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Salsa - Introduction, page 1

...roots and history of salsa - page 2

...the musical essence of salsa - page 3

...salsa today - page 4

...the spread of salsa - page 5

The most widely heard and influential form of music from Puerto Rico today is called salsa. The term translates to English as "sauce" to denote music that spices and enlivens things. But not just any music. It is a complex musical genre that evolved from many roots into a uniquely Puerto Rican product.

Photo with permission of StreetDance Australia

It could be said that "salsa" is primarily a commercial tag for contemporary Latin pop music that connotes a feeling that sums up the variety of redefined and reinterpreted styles at its roots. It encompasses a broad range of musical genres, instrumental combinations and cultural influences, ranging from Cuban son montuno, Puerto Rican bomba and plena, Dominican merengue, Cuban Yoruba ritual music and Afro-American jazz and rhythm and blues.

At some time during the end of the 60's, Afro-Caribbean music had developed into was being called salsa. Many practitioners were not in agreement with the use of that term, believing that it was a commercial name used only to promote what had been simply Afro-Caribbean dance music, or Latin music. This music had always been called by the names of the various genres, for example: cha-cha-cha, mambo, guaguancó, son montuno, etc. In any case, they finally had to accept that the label greatly helped the commercial development of this music form.

Neither has there been agreement precisely on how the term was invented, or by who. The term salsa has often been attributed to a Venezuelan radio host by the name of Fidias Danilo. It is said that he presented music acts with the preamble: "A continueción escucharemos la salsa de... ("now we will listen to the salsa of..."), then adding the name of the next act. While this is the best known explanation, few have tried to research the issue or even found out why he might have used the term salsa in that way.

The term "salsa" began to circulate in the late 1960's to describe this unique genre, born of these many distinct musical influences from many parts of the world but with its locus in New York City. Highly danceable, salsa's rhythms are hot, urbane, rhythmically sophisticated, and compelling. Today, the center of salsa has shifted from New York to Puerto Rico.

Roots and history of Salsa - page 2

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