Salsa

The term “Salsa” began to be used in the late 60s to define the musical genre resulting from a synthesis of Cuban musical influences with other elements of Caribbean music, Latin American music and jazz, especially Afro-Cuban jazz. Salsa was developed by musicians of “Hispanic” origin in the Greater Caribbean and New York City.

The sauce has the following characteristics:

Rhythm: It uses the son’s key as the basis, the rhythmic pattern of the Cuban son, which fits in a single 4/4 measure.

Melody: In many cases the melodies used in the salsa correspond to those traditionally used in the son montuno although it can also be assimilated to other genres of traditional Cuban and Caribbean music, including melodies of Latin American popular music.

Harmony: It corresponds to that used in western music.

Instrumentation: Use Cuban percussion instruments popularized since the twenties as pailas or timbales, bongo, Cuban guiro, cowbell, two maracas and conga. Arsenio Rodríguez presented himself as the first musician to incorporate the conga or tambó into the dance orchestras.