Salsa Essay

The plan in place for this research is to learn about the development of the genre of music and dance known as salsa. The support written will include how salsa affected a people and why it became identifiable with the Puerto Rican culture this will also include how this music and dance crossed social and racial barriers. In addition to personal interest, it is important to share the cultural aspects of the pride that Puerto Rican’s have about music and dance and how they identify with salsa. How this opened the communication with other races and may have even defined a newly found ethnicity (“ethnicity is determined based on the social and cultural groups you belong to”). “Ethics vs Morals.” Diffen.com. Diffen LLC, n.d. Web. 2 Feb 2016.

What is the relationship between Puerto Rican culture and the development of the vibrant and complex genre of music and dance known as Salsa, and why has this music and dance crossed social and racial barriers?

This research will identify the relationship between the Puerto Rican way of life and how its progress was influenced by the complex genre of music and dance which came to be known as Salsa. This music and dance has crossed social and racial barriers and it still thriving and emerging today.

Many times, you hear how great this music and dance is but it is rare that you would initiate a conversation about the importance of its impact on our predecessors and those pioneers who came to the U.S. from Puerto Rico. This research will provide concrete understanding on why the music and dance became as important as it did and why today our senior relatives find that sharing it and integrating it into the new additions to the family is imperative if they are born anywhere outside of Puerto Rico.

Salsa – meaning spicy - is a term associated with music and social dance. This popular music and dance evolved from earlier Cuban musical forms such as Son, Son Montuno, Cha cha cha and Mambo, which were popular in the Caribbean time period. There are some discrepancies on where the term and music actually originated. According to P. Manuel, the music form of “salsa has incorporated substantial elements of Puerto Rican music, such as the plena, bomba, and

seis.”
Puerto Ricans from New York City known as Nuyoricans had taken the African-Cuban-Caribbean sounds and added the cultural beats of plena, bomba, and seis with the typical dance steps and body movements of the island to form this new genre of music and dance known as salsa. Salsa World states that, “music has served as one of the most important symbols of Puerto Rican cultural identity.” As a Puerto Rican, growing up in the United States, my earliest memories can be traced back to my experience with dance, music as part the Puerto Rican traditions. As noted in Salsa World, “Dancing has aptly been referred to as active listening although the social significance goes well beyond the acts of hearing and responding physically to music.” Culturally, one cannot be experienced without the other. This is a melody that is experienced simultaneously through the hearing and the social expression of the body.
In the journal of American Folklore, the author, Elena Martinez summarizes some of the history of salsa as it relates to well-known figures in the salsa industry.

She sites that “Nuyoricans were introduced to a diverse array of music through radio and theatre”. Martinez writes about the term “clave”, which is a five-beat rhythmic structure on which salsa was developed. Clave was listened to in New York City in the early 30’s and was an essential part of both, dance and music. The writer states that Puerto Ricans identify with salsa music as part of their culture because many of the early composers were of Puerto Rican descent, such as, Ray Barretto, Willie Colon, and Tito Puente, who was considered the King of Mambo. She also refers to how gender impacted business negotiations differently with previous and current

performers.
The research will address the cultural identity adopted by the Nuyoricans in the dance and music of salsa and how it came to spread across cities, states, and other countries. In the journal, Salsa World, Hutchinson states, that salsa dancing “provides a common vocabulary that allows dancers from around the globe to learn from each other”.
In the Journal of American Folklore, Martinez shares some of the history as they relate to well known salsa figures and the music’s origins. In this research, I would like to explore more about them and discover their impact to this genre of music and dance.