Portrait of Orchestra Fuego, winner of InterContinental Music Awards 2024, posing for their award

Orchestra Fuego

InterContinental Music Awards Winner

2024 – Best of America | Latin Music


Rising from humble beginnings to being one of the most beloved and sought-after Salsa bands in America – with reaches beyond South America, Europe, and through Japan – Orchestra Fuego, the fiery Florida-based Salsa band, ranked as the Number One independent Salsa Band in the world by IMC, ReverbNation and Spotify – is in the midst of a spectacular run in carving a niche for the Salsa genre, and enthralling audiences with their upbeat original Latin numbers, as well as their rendition of familiar ones.

Founded and helmed at the front by the Salsa aficionado and composer Marcus Hernandez, Orchestra Fuego (Fuego meaning fire) traces its origins to the late ’70s when Hernandez, already a veteran performer on the New York City scene, formed the Salsa group Fuego ’77 and recorded an album with the same name under the Alegre Record Label a subsidiary of the great Fania Records. An instant hit, Fuego ’77 paved the way for Hernandez to collaborate with the likes of Adalberto Santiago and Rafael de Jesus, going from strength to strength – Hernandez’s peers describe him as Creative, Electrifying, and a Leader – Hernandez, after having relocated from New York to Tampa, FL soon realized it was time to revive the classic Salsa sound in Florida, forming Orchestra Fuego in 2015.