Lo Necesario: Introducing Salsa (U.S. National Park Service) (2024)

FAQs

How did salsa spread to the United States? ›

Salsa's introduction to the U.S. dates back to the Cuban war of 1898. It gained traction with American jazz musicians and was promoted by Cuban musicians and promoters through radio recordings.

Origins & History of Salsa. The origins of salsa date back to the 1900s in Eastern Cuba, where musical elements and rhythms from various styles were combined. Cuban son and Afro-Cuban rumba, the two main styles, used diverse musical instruments to create the basis of a rhythm that would later become known as salsa.

The roots of salsa (Spanish: “sauce”) are in the son. Combining elements of the Spanish guitar-playing tradition with the rhythmic complexity and call-and-response vocal tradition of African musical sources, the son originated in rural eastern Cuba and spread to Havana in the first decades of the 20th century.

In adition to validation salsa allowed the formation of new alliances. It challenged cultural hierarchies not only by opposing Latino culture to Anglo culture, but also by embracing African style in defiance of a racist society.

Origins of Salsa

The Aztecs were one of the first peoples to domesticate the tomato. Their original sauces were a mix of chiles, tomatoes, squash, and beans, among other indigents. The Aztecs passed these traditions on to later cultures in Central America and eventually the United States.

Salsa evolved from mambo, which itself had origins in son, an up-tempo urban folk music from eastern Cuba that evolved as it made its way to Havana and then to the clubs and streets of New York City.

Cuban and Puerto Rican Roots: Salsa originated in the Caribbean, primarily Cuba and Puerto Rico, in the early 20th century. It evolved from earlier Cuban dance forms such as Son Cubano and Afro-Cuban dance like Rumba.

Pacheco's Fania Records even supplied a name for this sound and culture: “salsa.” ”Salsa” (literally, “hot sauce”) denoted a style of Latin dance music that seemed to have appeared quite suddenly. In fact, only the name was new. The genre had roots in colonial Cuba and mid-20th-century New York.

What Is Salsa Music? Salsa is a musical style rooted in son Cubano, an Afro-Cuban music genre created by Cuban musicians of Bantu descent. The salsa genre took form in the United States, and it may feature elements from all sorts of Latin American styles.

Known for her fashion and performance, Celia Cruz is honored as the “Queen of Salsa” for her role as the Afro Cuban diva who came to represent salsa music for audiences across the world. A 1962 full-length portrait of Celia Cruz on stage.

Is salsa a dance or music? ›

Salsa is a Latin American dance, associated with salsa music. It originated in the late Eastern Cuba and gained popularity in New York in 1960. Salsa is a mixture of Cuban dances, such as mambo, pachanga, and rumba, as well as American dances such as swing and tap.

Salsa has been around since the Aztecs, who used it as a condiment for just about everything. But it didn't have an official name until 1571, when Alonso de Molina, a Spanish priest and missionary, dubbed it “salsa”, which literally just means “sauce” in English.

Long before it arose in New York City and became an influential style of music around the world, salsa music has its seeds in African rhythms and traditions that came to the Caribbean through the slave trade. Centuries of enslavement caused many cultural changes in Cuba, including the music that led to salsa.

Cuba – The Epicenter of Latin Music & Dance

Many countries in the Caribbean have contributed to the development of Latin music and dance, namely Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, but the country that has influenced salsa the most is Cuba.

This was also a decade that birth the careers of many major artists such as Celia Cruz, later dubbed the Queen of Salsa, Marc Anthony, La India, Tito Puente (The King of Salsa), and Domingo Quiñones.

Puerto Rico and the Colonial Legacy. The decline of direct Cuban musical influence in the 1960s and 70s and the decades-long circular migration patterns of Puerto Rican musicians to New York City meant that New York became the place where Puerto Ricans developed the fusion that became salsa.

Salsa is a common ingredient in Mexican cuisine, served as a condiment with tacos, stirred into soups and stews, or incorporated into tamale fillings.

Salsa in Puerto Rico took over by the decade of the 60's. Ironically, it started in New York with Puerto Rican performers who started to emerge in the scene. A bridge between performers in the island and New York was starting to make the genre something commercial and that became popular among the people.