What Is Salsa Music

This paper will be discussing the origin, roots history and evolution of Salsa music. The paper will also discuss some of the most successful Salsa musicians including Celia Cruz, Edi Palmeiri, Willie Colon and the Fania band or Fania All Star.

Introduction

Far-fetched as it may sound, Salsa music is named after “salsa” meaning hot sauce in Spanish. The reason could be because of the sweetness of its tunes and moves. It has become one of the most popular genres of music since it emerged in 1960s. It has become common even to the non-Latin countries like Japan and even Sweden. In terms of dance move and styles, it is a modernization of Cuban dance moves. Today Salsa music is popular almost in all parts of the world.

Origin

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In New York, the dance is characterized with a heavy Puerto Rican rhythm and sound. The type of Salsa is metaphorically polished and smooth. Its structure is that of Jazz music with lengthy breaks of instruments. Some of well-known musicians who play this type of Salsa are Celia Cruz and The Spanish Harlem Orchestra. The dancing borrows Puerto Rican fast foot work. This type of Salsa is known as Salsa 2. Los Angeles doesn’t have its signature type of Salsa. Bands here adopt the classical Puerto Rican music. The dancing moves are both exciting and sexy. In Cuba, they dance to a type of Salsa Timba. The movement is fast as in Afro Cuban music. Cuban Musicians have blended in the popular Reggae and Pop music in between the breaks. The dancing style is called “Casino” simply because when it was started it was played in gambling joints or casinos. One notable difference is that Cuban Salsa is circular rather than linear. The man keeps moving around the woman. The Colombians have maintained their Salsa Dura up-to-date. The dancing style is spectacular with swift movement of feet and tight spins. The dancers stay close; bodies almost touching. The West Africans also have their Salsa. (Carwile, 2017)Traditional music instruments are relied upon to give the rhythm. The dancing style is what they call Salsa Mbalax more African than

Born Eduardo Palmieri in December 15th 1936, he became a popular composer and musician of Puerto Rican music. He founded bands such as La perfecta, and Harlem River. He is among musicians who contributed greatly to the development of Salsa music as we know it today. During his music career Eddie has won musical awards including the prestigious Grammy Award for being the best Pianist. Although in his eighties, Eddie is still active in music and politics .William Anthony Colon is yet another Salsa musician who has witnessed its growth. He was born in New York on April 28th 1950. His parents were Puerto Rican. He evolved to become one of the most popular Salsa musicians. Once a trombonist, today he writes, sings and also acts. There are also music bands that are credited with development of Salsa music. One of such groups is Fania band formed in 1968 by the famous Fania Records of Manhattan. The original members were Johnny Pacheco, Jimmy Bosch, Ruben Blades and Willie Colon. The group was considered the best music group of 1968. The band has performed in many parts of the world including Zaire in Africa during the Rumble in the jungle boxing bout between Foreman and Mohamed Ali. The group was able to record over 15 studio albums and 12 live albums. Their music has also been recorded in DVDs.

Conclusion

Salsa music has undergone tremendous changes over the years not as a genre of