Salsa,
"sauce" in Spanish, is a notion where much and a few are under
defeated. In the only sense, salsa is a kind of music, a modern variant of
Latin-American music. In the wide side, salsa is a collective noun of
various kinds of Latin-American music and dance. What means it now
precisely or what are the raises of the salsa.
Sauce
Such as said before, "Salsa" means in Spanish "sauce".
Cuban bands use the term too, however in order to indicate a smooth part.
In much south-American music it comes in a song after a few couplets till
a climax, mostly in the so-called montuno-part. This is a part of a song
that has something extra, as of it’s suffuse with a delicious sauce/salsa.
Emigrants
After World War II, many Latinos under which people from Cuba, Puerto Rico,
Colombia and Venezuela where going to live in the United States, most of
them went to New York. Everyone took their own luggage of music. Those
many kinds of music had an enormous variety of names. The Cubans have for
example their Son, Guaracha, Rumba and Danzon. Later there came the
popular Mambo and Cha-cha-cha. The People of Puerto Rico took their Bomba
and Plena. To bring any arrangement in this jungle of terms they where
looking for a collective noun that everyone understood.
New
York
On which moment, its difficult to say, but on a moment the name
"salsa" is accepted as the collective noun for the
Latin-American rhythms. In the course of time, the term "salsa"
was connecting to a definite rhythm. This was happening with the coming up
of the popular music-label Fania in the early 70's in New York. Artists
that fall active under the Fania-label where: Celia Cruz, Willy Colon,
Tito Puente, Ruben Blades and Ismael Miranda. You can suppose that the
salsa started in New York, but the biggest part is lead away of and
inspirited of the Cuban music. New York is still the hottest town of
salsa.
Cuba
On the island of Cuba started an extra ordinary big variety of rhythms and
kinds of music. An explanation for this can be indicated many factors,
such as the colonizer of this island. The Spaniards had a strong musical
tradition, which they took with them to the New World. Next to it they let
the slaves free to practice their own utterance of music and dance.
Central into the music from the slaves of Africa was the drum and the
rhythm. The Spaniards took their European instruments with them, such as
guitar, piano and different kind of wind instruments. Melody played a
central part of the European music. Out of this mixing of African rhythms
and European melody's is started the multitude of Cuban music. Under this
kind of music you find strong African kinds of music, such as the music
near the religion of Yoruba and the Rumba as the more European leaded away
of the Danzon, Habanera and Son.
El
Son
The Son, the earl of the popular Cuban music, the Blues of Cuba is caused
on the end of the 19th century in the Oriente, the region in the east of
Cuba. An important city in this region is Santiago de Cuba, once the
capital of Cuba. The traditional Son is played on the tres (guitar),
marimbula (wooden box with metal plates) or contra-bas, bongo (two little
drums) and claves (two short wooden sticks). Later joined the maracas and
the trumpet. The claves gives a special rhythm. This rhythm forms the
basic from almost popular Cuban dance music and the salsa from today. Big
names in the traditional Son are Ignacio Pineiro, Miguel Matamores and
Arsenio Rodriguez. The Son is an important manifestation of the culture of
Cuba with their music, dance and poetry and is still very popular. In
Santiago de Cuba, there still exist the "Casa de la Trova" where
they
still play the traditional Son through, for example, Quatro Patria.
Another popular interpreter of the traditional Son, but with an extensive
cast, is the group Sierra Maestra. The Son develops still. Artists like
Alberto Alvarez and Isaac Delgado brings a more modern Son.
Salsa
The Cubans took the Son to New York. Trough pollination between other
Latinos and the availability of new instruments and electronics became Son
Salsa. In the movie "Las raises de la salsa" (the roots of the
salsa) they where saying "Son con Son". With that they where
trying to say that the salsa of today was a strong performance of the
traditional Son. In essence is the rhythm of the salsa, the clave and the
accents indeed the same as the Son, but still is salsa not the same. It
sounds namely up on the whole different. Salsa is based on an old draft,
but its music from this time. Music that played taut, they use modern
recording technique, trough that it gives a nice sound. Salsa satisfies
the demands of the dancers of this time and sounds like a clock, in a
dance club too. The modern salsa is strong enough to take the competition
with the western rock- and dance-industrial. Salsa dancing is practise in
the whole world and trough the salsa cause the interest in other Latin
rhythms.. It is crazy that on this moment trough the old Son the people
get interest for the Salsa. Everything is an acknowledgement of the
strength and the beauty of the Latin music.
Back
to top
|
