Salsa

Salsa is one of the most dynamic and important musical phenomena of the
1900’s. In many Hispanic communities, it remains today the most popular style
of dance music. Salsa represents a mix of Latin musical genres, but its primary
component is Cuban dance music. 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). There, Spanish and Afro-Cuban
musical elements were combined, both in terms of rhythm and the instruments
used. By mid-century, this music came to Havana where foreign influences
were absorbed, particularly American jazz and popular music heard on the
radio.
By the end of the l950s, many Cuban and Puerto Rican people including
musicians had settled in the U.S., especially in New York. This created the
environment where salsa music completed its development. “El Barrio”
(Spanish Harlem) was the main place where this occurred. Many bands were
formed; immigrants continued to make Afro-Caribbean music, but they adapted
the sound to their new world. They were influenced especially by American jazz.
Gradually in the 50s and 60s, salsa as we know it today was emerging. The
most famous musicians of that time were Tito Puente, called the King of
Mambo, and Celia Cruz, known as the Queen of Salsa.
The rise of salsa music is also tied closely to Fania Records which was founded
in 1964 by the musician Johnny Pacheco and an Italian-American divorce
lawyer named Jerry Masucci. The two met at a party in a NY hotel. They struck
a deal to launch what became the most influential record label in Latin music’s
history. Fania was known as “the Latin Motown,” with one huge hit after another
becoming popular all over Latin America. Many artists became very famous with
the promotion they received from the record label “La Fania.” Fania Records
remolded Cuban music into a sound more appropriate to Latin New York, and
they called the sound “salsa.” By he l970s salsa was becoming so popular that
Fania’s bands and artists were touring all over Latin America. This decade was
the real “heyday” of salsa.
The type of salsa music that Fania promoted came to be referred to as “hard
salsa.” Then in the 80s, another style of salsa which was softer and more
romantic was born, with artists like Gilberto Santa Rosa. Around this time, Latin
musicians began to have an impact on mainstream U.S. music. Latin music was
becoming trendy here and beginning to intrigue the rest of the world as well.