Salsa Music

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Salsa Songs at Amazon Mp3

Singer/Band	Song Title	Singer/Band	Song Title
Joe Arroyo	Rebelión	Rubén Blades	Pedro Navaja
Conjunto Classico / Tito Nieves	Faisan	Papa Wemba	Jeancy
Tony Vega	Esa Mujer	Grupo Niche	Ana Milé
Chivirico Dávila	Rico Guaguanco	Sonora Carruseles	Micaela
Joe Arroyo	Yamulemau	Sonora Carruseles	Micaela
Ismael Miranda	Ojos Chinos	Willie Colón	Idilio

Salsa Music:

  The dance referred to as Salsa got its name because like its namesake, it is hot and saucy. The tomato-based product also includes any combination of onion, jalapeno, cilantro, garlic, lime juice, tomatillos, or other variants depending on taste. The same goes for the dance. It comes from many cultures with many influences and depends on taste. Sally Sommer writing in Dance Magazine said salsa comes from “a “fusion of peoples, languages, music, movement and styles that define the times. Salsa was—and is—multicultural, multinational, multi-musical and multiracial” (Sommer 47). Max Salazar claims that “the popular usage of the word 'salsa' for danceable Latin music began in 1933 when Cuban song composer Ignacio Piñerio wrote the song "Échale Salsita” (Salazar). But others claim the actual dance did not come about until much later. Some say the dance originated in New York City in the 1960s and ‘70s and combined elements of Cuban, Puerto Rican, and New York jazz. Whenever it originated, Salsa’s style and rhythm come from African-Cuban rumba and mambo, Puerto Rican bomba, and Dominican merengue. All these styles ended up together by imitation and adaptation. Some of it happened in night clubs, some on the city streets.

  Some say that Salsa is a street dance, a street version of other Latin dances. Salsa can be thought of as a club or street version of the Mambo that is danced with less technique and different timing. Both dances share a pattern consisting of six steps danced over eight counts of music, and both dances include some of the same moves. Salsa has incorporated turns into the movement and they have become important features of the dance. The music of the two dances differ also, although many think it is identical. The main difference is that Salsa music has a beat of 47-51 beats per minute and Mambo music has more rhythm (Krupa). But Salsa has origins in other places too. The Chachacha caused great interest in the dance world, but the difference between it and the Mambo was too subtle, so the Salsa incorporated many of the Chachacha’s characteristics too.

  Salsa music had some difficulty hitting mainstream markets, with one exception, Carlos Santana. He first gained popularity from playing at Woodstock in 1969 where the band, named Santana after their lead guitarist, played “’Soul Sacrifice’ and the catchy hit single ‘Evil Ways,’ [but] the tunes are just excuses for jamming” say David Wilson and John Alroy (Alroy and Wilson). Then in 1970 Santana recorded a Tito Puente song, “Oye Como Va,” which propelled Latin music, and especially Salsa music, into the national mainstream spotlight. The lyrics of the song say talk about sabor, the Spanish word for flavor, which fits perfectly with the spicy metaphor of salsa the food to Salsa the dance. The words also encourage the “mulata,” a biracial woman of Caucasian and African ethnicity to listen to the rhythm of the song (Tone Fuse Music). Another throwback to the cultural mix celebrated by salsa music and dance. But in 1999, “the uncanny chart dominance of this so-so album by a semi-retired geezer [Santana]. It's definitely got its moments: the single "Smooth," a deliberate throwback to early 70s salsa-plus-electric guitar Santana written and sung by Rob Thomas of Matchbox 20, is undeniably catchy, and it topped the charts for months” (Alroy and Wilson). Whether the popularity of the song, “Smooth,” came about because of the revival of interest in Salsa dance or the revival in Salsa dance came about because of “Smooth,” nobody knows, but Salsa dance had a recovery in the same time period.