Salsa music

‘Salsa’ is a modern music style that uses diverse sounds and rhythms. Its very essence was born out of the mixture of those sounds, hence the name, which in English means sauce. The term came out in the 1960’s and it has its roots in the Cuban son and other related genres like the mambo, guaracha and chá-chá-chá. The heavy use of percussion instruments mixed with other elements, are what give salsa its distinctive and recognizable sound. The characteristic clave rhythm used in songs is eight beats long.

In the 1960’s and 1970’s, salsa shaped the Latin music culture in New York City, where many artists recorded the songs that gave international fame to the genre. Celia Cruz and Tito Puente are two poignant and easy recognizable artists that people relate exclusively to salsa. Willie Colón, Hector Lavoe, Rubén Blades and many others became famous with their original songs and the stories told behind them. At that time, Fania became the leader record label associated with the genre. Other acts associated with the shaping of salsa are El Gran Combo and La Sonora Ponceña. The 1980’s saw the rise of Eddie Santiago, Lalo Rodríguez and Gilberto Santa Rosa. In the 1990’s, Victor Manuele and Marc Anthony were two of the artists that defined this music style through out the decade. Salsa has evolved to maintain its popularity with music fans and it’s not rare to hear fusions with other current styles.