- A little more Salsa and related dances background - for you to cogitate - and reply - if you wish -

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Short version Of Some Salsa Stuff -  

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(( taken  mainly from ))  

History of Salsa Dance and Music 

Written by: Jaime Andrés Pretell  

Published by: Centralhome.com Company Inc. on June 21, 1998. 

Last updated on Sept 26, 2014. 

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Here – Midwest Music Mafia – March 06, 2015
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What is Salsa? A sauce, a recipe, a dance?  

Who invented salsa? The Cubans, Puerto Ricans?  

Salsa is a distillation of many Latin and Afro-Caribbean dances.  

Each played a large part in its evolution. 

Salsa is similar to Mambo - both have a pattern of six steps danced over eight counts of music.  

The dances share many of the same moves.  

In Salsa, turns have become an important feature,

so the overall look and feel are quite different from those of Mambo.  

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A look at the origin of Salsa 

We must give credit to Cuba for the origin and ancestry of creation.  

Contra-Danze (Country Dance) of England/France, later called Danzón, - brought by the French who fled from Haiti, begins to mix itself with Rhumbas of African origin (Guaguanco, Colombia, Yambú).  

Add Són of the Cuban people, which was a mixture of the Spanish troubadour (sonero) and the African drumbeats and flavora and a partner dance flowered to the beat of the clave.  

This also occurred  in other countries like the  

Dominican Republic,  

Colombia,  

Puerto Rico,  

Bands of these countries took their music to Mexico City in the era of the famous films of that country (Perez Prado,  ...).  

A similar movement to New York occurred.  

In these two cities, more promotion and syncretism occurred and more commercial music was generated because there was more investment. 

New York created the term "Salsa", but it did not create the dance.  

The term became popular as nickname to refer to a variety of different music,

from several countries of Hispanic influence: 

Bomba,  

Cha cha ,  

Charanga,  

Cumbia,  

Cubop,  

Danzón, 

Festejo,  

Guajira, 

Guaracha,  

Guguanco, 

Mambo,  

Merengue,  

Plena, 

Rhumba, 

Són,  

Són Montuno, 

... Many maintained their individuality - many were mixed creating "Salsa". 

If you are listening to today's Salsa, you are going to find the base of Són, and you are going to hear Cumbia, and you are going to hear Guaracha. You will also hear some old Merengue, built-in the rhythm of different songs. You will hear many of the old styles somewhere within the modern beats.  

Salsa varies from site to site. 

In New York, new instrumentalization and extra percussion were added to some Colombian songs so that New Yorkers - that dance mambo "on the two" - can feel comfortable dancing to the rhythm and beat of the song . 

This is called "finishing", to enter the local market.  

This "finish" does not occur because the Colombian does not play Salsa, but it does not play to the rhythm of the Puerto Rican/Post-Cuban Salsa.  

Post-Cuban, because the music of Cuba has evolved towards another new and equally flavorful sound. 

Then, as a tree, Salsa has many roots and many branches, but one trunk that unites it all.  

The important thing is that Salsa is played throughout the Hispanic world and has received influences of many places within it.  

It is a sample of flexibility and evolution. 

Each dancer, club, local …  may be accustomed to dance his/her own style.  

None is better, only different. 

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