Belio Antonio’s eclectic background, dedication, and passion for music as well as his vision and ambitions for the genre set him apart as a salsa singer and songwriter. He is a “salsero” who wishes to inspire his listeners to view salsa music from its roots as a flavorful Afro-Latino sauce. Belio Antonio accomplishes this through his musical ingredients of authenticity, originality, natural rhythm, and lyrically based stories about everyday life.

“Salsa speaks to the heart of Latinos, Latinoamericanos, and non-Latins alike by reflecting our collective experience as a critical, loving, warm, struggling and yet tough and resilient people,” Belio Antonio says.

If you ask this emerging artist, he will tell you he discovered his love for salsa early in his youth, but it seems salsa actually discovered him. Belio Antonio was born in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico and later moved to New York City, into the heart of the salsa movement. Belio Antonio’s Dominican native parents moved from the Big Apple back to the Dominican Republic. This move gave him an opportunity to become better acquainted with his parent’s Dominican culture, which he embraced as his own. It was in the Dominican Republic that he developed his passion for salsa, dancing, and singing.

Today, Belio Antonio is a professor at the University of Florida. As a scholar, he wishes to better understand the cultural elements, narratives, and life stories that have made salsa such a rich and internationally recognized genre. As a salsero, Belio Antonio’s desire is to make a consistent and coherent contribution to the genre. The road to becoming the salsero Belio Antonio is today was built upon his experiences as a Puerto Rican, New Yorker, Dominican, scholar, community leader, singer-songwriter, and producer.

His single “No Se Compra,” released May 5, 2009, is an example of how much of the artist is in the music. In this new production, he offers an original fusion of narrative and poetic style lyrics, his unique voice, and a poignant musical arrangement to capture his audience.

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