The History of Salsa
Salsa is nothing without the music. What we know as Salsa today can be traced back
to Cuba and is a direct descendant of a music style from the late 19th century called
Son. Son was a fusion of Cuban music, African drum rhythms and the influence of
Spanish guitar, a legacy from Spain's rule of Cuba in the 1800s. The infectious sound
spread to other Latin American countries such as Colombia, Puerto Rico and Venezuela
where they added their own flavours.
Salsa gained a foothold in America when Puerto Rican and Cuban people migrated to
the States, especially New York. The music they brought with theme became fused
with North American Jazz in the late 40's and it was known as the „Mambo Era”.
By 1952, New York’s Palladium
Ballroom at Broadway and 53rd Street
had become the American center for
the mambo dance craze, followed in
1954 by the cha-cha-cha. Cha-cha-cha
was the invention of Enrique Jorrin as a
form of both dance and music. Mambo
was popularized in the United States by
Pérez Prado. These dance forms
brought “The Big Three”—Machito, Tito
Puente, and Tito Rodríguez international
recognition as the „Mambo Kings”
because they were the the most
popular bandleaders.
The Palladium Ballroom
I
n
Perez Prado
Roy Santos with Machito
the late 50's everything changed, when the Palladium, the only big Latin venue of the
time, shut down and all the bands had to reduce their members. The sound of the
smaller bands was different, it had started to change and by the middle 60s a new
sound was born. Charanga dance ensembles, with their distinctive string and flute
sound, challenged the popularity of the mambo bands. Spearheaded by Dominicanborn flutist Johnny Pacheco, pachanga became a hot dance fad. Eddie Palmieri with
Barry Rogers, Ray Barretto, and Larry Harlow, developed innovative ensemble
formats. Younger barrio musicians such as Joe Cuba, Johnny Colón, and Pete
Rodriguez created Latin bugalú, the first combination of rhythm and blues and Latin
music. Following the Cuban Revolution, the United States ended diplomatic relations
with Cuba in 1961. This action cut off the flow of music and musicians that had
inspired the New York scene for decades. Four years later, immigration policy changes
opened the door to migrations from previously excluded countries. Along with other
demographic shifts, these two events altered the course of Latin music in ways that
defined it even more sharply as a New York phenomenon. By the late 1960s, the
Dominican community had burgeoned, and rhythms such as the Dominican
merengue, Colombian cumbia, and Puerto Rican plena and jíbaro styles had become
part of the New York Latin music scene.
By the early 1970s, music once identified by specific forms and styles was clustered
together under the salsa rubric. A Venezuelan DJ named Fidias Escalona who run a
radio programme called „La Hora de La Salsa Sabor y el Bembe”. But it was a New
York record label called Fania who used the word Salsa as a marketing name for the
new sound, and Fania even copyrighted the name as theirs. The name may have been
new, but the sound of salsa is rooted in the rich mix of cultures, races, and rhythms
that is New York Latin music. After the explosion of the 70's, Salsa would become
popular in most Latin American countries. In the 21st Century we can hear it all over
the world.
Today we benefit from this huge melting pot of
sounds and rhytms, which are Salsa, remember
salsa means sauce in Spanish, a mixture of
ingredients to give flavour. We also enjoy dancing to
salsa from all the different regions where it has
developed. Now we find a spectrum of styles:
Cuban, Colombian, Puerto Rican, New York and
many others.
The dance of Salsa is based on a pattern of six steps
danced over 8 counts (beats) of music. People
usually ask what the difference is between the salsa
dance styles. Each style is born out of the music of
its region.
For example, Cuban style is danced with partners
Sonny Bravo and the Tipica '73
moving in a circular motion around each other.
There is a lot of emphasis on body movement and interpretation of the music.
New York or LA styles are danced either in partners using straight line Cross Body
Lead style or partners may separate and perform fancy footwork called Shines. This
style is usually danced fast and can include complicated routines, dips, tricks and
footwork.
Merengue is a very easy dance to learn, it is danced in a simple two step (tumbao)
movement over 4 beats of the music. Merengue is a very joyful and popular dance,
which originates from the Dominician Republic and Haiti. Its souds and rhythm are
infectious and, like Salsa, its music has Afro-Cuban roots and its earliest form can be
traced back to th 1800s.
…...........and Salsa Today.
Nothing has really changed, but the Latin rhythms associated with the dance have
continued to flower taking and transforming the new without abandoning the the old,
performers and teachers alike have made a vast contribution to the repertoire of this
Latin dance interpreting the music with their own style and steps.
The Roots of Latin Music – Racies Latin Music Museum
The Histoty of Salsa by Fire Stead