Reggaeton and salsa rhythms are combined in a potent mix on "Soy Diferente" with guest rap singer Cheka

While many artists put out an album a year, salsa singer India said she prefers taking her time.

How much time?

How about four years, which most in the entertainment industry would consider an eternity.

"I don't like to put on an album every year, year after year," India said in Puerto Rican Spanish from her New York office. "I like to be a part of the entire recording, of the original concept.

"To me, a record is like a measure of my growth. It's as if you get to see me grow and develop as an artist. And on top of that, I am also a perfectionist who looks at every detail with the producers and composers to make sure we're doing our very best."

Salsa fans can judge whether India's new salsa-pop CD "Soy Diferente" has been worth the four-year wait. The first single is the title track, which is just beginning to climb Billboard's Latin pop charts.

The 11-track CD finds India in great shape, her power vocals clear and dominating. Big-band salsa fans will find themselves in pure heaven — most of the album is traditional salsa. Gorgeous trumpets and trombones ride herd over percolating percussion to fuel an intoxicating brew.

India revisited some old and trusted friends to work on this album, including top producers, arrangers and songwriters Sergio George, Isidro Infante, Emilio Estefan Jr. and Rafael Pina.

"Well, I remember I started with Sergio on the original concept. But we had ideas on collaborating with different songwriters and artists, and that took some time," she said. "Then Sergio gave me two of his original songs and then he got real busy.

"So we talked about it, and he suggested calling in Isidro Infante to help out. I had one song by Emilio and two by Rafael already produced, and that's how it went."

Naturally, India and her producers selected the crème de la crème of top East Coast salsa studio players, including Hector "Wichy" Camacho, Sal Cuevas, Ruben Rodriguez and Angie Machado.

Despite the seemingly patchwork approach, the music is seamless. The fast and intense salsa tunes alternate with mid-tempo ballads, all smoothly powered by a full orchestra. Riding atop the instrumentation are India's exuberant vocals, adding urgency and vibrancy to stories of betrayal and hope.

On the male-bashing tune "Cuando Hieres a una Mujer," India teams up with reggaeton diva Ivy Queen.

"That was a song that Emilio Estefan brought me, and I just changed the lyrics just a little to make it more in my style," she said. "Then we decided to ask Ivy Queen, and I think she adds a distinctive flavor to it.

"She really put an emphasis on the lyrics that you shouldn't mess around with or wound a woman."

India also does a duet with the distinctive salsero Tito Nieves on the dance-friendly "No Es Lo Mismo." The interplay of Nieves and India adds poignancy to a song about being honest when the thrill is gone.

Reggaeton and salsa rhythms are combined in a potent mix on "Soy Diferente" with guest rap singer Cheka, in a version that India calls salsaton.

"When the idea first came, everything just flowed naturally," she said. "It an original idea by Sergio George, and then we built this bridge that combined salsa, reggae, and bachata."

The song is also included in a reggaeton version.

Looking back on 2005, India said her two greatest moments were performing at the tribute for the late Celia Cruz in New York and the "Selena Vive" all-star tribute last April at Houston's Reliant Stadium.

"Selena is a legend," she said. "People fell in love with her because of her smile, her music and her voice. More than anything, Selena was a fighter who struggled to reach whatever fame she had, with her family and her husband.

"Even for people on the East Coast who didn't know Tex-Mex, they knew her. She made the music very popular. I felt very honored to have been there at the tribute and perform in a salute to the Tejano queen."

India also was part of one of two autobiographical films about the late salsa singer Hector Lavoe. She plays Lavoe's older sister in "The Singer," directed by Anthony Felton and featuring actor Raúl Carbonell.

The other Lavoe project, still being filmed in New York and Puerto Rico, stars Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez in the principal roles.