself. Yeah. What was it like leaving Venezuela? And how old were you when you did it?

I left Venezuela when I was in my 20, similar to Camila. We were talking about the way that we left our countries, and it was very similar. What impacted that decision? Social issues in our countries. Cuba and Venezuela share a similar political history, sorry. And I wanted to do other things. I wanted to eat the world, and what best way to eat it by going to the place that has an apple eat it? Right?

So I arrived here. I got a full scholarship. It's the same as Camilla. It was very hard at the beginning, but, you know, I was blessed. And I always had God by myself, my side, and a lot of people who helped me get through this, and every single musician who gave me jobs for the first time,

the shady gigs, the good gigs, and here I am, you know? What's the difference between the music scene here in New York City and the music scene back in Caracas? The scene is not much different. I mean, the scale, New York City is 3.0, like, it's mega, right? But the musician's culture is very similar. People here is very ambitious, very disciplined, and you come here to become a better musician.

I remember when I was in Venezuela, Anad Cohen, Bees in a great clarinetist. It's just like, you're going to New York, city to get your ass kick. And I'm like, damn, okay, I need that. And then I came to New York City and exactly as she said. And it made me a better human being. And, but at the same time I came also prepared because Caracas is also a very

competitive city where a lot of great musicians are coming from, great training, same as Cuba as well. And I feel like also Venezuela has a big culture of salsa music. We have Oskar de Leon, we have a lot of important figures, you know, La Dimension Latina, a lot of people who also paved the way, so I come also from

that background. Yeah. I talked a bit about the way you sort of mix all these genres together, but one I failed to mention was pop. Classical meets pop. How do you do that? Like, what's the thought process? I feel like, yes, I'm a

big consumer of pop music because American music, the cable arrived in Venezuela, we were always connected to America music and especially black music, right? We have we were visited by Michael Jackson and a lot of like big figures

of black history. Jazz musicians also came here. I think Ella came to New York, to Caracas as well. So we always were surrounded by great influence for the Americas. But I feel like the way that I interpret pop was very different from the pop that was happening

in the 2000s. Pop meaning for me air within fire. Oh, okay. When I was 12. Okay. when I was 12, my people, they were consuming Britney and all of those stuff, which I also learned and seen choreographies and all of that. But I feel like that was my closest expression of understanding that necessarily what people is consuming is a reflection of what our communities are at the moment

and trying to work with that and do something with it that also transcends and also allowed myself to honor ancestor and the music that came before me. You know, talking about music that transcends, as we mentioned, you composed a lot of the music for our thing, the birth of Salsa in Nueva, York. What, like, how do you, how do you do that? Like, it's so much music, so many different themes, right, that you have to touch on, you have something upbeat, something somber. What's your approach? I feel like I had a lot of help from the team of Futuro, especially Jan Montalvo, because they gave me very specific. references.

And I try to be as much as respectful with those references, not to appropriate, not to copy anything, but at the same time, using the same rhythms like this, we want this song to have the feeling of Bugalu. We want this to be a rumba. We want this to be an opt tempo.

We want this to sound a little bit more like Ector Lavo, or also represent Auelero made by LaLupe, in this case, Tito Cure, which was the composer. So I try to mix all of those, I and try to honor that and give also my contribution. And that's how it came.

I also need to mention that this music, whoever left the Fania time, they live the best golden years of music because not many people is recording this music as used to be. Most of the arrangers who wrote, arrange and orchestrate for these big orchestras, they are not. orchestras, they are no longer with us. And there is no enough people investing money so this music can keep working and keep existing

as it used to. So I relied on a team of Venezuelan musicians who were back home, who were interested in making this with the little budget that we have available. I mean, it was amazing to have people back home recording this. So what you heard is a team of full Venezuelans trying to make it work. and it came amazingly, you know. It sounds like you had a really cool homework project or something. Yeah, it was a big challenge.

But it was a lot of fun, right? It was a lot of fun and a lot of learning experience. And it humbled me because I still am learning rhythms, different types of montunos, and my musicians, I always surround myself with great musicians, and they are patient enough to understand that I have the mind of a producer. I'm not necessarily the most virtuoso musicians. but I can make things happen

and that's how we came. All right, I think we're ready for theme seven? Theme six, actually. Theme six, these names. Hopefully after today, you guys can help me give a decent name to these pieces. We can call one of them Janay's favorite. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And also consider that it's a big challenge to create all this music that was recorded with a big percussion, instruments, trombone, so we did a big challenge today by reducing this to a duet, so I hope it can... Yeah. I know, I mean, not reducing it.

I feel like we're uplifting it. Shoulder shakers over here. You know, Ella, you wear a lot of different heads. You're a producer, songwriter, trumpeter. Which of these roles feel more at home to you and why? Ah, singer-songwriter. I feel like I have to wear so many hats that I would like to think that in the future I can become someone like Catano Eloso,

but doing Venezuela music, you know? Yeah, yeah. So, a big, big difference, right? I still need to have 90 years old to become that. So I have a lot of things to experiment. What's top of mind right now? It's not stopping me right now. I feel like I have the full blessings of surrounding myself

with great musicians and producers who are allowing me to become that. One of my co-producers, which is a great producer from Honduras, Trucco, he's with us today. He's a genius and he is helping me find my sound mixing Afro-Venezuela music with current sounds and I feel like we are in the search

of finding that enlightenment artistically. Yeah, we talked a bit about how your work bridges Afro-Venezuelan traditions with jazz, electronic music and Latin jazz, I wonder though, like, what's your inspiration? Like music-wise? Yeah. I feel like I...

That's when they asked me, what's your favorite song? It's very complex. Like, where do you pick from? I feel like I feel passionate about musicians who live in Mark with social justice such as Nina Simone. It's like a big influence mixed with, yeah, big props to Nina Simone. At the same time with, I don't know, I love Bjork music as well, as much as I love the songs of Tito Cure, you know. Like I feel like there are a lot of places to pick from, but I feel like if you have the chance to, you don't have never the chance to perform for the same hundred people.

So we are impacted lives from 100 to 100. So we have the platform that a politician will die to have. Yeah. So I like to think that we are using that the best way that we can to impact and make a change in the world. When it comes to mixing all of these genres together, what challenges have you faced? I feel like the challenge, I mean, as a producer, we represent the one or two percent in the recording studios as much as engineers, female engineers. We face a lot of misogyny in the studios. Also, in the music industry, it's very challenging for us as well as women, right?

That's the first one, which it's sad to recognize in 2006 that there's still those things happens, right? Having so many movements, pro-women, right? But unfortunately, those things still happens, and it's our duty to keep, you know, giving visibility to do that and try to create a change. I feel like the challenge also as an immigrant woman is always finding their right. space to create this music at the same time of surviving a city that is kicking out immigrants constantly and is becoming more expensive and unaffordable. So in the age of AI as well, it's very challenging to understand where the music is going to go if these machines are taking and stealing music from creators like us.

So it's a conversation that needs to happen. And I feel like that's what concerns me the most. and it's going to be the challenge for us to understand how to receive the technology and use it for the good at the same time of not losing and protecting creators to keep doing this music and creating more spaces for us. Now, I wanted to share a secret with you all. It's really not a secret, but it's old news. Homegirl Ella here is a Latin Grammy Award winner.

Can we give it up for that? First woman to win producer of the year? Flex. because I have never had a conversation with a Grammy winner. What's it like? I mean, take us all back to the moment.

It was amazing. It was amazing because especially the Latin side of things, especially with the Latin Grammys, it's always, it has a tendency of, I mean, the award is supposedly to give the award to someone

who leave a really big mark on the music in Latin America, right? And what we've been consuming as audience has been, you know, new rhythm, reggaeton and all those things.

So I came nominated in that category where I was competing with someone who produced something for Laura Pozzini, someone who did something for Residente, many huge producers who were Despacito producers were nominated there.

And I was nominated with two independent projects, and Ruben Blades used to, it happened to be in one of those projects by luck. And they decide to give the award to these two honest and very independent projects.

And I feel like it was it became not about me. He became a conversation worldwide about women in the studios and the importance of creating spaces and amplifying those voices and it really changed me

and I'm grateful and humble that it was given to me and I'm hopefully rooting for my teammates to keep being nominated but at the same time more than we need the award in the future is that they can create a less hostile environment in the

recording studios and can make a living of what they are doing you know yeah for sure naturally I want to ask like how has receiving the award changed your career or helped your career, but I also want to know how has it helped your peers?

It held my peers and it didn't make a big change. I thought it would change my life. Yeah, that's what the social media in the checks. Yeah, you're right. But it didn't.

And it's okay because I feel like my heart is in not compromising the creative process just to follow the algorithm or how music is being released more in the business side of things. Maybe that's why you don't see my music being in playlist

or big million listeners monthly because I have decided that I want to allow myself as an immigrant woman who has different challenges every day in New York City to create music when I want to create it and trying to be sure that

my music is going to have the integrity that I wanted to have and hopefully that can connect with the people, whether they discover me today on this amazing event or whether they discover me on a random playlist of someone in Japan,

you know? All right, we have another Another jam? Yeah, this is our last jam, which is Bugalu. Oh, this is the last one? Well, I don't know how much time we have. How much time do? No one ever waved me down. I can do this forever.

I've been doing it for years. I have time for one more because we don't want the people to fall asleep, right? This is right. They've been here listening and, you know, I like to keep it short, but if you guys want one more, you... The people want one. This is my favorite one, by the way.

Oh, good one. Now is our time to sing. How about that? Can we all sing collectively? Let's sing. And now you're going higher. Next one. And then on this side, well, it's a little less people.

And then they finish the song. You can hear more of Ella Brick's music on YouTube and look for Our Thing, The Birth of Salsa in Nueva, York, wherever you get podcasts. Thanks to Jeannie Montalvo and Marlon Bishop from Futoro Media for their club. collaboration. Thanks for listening to NYC Now from WNYC. I'm Elizabeth Shway in for Jene Pierre. Have a great weekend.