Salsa with Santa Rosa - Directo Al Corazon

Puerto Rico must have something magical in the water to keep producing such extraordinarily talented salsa artists. If you need proof, just take a look at the Latin Grammy nominations for this year's "Best Salsa Album": India (Soy Diferente), Victor Manuelle (Decision Unanime), Tito Nieves (Hoy, Manana y Siempre), Gilberto Santa Rosa and El Gran Combo (Asi Es Nuestra Navidad) and another for Santa Rosa with Directo Al Corazon.

So what do these nominees all have in common? Well, for one thing, they're all from Puerto Rico.

With two nominations for "Best Salsa Album" and a third, with Victor Manuelle, for "Best Tropical Song" ("Dos Soneros, Una Historia"), Gilberto Santa Rosa once again proves the reason for his longevity and dominance in the tropical music sphere. I do need to add, though, that the nomination for Directo Al Corazon is a little bit curious because the CD is less a salsa album than last year's Autentico, with half of the CD devoted to tropical romantic/pop numbers.

In any case, with a performer that good on disc, he's bound to be twice as good in person, and here's a chance to experience "El Caballero de la Salsa" live as Santa Rosa gets ready to celebrate 30 years as one of salsa's smoothest voices and brightest stars with what promises to be a spectacular concert at NYC's Madison Square Garden on November 22nd.

For those lucky enough to be in New York that week, you can get tickets from Ticketmaster or visit Victory 2 Multimedia for more information about the event.