Latin rock

Caribbean rhythms like calypso were used in surf music; and there were some rock and roll songs based on cha-cha-chá or mambo.

In 1958 an adaptation of a Mexican folk song called "La Bamba" was recorded by the Chicano rock artist Ritchie Valens.

During the 1960s, there were more examples of rock artists like Thee Midniters, Question Mark & the Mysterians,[23] Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs[24] or Sir Douglas Quintet[25] that included Latin rhythms on their compositions.

In Peru, Colombia, Argentina, but specially Brazil[27] where Tropicália appeared in the mid-1960s[28] with the first releases of Os Mutantes, Gal Costa and Caetano Veloso from 1967 to 1970,[29] a music movement that merged rock music with bossa nova, psychedelia and other Latin elements,[30] and this can be regarded as the main root of the genre.

[33][34] Following Santana, other American bands appeared like Malo, Ocho, Mandrill, El Chicano, Eddie Palmieri's Harlem River Drive, War, Sapo and Azteca in the early 1970s popularizing the genre in the USA and the rest of the world.

In the Philippines band, Maria Cafra fused elements of blues, rock, Latin and kundiman to mold their distinct sound.

In France, bands like Les Negresses Vertes played a fusion of rock with World music including Latin elements.

A mix of rock, with Latin elements, Arabic music, punk, rap, flamenco, ska and reggae.

[50] This term achieved a great success in some Latin American countries, where some of their regional press started to use the new terminology.