Take a Musical Trip: Salsa

 Havana, Cuba

Salsa music origination and history

    In West Africa during the 1940's and 50's, Afro-Cuban rhythms were rather popular from the Ivory Coast to Benin, Senegal to The Congo. During World War II Senegalese soldiers fighting in France, would bring home recordings from the latest Cuban bands that were playing in Paris. Salsa is said to be one of the most dynamic and important musical phenomena's of the 1900's. Even today it remains the most popular style of dance music in many Hispanic communities. Though the primary component is Cuban dance music, salsa is also a mix of Latin genre. "The roots of salsa originated in Eastern Cuba (Santiago de Cuba, Guantanamo) from the Cuban Son (about 1920) and Afro-Cuban dance (like Afro-Cuban rumba)" ( History of Salsa Music and Dance, 2015). By mid-century, salsa music came to Havana where foreign influences were absorbed.

 What is Salsa music?

    While there are several different forms of salsa to include merengue, the one I chose to write about in this blog is the one developed out of Cuban Mambo. Often times, you will find people dancing to salsa music. This style of music was laid in the 1960's and 70's when New York-based Puerto Rican immigrants combined their elements of traditional Cuban fold dance with Afro-Cuban Son. Salsa spread throughout the Hispanic world and Europe over the next several years after this. Salsa music consists of six bars of four beats and in total, each song should have 32 beats. Because of this, it often takes salsa dancers more time to execute their moves. A salsa step has six distinct moves in a pattern which takes three bars to complete. While salsa is danced to salsa music, other Latin styles may also be used. 

Instruments used

    Percussion is the heart of Salsa music. A salsa band typically consists of a few musicians playing the cangas, timbales, cowbells, bongos, maracas, claves, marimba and vibraphone. The combination of all of these instruments to create salsa music, provides the perfect set up for dancing. 

Here is a brief description of a few of the instruments used in salsa music. The bongo is a pair of round drums that the musician holds in their knees and is played with their hands. The claves are a pair of short sticks made of a special hardwood such as ebony. The sticks are eight inches in length and one inch in diameter. When the two sticks are struck together, they make a very distinct metallic sound. The conga drum is similar to the bongo in the sense that it is placed between the knees as well though the musician uses the palms of their hands to strike the top of the drum. The cowbell is also known as the cencerro and produces strong rhythms because it is made of hard metal. A short wooden or metal stick is used to strike the cowbell to achieve the desired music.

While I learned so much in doing this blog, salsa music is not by any means new to me. I remember as a child my grandma used to play salsa music on her vinyl record player as I would help her with cooking in the kitchen. I also distinctly recall using the maracas, cowbells, and vibraphone in music class in elementary school.

Vibraphone

Bongo Drums

Work cited

 “History of Salsa Music & Dance.” SalsaGente History of Salsa Music Dance Comments, 2015, https://www.salsagente.com/history-of-salsa-music-dance/.

Travis@theedigital.com. “What Is the Difference between Salsa and Merengue?” Dancing FADS, 10 Mar. 2022, https://www.dancingfads.com/about/news/what-is-the-difference-between-salsa-and-merengue#:~:text=Salsa%20is%20six%20bars%20of,can%20dance%20twice%20as%20long.

Cashion, Susan V.. "salsa". Encyclopedia Britannica, 24 Sep. 2021, https://www.britannica.com/art/salsa-music. Accessed 22 March 2023.

“Musical Instruments.” Salsa Classes in Tampa ; SalsaNet, https://salsanet.com/history-of-salsa/musical-instruments/.