Salsa
Caitlin Hoeing
Genre of Music: Salsa
- Salsa is most popular in Latin American countries.
- Marc Anthony, Rubén Blades, and Oscar D'León are some popular salsa artists.
History
- Salsa became popular in New York City during the mid-1970s. Musicians from Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Mexico came to New York, bringing their own types of music with them. They ended up playing together, and each type of music blended together well, creating salsa. Ithen spread throughout Latin America and the Western Hemisphere.
- The three main types of music that influence salsa were the cha cha cha, rhumba, and conga.
Characteristics
- Salsa music is typically upbeat and the trumpets and percussion sounds are very prominent characteristics.
- Salsa songs begin with a song-like part followed by a break with group vocals, instrumental breaks and solos.
- The most important instruments in salsa are the percussion, which include claves, timbales and conga. Other instruments are trumpets, trombones, and bass guitar.
- Vocals include solos and call-and-response vocals with one person and a group of people.
- It is traditionally written in a 4/4 time signature. Musicians play rhythmic accompaniments often in groups of eight beats.
- Salsa music is associated with salsa dance, which has different traditions for itself. So, the salsa music has the same traditions as the salsa dance. It appears at competitions and celebration parties.
- The costumes for salsa music are typically dance costumes that are colorful and flow at the bottom. The costumes are not long, they typically go to about mid-thigh to knee length.
- Marc Anthony is the most popular salsa artist in the US.
Connection to Dance
- The salsa dance is associated with this type of music.
- It is a partner dance where the man leads and the woman follows his steps.
- Even though salsa music has 4 beats per measure, the dancers only take steps on 3 of the beats. They pause on this extra beat in the measure.
- It includes a lot of turns as well as moments where the couple may separate and dance apart for a short time. They then get back together and dance together.
The Music Today
- Marc Anthony is well known by all and is a salsa artist. He lives in the US.
- In the present, salsa music is most popular in Latin America and North America. The music is associated with the traditional music, but can also be used in electronic beats and sounds in some songs.