Salsa

Background
 Influences – Cuban son and big band jazz
 Energetic and lively Latin American dance

Cuban Son
 Formed from Spanish and African music.
 The Spanish colonised Cuba and brought African slaves to work on the sugar
plantations.
 Son was formed from these two cultures.

Big band music

 Type of musical ensemble associated with jazz
 Popular in the 1930s and 40s

Big band jazz combined with Son to make Salsa

 In the 1930s thousands of Cubans and Puerto Ricans migrated to New York
 Musicians took bits of the American big band jazz style and combined it with son

Characteristics
Cuban Son Music
 Basic repeated rhythm pattern (clave –clah vey) played on
claves
 Repeated rhythm patterns on percussion (maracas, bongos).
These are often syncopated. Cross rhythms are formed
against the clave part.
 Call and response between sonero (lead vocalist) and choro
(chorus)
 Primary chords in harmony (I, IV, V)
 Harmonies in 3rds and 6ths
 Last note of the bar in the bass part usually sets up the
harmony for the next bar.
Big band jazz
 Syncopation
 Jazz chords (7ths, 9ths and other chords with added or
altered notes)
 Imitation – one section of the band repeats a part just
played by another section
  Walking bass line –
bass part that move
in crotchets, playing
the notes of the
chord with the odd
passing note to fill
in the gaps
 Comping – playing
rhythmic chords on
piano or guitar to
accompany the tune

The Salsa Band

Front line or horns
One or two trumpets or saxophones – these play the tune

Vocals
One or two soneros (lead vocalists) and choro (the chorus)

Rhythm Section
Piano
Guitar
Bass
Standard drum kit

Latin American percussion

Conga Maracas

Timbale and cowbell Guiro

Claves Bongos
Structure
 3 main chunks
 These can appear in any order
 Can all be used more than once

1. Verse – Main tune, usually sung by the sonero or played by an

instrumentalist
2. Montuno – kind of chorus where the sonero or lead
instrumentalist improvises and the choro or other
instrumentalists answer
3. Mambo – heard between choruses
New musical material eg. Different chords or a
different tune
Often played by the horn section – they either layer
their parts creating harmony, or stagger the parts,
so one group plays and is quickly followed by another
4. Introduction and ending also likely to be heard
5. Break could also be used – the main tune stops and just the
rhythm section plays

A typical salsa structure could look like this: