Deep in the heart of Old San Juan you can hear live salsa music playing most any night at the Nuyorican Cafe. We stepped into the alley for a breather and had a little chat with two lovely salseras to get an insider view of what brings them back to the dance floor night after night.

“Rock en español” is what we refer to the relatively new movement of musicians from Spanish speaking countries singing in their native language. Back in the sixties and seventies, these musicians were taken up with rock like much of the rest of the world, but they sang in English. Puerto Rican Carli Muñoz explains while looking back over his career.

Nelly Ocacia and Benjamín Moldonado are both 19-year-old university students, and enjoy dancing with the Ballet Folklórico Guamanique when not studying. We caught up with them at the airport in San Juan, where they were welcoming new arrivals and seeing off departing passengers, much to the delight of travelers.

We asked Carli Muñoz if he’d play a few bars of his latest compositions, and, luckily for us, he obliged. One of the tunes, “Portrait of Mia,” was written for his brand-new hija, Mia. We’re wondering if he’ll ever address her as mi’ja.

Being a rebel is an undeniable part of becoming a rock star, and that’s something that Carli Muñoz couldn’t avoid when he was a kid. He had a head full of music, but little patience for music lessons. Lucky for him, the owner of the instrument store let him pound out his own musical education on the store piano.

Some people say that rock ‘n roll is half attitude and half talent. We already know that Carli had enough disrespect for the rules to make it and in this video he makes it clear that he has enough respect for the music to complete the equation.

People. People. People. We usually love them and that’s why we talk with them. People from Puerto Rico, people from Ecuador. It doesn’t matter if they are bleeding or in love. We just can’t stop talking to people!

Historians continue to discuss the subjective nature of recorded history and the fine line between fiction and fact.