Salsa is a type of music and dance that has roots in Caribbean traditions and music from Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and other countries like Colombia and Venezuela. This music combines influences from African cultures, European traditions, and indigenous instruments, along with contributions from the United States. Many of the basic musical elements used in salsa existed before the term "salsa" was created, which has led to debates about where salsa originated. Most salsa songs are based on styles called son montuno and son cubano, and include elements from other music styles such as cha-cha-chá, bolero, rumba, mambo, jazz, R&B, bomba, plena, merengue (pambiche), and pachanga, as well as other Latin American traditions. These different musical styles and their instruments are adapted and combined to create smooth transitions during salsa performances.

The term "salsa" was first used to describe several types of music from the Hispanic Caribbean. Today, salsa is considered its own unique musical style and is an important part of Hispanic American culture.

The first group to identify itself as a salsa band was Cheo Marquetti y su Conjunto – Los Salseros, which formed in Cuba in 1955. The first album to use the word "salsa" on its cover was released by La Sonora Habanera in 1957. In the 1970s, salsa bands were mostly formed by Puerto Rican, Cuban, and Dominican musicians in New York City. These bands were influenced by the son montuno style developed by musicians like Arsenio Rodríguez, Conjunto Chappottín, and Roberto Faz. Important musicians in this movement included Celia Cruz, Willie Colón, Rubén Blades, Johnny Pacheco, Machito, and Héctor Lavoe. At the same time, Cuban musicians like Los Van Van, Irakere, and NG La Banda developed a modern version of Cuban son called songo, which later evolved into timba in the late 1980s. Groups like Charanga Habanera are now also considered part of the salsa tradition. Despite challenges caused by an embargo, the ongoing exchange of ideas and music between salsa musicians in and out of Cuba has been significant.

Origins of the term Salsa

The word "salsa" means "sauce" in the Spanish language. Music writers and historians disagree about how the word came to be linked to a type of music.

A music expert named Max Salazar found evidence that the connection began in 1930. At that time, a musician named Ignacio Piñeiro wrote a song called Échale salsita (Put some sauce in it). This phrase was said to be Piñeiro telling his band to play faster, to make dancers move more quickly. In the 1940s, a Cuban musician named Cheo Marquetti moved to Mexico. He named his group Conjunto Los Salseros and recorded music for two record companies. Later, while living in Mexico City, a musician named Beny Moré used the word "salsa" during a performance to describe the energy of a musical moment, similar to the heat of a spicy sauce.

A Puerto Rican music promoter named Izzy Sanabria claimed he was the first to use the word "salsa" to describe a music style. His magazine, Latin New York, was written in English. Because of this, events he promoted were reported in The New York Times, Time, and Newsweek. Sanabria said musicians did not create the word "salsa" themselves, but he helped spread it. This caused some disagreement among musicians. Some believed the word helped bring different musical styles together. Celia Cruz said, "Salsa is Cuban music with another name. It includes styles like mambo, chachachá, rumba, and son." Willie Colón described salsa as a way to unite people from different backgrounds: "Salsa was the force that united diverse Latino and other non-Latino groups. It is the mix of all Latin cultures."

However, some musicians initially opposed using the word "salsa" for commercial purposes. Machito said, "Salsa is not new. It is the same music that was played in Cuba for over fifty years." Tito Puente joked, "The only salsa I know is sold in a bottle called ketchup. I play Cuban music." A Cuban music expert named Mayra Martínez wrote that the term "salsa" hid the Cuban roots of the music and allowed record companies like Fania and CBS to control its spread. Izzy Sanabria replied that Martínez likely shared a Cuban perspective, but he did not plan for the word to be used that way. Johnny Pacheco, who helped start Fania Records, said, "Salsa is, and always has been, Cuban music."

Because the word "salsa" had strong marketing value, musicians like Machito, Puente, and even some in Cuba eventually accepted it as a way to support their careers financially.

Instrumentation

Salsa music uses a group of musical instruments called an ensemble. This group was developed by Arsenio Rodríguez, who added a group of horn players and tumbadoras (congas) to the traditional Son cubano ensemble. The traditional Son cubano ensemble usually included bongos, bass, tres, one trumpet, small hand-held percussion instruments like claves, güiro, or maracas, which were often played by the singers, and sometimes a piano. Machito’s band was the first to use timbales. These three drums—bongos, congas, and timbales—became the standard percussion instruments in most salsa bands. They work in a way similar to a traditional drum group. The timbales play a pattern called the bell pattern, the congas provide support, and the bongos add improvisation, acting like a lead drum. The bongo player’s improvisations follow a repeated rhythm called the martillo (“hammer”) and are not considered solos. The bongos are played mainly during the verses and piano solos. When the music moves to the montuno section, the bongo player uses a large hand-held cowbell called the bongo bell. Often, the bongo bell is played more than the bongos themselves. The coordination between the timbale bell and bongo bell helps drive the music during the montuno. The maracas and güiro create a steady rhythm and usually do not follow the clave pattern.

Some salsa bands use a different style called Charanga, which includes a string section (violins, viola, and cello), tumbadoras (congas), timbales, bass, flute, claves, and güiro. Bongos are not usually part of Charanga bands. Popular salsa bands with Charanga instrumentation include Típica 73, Orquesta Broadway, Orquesta Revé, and Orquesta Ritmo Oriental. Musicians like Johnny Pacheco, Charlie Palmieri, Mongo Santamaría, and Ray Barretto also used this format.

Latin big bands in the 1950s and 1960s included a brass section with trumpets and saxophones.

Over its 50-year history, the band Los Van Van has used both types of ensembles. For the first 15 years, the band was a pure Charanga group. Later, they added a trombone section. Today, the band is considered a mix of styles.

In the 1960s, Eddie Palmieri changed the ensemble by replacing violins with two trombones to create a heavier sound.

Rhythm

Salsa music usually has a beat speed between 160 and 220 beats per minute. This speed is good for dancing salsa.

The clave is a key instrument in salsa music. It is often played with two wooden sticks called clave, which are hit together. In a salsa band, some instruments play along with the clave rhythm (like congas, timbales, piano, tres guitar, bongos, claves, and strings), while others play their own rhythm (like bass, maracas, güiro, and cowbell). Melodies in the music and dancers can choose to follow the clave rhythm or not at any time.

There are four types of clave rhythms in salsa music: 3-2 and 2-3 Son claves, and 3-2 and 2-3 Rumba claves. The Son claves are most commonly used in salsa music, though Rumba claves may be used during rumba sections of songs. For example, the 2-3 Son clave is played on the counts of 2, 3, 5, the "and" of 6, and 8.

Other common rhythms in salsa music include the chord beat, the tumbao, and the Montuno rhythm. The chord beat (often played on cowbell) focuses on the odd-numbered counts: 1, 3, 5, and 7. The tumbao rhythm (often played on congas) focuses on the "off-beats": 2, 4, 6, and 8. Some dancers use the cowbell’s strong sound to stay in sync with the salsa rhythm, while others use the conga rhythm to create a jazz-like feel because "off-beats" are a feature of jazz music.

The tumbao rhythm is played with conga drums. Its basic pattern is played on beats 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, and 8. This rhythm helps dancers learn to dance "On2" (contra-tiempo). When dancing On2, beats 2 and 6 are emphasized, and the tumbao rhythm also highlights these beats.

The Montuno rhythm is often played on the piano. It repeats over eight counts and helps dancers identify the start of the music. By listening to this repeating rhythm, dancers can recognize which count is the first beat of the music.

Musical structure

Salsa music often follows a structure called the son montuno, which is based on the Afro-Cuban clave rhythm. This structure includes a verse section, followed by a chorus section called the montuno. The montuno is a call-and-response part where musicians and singers interact. The verse can be short or longer, sometimes highlighting the lead singer or featuring creative rhythm patterns. Once the montuno begins, it typically continues until the song ends. During the montuno, the tempo may gradually increase to create excitement. The montuno section can also be divided into smaller parts, such as mambo, diablo, moña, and especial.

History

Many music experts believe salsa music has roots in the Son Montuno of several artists from the 1930s and 1940s, such as Arsenio Rodríguez, Conjunto Chappottín (Arsenio’s former band now led by Félix Chappottín and featuring Luis "Lilí" Martínez Griñán), and Roberto Faz. Salsa musician Eddie Palmieri once said, "When you talk about our music, you talk about before, or after, Arsenio… Lilí Martínez was my mentor." Many songs from Arsenio’s band, such as Fuego en el 23, El Divorcio, Hacheros pa' un palo, Bruca maniguá, No me llores, and El reloj de Pastora, were later performed by many salsa bands, including Sonora Ponceña and Johnny Pacheco.

A different style, Mambo, was developed by Cachao, Beny Moré, and Dámaso Pérez Prado. Moré and Pérez Prado moved to Mexico City, where the music was played by Mexican big band wind orchestras.

During the 1950s, New York became a center for Mambo, with musicians like Pérez Prado, Luciano "Chano" Pozo, Mongo Santamaría, Machito, and Tito Puente. The highly popular Palladium Ballroom was the main place for Mambo in New York.

Ethnomusicologist Ed Morales notes that the mixing of Afro-Cuban and jazz music in New York was important for the development of both styles. Musicians who later became great innovators of Mambo, like Mario Bauzá and Chano Pozo, began their careers in New York, working closely with famous jazz musicians such as Cab Calloway, Ella Fitzgerald, and Dizzy Gillespie. Morales said, "The connection between North American jazz and Afro-Cuban music was common, and the stage was set for Mambo to grow in New York, where people were used to hearing new music." He also said that Mambo helped prepare the way for salsa to become popular later.

Another popular style was cha-cha-cha, which began in Cuba with Charanga bands. By the early 1960s, several Charanga bands in New York, led by musicians like Johnny Pacheco, Charlie Palmieri, Mongo Santamaría, and Ray Barretto, became known for their later work in salsa.

In 1952, Arsenio Rodríguez briefly moved to New York City with his modern Son Montuno. His success there was limited (New York was more interested in Mambo), but his musical patterns, along with the piano rhythms of Lilí Martínez, the trumpet of Félix Chappottín, and the rhythmic vocals of Roberto Faz, became important in the region a decade later.

In 1966, the Palladium closed because it lost its liquor license. Mambo declined as new hybrid styles like boogaloo, jala-jala, and shing-a-ling gained short-term popularity. Elements of boogaloo can be heard in songs by Tito Puente, Eddie Palmieri, Machito, and even Arsenio Rodríguez. Puente later said, "It stunk… I recorded it to keep up with the times." Popular boogaloo songs include Bang Bang by the Joe Cuba Sextet and I Like It Like That by Pete Rodríguez and His Orchestra.

During the late 1960s, Dominican musician Johnny Pacheco and Italian-American businessman Jerry Masucci created Fania Records. They introduced many artists who later became known for salsa, including Willie Colón, Celia Cruz, Larry Harlow, Ray Barretto, Héctor Lavoe, and Ismael Miranda. Fania’s first album, Cañonazo (1964), was criticized by critics because 10 of its 11 songs were covers of older Cuban songs. Pacheco formed the Fania All-Stars in 1968, including percussionist Louie Ramírez, bassist Bobby Valentín, and arranger Larry Harlow. Meanwhile, the Puerto Rican band La Sonora Ponceña recorded two albums named after songs by Arsenio Rodríguez: Hachero pa' un palo and Fuego en el 23.

The 1970s saw two separate modernizations of the Cuban son in Havana and New York. During this time, the term "salsa" was first used in New York, while "songo" was developed in Havana.

The band Los Van Van, led by bassist Juan Formell, began creating songo in the late 1960s. Songo added rhythmic elements from folkloric rumba, as well as funk and rock, to the traditional son. When drummer Changuito joined, new rhythms were introduced, and the style became more different from the son montuno/mambo structure.

Songo mixed elements of North American styles like jazz, rock, and funk in ways different from mainstream salsa. While salsa often added elements of another genre in a song’s bridge, songo was seen as a rhythmic and harmonic blend, especially with funk and clave-based Cuban elements. Music analyst Kevin Moore said, "The harmonies, never heard before in Cuban music, were clearly borrowed from North American pop and broke the long-standing rules about harmony in Cuban music." During the same period, Cuban group Irakere combined bebop and funk with batá drums and other Afro-Cuban elements; Orquesta Ritmo Oriental created a new, highly syncopated, rumba-influenced son in the charanga style; and Elio Revé developed changüí.

In New York, the term "salsa" was first used in the 1970s to describe several styles of Latin dance music. Some musicians believe salsa naturally evolved into a shared cultural identity across Latin America. Music professor and salsa trombonist Christopher Washburne wrote:

In 1971, the Fania All-Stars sold out Yankee Stadium. By the early 1970s, the music’s center moved to Manhattan and the Cheetah, where promoter Ralph Mercado introduced many future Puerto Rican salsa stars to a growing and diverse Latino audience. The 1970s also brought new salsa bands from New York City, such as Ángel Canales, Andy Harlow, Chino Rodríguez y su Consagración (Chino Rodríguez was one of the first Chinese-Puerto Rican artists noticed by Fania Records’ owner Jerry Masucci and later became a booking agent for Fania artists), Wayne Gorbea, Ernie Agusto y la Conspiración, Orchestra Ray Jay, Orchestra Fuego, and Orchestra Cimarron, among others performing in the salsa market on the East Coast.

Celia Cruz, who had a successful career in Cuba with Sonora Matancera, transitioned into the salsa movement and became known as the Queen of Salsa.

Larry Harlow expanded the typical salsa record format with his opera Hommy (1973), inspired by The Who’s Tommy album,

African salsa

Cuban music became popular in sub-Saharan Africa during the middle of the twentieth century. To African listeners, the rhythmic patterns in Cuban music sounded both familiar and new. According to The Encyclopedia of Africa, Volume 1:

Congolese musicians began performing songs based on Cuban music, singing the lyrics in a way that sounded similar to the original. Over time, they created their own original songs that were inspired by Cuban styles, but with lyrics in French or Lingala, a common language in western Congo. These Congolese musicians called this new style "rumba," even though it was actually based on a Cuban style called "son." African musicians adapted the rhythmic patterns of Cuban music for electric guitars, adding their own regional influences. This guitar-based music spread across Africa, gradually changing to match local traditions. This process led to the creation of several different regional music styles, such as soukous.

Cuban music played an important role in shaping many modern African music genres. John Storm Roberts explains: "It was the connection to Cuban music, and later to New York salsa, that had the greatest and longest-lasting influence on African music. This influence went deeper than simple copying or short-term trends. The Cuban connection began early and lasted for at least twenty years, as African musicians gradually adapted and reworked the music to fit their own traditions." This reworking of Afro-Cuban rhythms brought the music full circle, connecting African and Cuban traditions.

The way African musicians use harmonic patterns in their music shows a difference in how they understand music compared to Western traditions. The I-IV-V-IV chord sequence, common in Cuban music, is found in pop music across Africa because of Cuban influence. These chords follow the rules of Western music theory. However, as Gerhard Kubik explains, African musicians may not see these chords in the same way: "In Congo/Zaire popular music, the chord sequence C-F-G-F [I-IV-V-IV] cannot be described as a progression from tonic to subdominant to dominant and back to subdominant, because African performers see these chords as equal, not in a strict order as in Western music."

The biggest wave of Cuban-inspired music to reach Africa was salsa. In 1974, the Fania All Stars performed in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) at a music festival held with the Muhammad Ali vs. George Foreman heavyweight title fight. This performance, filmed and released as Live in Africa (Salsa Madness in the UK), took place at the 80,000-seat Stadu du Hai in Kinshasa. At this time, local music styles were already well developed. However, salsa became popular in many African countries, especially in Senegal, Gambia, and Mali. Cuban music had been a favorite in Senegal’s nightclubs during the 1950s and 1960s. The Senegalese band Orchestra Baobab plays in a basic salsa style using congas and timbales, but also includes instruments and lyrics from the Wolof and Mandinka cultures.

According to Lise Waxer, "African salsa does not mean salsa is returning to Africa, but instead shows a complex process of cultural exchange between two regions of the so-called Third World." Since the mid-1990s, African artists have also been active in the super-group Africando, where African and New York musicians collaborate with leading African singers such as Bambino Diabate, Ricardo Lemvo, Ismael Lo, and Salif Keita. Today, it is still common for African artists to record salsa songs and add their own regional influences to them.

Lyrics

Salsa lyrics include a wide variety of themes, such as simple dance songs, romantic ballads, and bold or politically charged topics. Music expert Isabelle Leymarie explains that salsa performers often use macho bravado, a style similar to calypso and samba music. She connects this to the performers' "humble backgrounds" and their need to express pride in their origins. Leymarie states that salsa music is "essentially virile," focusing on themes of male pride and identity. This macho attitude is also seen in traditional salsa, where men often exchange taunts and challenges, known as desafio.

Salsa lyrics frequently include lines from traditional Cuban songs like sones and rumbas. Sometimes, they reference Afro-Cuban religions, such as Santería, even by artists who are not religious practitioners. Salsa also shows Puerto Rican influences. For example, Hector LaVoe, who sang with Willie Colón for many years, used typical Puerto Rican speech patterns in his music. Today, the Puerto Rican exclamation "le-lo-lai" is often heard in salsa songs. Salsa has long included socially and politically active composers. Eddie Palmieri's song "La libertad – lógico" became a well-known anthem for Latin and Puerto Rican communities. Ruben Blades, a Panamanian singer, is famous for his thoughtful and pointed salsa lyrics about issues like imperialism, disarmament, and environmentalism. These songs have connected with audiences across Latin America. Many salsa songs express pride in Black Latino identity and may be sung in Spanish, English, or a mix of both, called Spanglish.

Films

• 1979 – Salsa: Latin Music in the Cities. Directed by Jeremy Marre.
• 1988 – Salsa. A former member of the group Menudo, Robi Draco Rosa, plays a teenager who wants to win a dance contest. Celia Cruz, Wilkins, and Tito Puente also appear in the film.
• 1996 – Giovanni Hidalgo – In The Tradition. Hidalgo teaches basic sounds, tuning, and techniques, as well as patterns from styles like son montuno, bolero, charanga, danzón, and how to use multiple percussion instruments in these forms.
• 2007 – El Cantante. This biographical film stars singers Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez. It tells the story of the late salsa singer Héctor Lavoe, who is played by Marc Anthony.
• 2014 – Sex, Love & Salsa. Directed by Adrian Manzano. Choreographer Julie L Tuttlebee is also featured in several scenes of the film.