The History of Salsa!

Ever Wondered Where This Latin Rhythm Came from and How Did it Come to Be Called "Sauce"?

Salsa is a term used to refer to both Hispanic musical rhythm(specifically from Central American and the Caribbean) as well as a social dance(as opposed to a stage/performance dance non-related to specific cultural purposes.) It is performed, in most cases, by two partners of the opposite sex. All Latin Dances share this dance format and a characteristic cadence. Nevertheless, there are many different Latin rhythms, each with its own musical beat and rhythm, including Domenican merengue and bachata, Jamaican reggae, Brazilian samba, Colombian cumbia, Cuban son, conga, mambo, rumba, cha-cha-cha, danzon, etc. All these music forms are the result of the mixture of European and African rhythms. Some, such as Puerto Rican bomba and plena are distinctively African-rooted percussive styles; while others, such as Argentinean tango, are hardly distinguishable as dance forms with African origins, and lean more towards the European dance forms, such as a waltz. Each and every one of this dance forms come from popular music bred by the working class.

In the late 1960's in New York, Hispanic musicians began reinterpreting and fusing several of these rhythms with jazz elements into what we now call Salsa. There are many and diverse theories of how Salsa emerged, but it is widely accepted that it is rooted in "son", a rhythm originated in the 1800's in the mountains of the Cuban province of Oriente. Son, in turn, originated from the "changui", a Central-West African music form brought to Cuba by the slaves, mixed with Spanish guitar styles. In the early 1900's Son had become a sort of national creole music that appealed to Cubans of both Spanish and African origins. In the 1920's, Havan's touristic nightlife featured a "water-down" version called "son conjunto" which included, besides the maracas, bongos, claves, and "tres" (the folkloric Cuban 6 or 9 string guitar), a string bass, three voices, and trumpets. During the 1930's there was a return to the African roots of son with innovations that formed what is now called "son montuno", which in turn formed the basis of the 1940's Mambo craze.