Cuban Salsa History
The history of Cuban salsa comes from a blend of African drum rhythms and New World music including jazz and the Spanish guitar of Latin music. With roots of the music dating back to the slave trade in Africa, salsa music and salsa dancing was recognized in the mid-1900s.
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History
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According to Salsa-in-Cuba.com, a wave of Cuban rhythm mixed with jazz music in the 1960s. Izza Sanabria, a graphic designer at Fania studios in Cuba chose the word "salsa" to combine the forms of music and a call to bands and musicians to "spice up" the music. Although the dance was named in the 1960s, the origins of salsa comes from African rhythms that slaves used for their religious ceremonies.
The Roots
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People in the Yoruba, Congo and other West African countries created rhythms to worship various gods. Those ancient rhythms were transported to the New World due to the slave trade. Slaves were forced to use their drum rhythms in Christian worship services and to make Christianity their religion. They would typically worship their own gods by Christian names to avoid punishment.
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Rhythm and Singing of Salsa
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The drum rhythm and singing composition of the music is central to religious and cultural practices to the Africans who influenced salsa. A musician would play a constant rhythm called the clave, while other musicians played another rhythm forming a polyrhythm. As the polyrhythm is viewed as one of the essential components of salsa music, the most common claves of salsa are the same for other dances including the son, the rumba and the samba.
The composition of the music in the second half of the 19th century depended on the location. The music in the East was focused on "rhythmic progression of simple chords that accompanied the improvised words that obeyed the clave," while the music from the West "was more European and the instruments used reminded of those found in French orchestras," according to Salsa In Cuba.com
Salsa Dance
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Salsa dancing can either be a partner dance or a solo dance that corresponded from salsa music. After the "salsa dancing" had been accepted by dancers throughout the mid-1900s, the word salsa was announced on the radio. According to Salsa-Dance.com, "the very first time the word appeared on the radio was a composition by Ignacio Pineiro, dedicated to an old African man who sold butifarras (a sausage-like product) in Central Road in Matanzas."
The Dance Patterns
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By the 1950s, the dance featured a repetitive eight-beat pattern (two bars of four beats). Salsa generally would use three steps during each four beats, as one beat would be skipped. The dance often used syncopated percussion rhythms and was at a fast tempo such as 180 beats per minute. Salsa was called a "slot" or "spot" dance, because the dance couple (or solo dancer) would dance in a fixed spot on the floor.
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References
- Photo Credit Salsa Dancer image by Infs from Fotolia.com
