Hello everyone! I’m backkkkk and I am so excited to share what this blog is about this weekend. Today, I will be dedicating this whole blog to the music genre Salsa.
Salsa is a lively Latin music genre that has influences from
Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the United States. It fuses the Cuban genre Son, Puerto
Rican genre Bomba y Plena and Jazz and R&B American genres. In the 1940s
and the 1950s, Cuban artists would come to the United States to record their music
which was around the same time R&B was becoming popular. In 1959 when Fidel
Castro took control over Cuba, travel between the United States and Cuba was
banned. Cuban musicians could no longer record their music in New York, but
their influences still remained. The Puerto Ricans who lived in New York
combined the styles the Cubans left with the American music styles. This was
the birth of Salsa.
Salsa Music
Cuban Son and Bomba y Plena
Before I go more into detail about the genre of Salsa, I would
like to break down Son, Bomba, and Plena. Son originated from the Eastern region
of Cuba. In this genre, they use bongos, marimbula, guijad, timbales criollos, cowbells,
botijuela, and claves. Son is also one of the first genres where the clave rhythm
was played in public. According to Master Class, “a clave is a set of repeating
rhythmic accents that are emphasized on top of the groove of a song.” If you
listen to Son and Salsa you will hear that the beats are asymmetrical compared
to other genres like hip hop or rock.
Clave Rhythm
Bomba is a genre that is popular in Puerto Rico and it is believed to have originated in the 17th century in Loiza. Both Bomba and Son have influence from West Africa. African slaves created this genre as a way of worship since they were forbidden to worship their own gods. The lyrics expressed their anger and sadness for the way they were treated, but the music created community and moved them to dance and celebrate life. Plena is a genre that developed out of Bomba. These songs create a narrative and often express how they feel about topics in the world. You can hear the elements of all of these genres in Salsa.
Son
Bomba y Plena
Lyrics and Instruments
The instruments used in Salsa are pretty much the same instruments used in Son. According to Salsanet, the instruments used are the congas, timbales, cowbells, bongos, maracas, claves, marimba, botijuela and other instruments. Bongos and Congas are the drums that you hear in the Salsa music. The bongos are a pair of two round drums fastened together in the middle. Musicians place these instruments in between the knees and play them. Congas are big drums that produce a deeper sound. Claves are instruments that are a pair of short wooden cylinders that has a distinct sound. It can be heard amongst all of the other instruments.
https://salsanet.com/history-of-salsa/musical-instruments/
This instrument is really influenced from Cuban Son. The marimbula is an instrument that reminds me of the mbira from Africa. The marimbula is a finger piano with circular sound holes and it originated from French black from Santo Domingo.
Timbales are another drum pair, but it is very
shallow. These drums are made of metal compared to congas and bongos. Botijuela
is an instrument that is created from a potbellied jar that is usually used for
storing oil or milk. This instrument has a hole carved on the side where
musicians blow into the jar to create a sound.
As you can see all of these instruments have influences from
Son, Bomba y Plena and African culture. The lyrics of Salsa music tells a
narrative just like Plena. According to an article on Medium, Salsa music in
the 70s was used to tell stories about different topics. In some songs they
talk about relationship and in others they talk about issues like how poorly
other races are being treated. Down below are two songs with two different meanings by Willie Colon.
Plantacion adentro is a song about the poor treatment of Indians in the
colonial times and La mora is a song about celebrating a beautiful woman.
Artists
Salsa music would not have had a big impact on the world if
it were not for the Fania label. The Fania label was the Motown of Salsa music.
It was founded by Johnny Pacheco and Jerry Masucci in 1964. This record label
produced songs by Ray Barretto, Willie Colon, Ruben Blade and Hector Lavoe.
This label helped Salsa become more popularized in New York and with the help
of the Fania All-Star, it became even more well known. The Fania All-Stars
performed at various places and even had concerts sold out in Puerto Rico,
Panama and Chicago.
Salsa is a genre that took over the world. Its lively music
makes everyone happy and gets everyone dancing. After researching this
information, I am moved to listen to more Salsa and maybe take a dance lesson
or two.
I hope you all enjoyed this weeks blog and I will see you
all later
Sources:
Bache, Brendan, et al. “An Introduction to Latin Music:
Salsa History.” Liberty Park Music, 17 Feb. 2020,
www.libertyparkmusic.com/latin-music-salsa-history/.
Bush, John. “Fania All-Stars: Biography & History.”
AllMusic, www.allmusic.com/artist/fania-all-stars-mn0000795130/biography.
Delgado, Abel. “Salsa Is Not About Gritty Barrio Stories.”
Medium, Medium, 24 June 2016, medium.com/@abeladelgado1/salsa-is-not-about-gritty-barrio-stories-6c85d7fe67ca.
“History and Development of the Cuban Son ~ Salsa Music
History, Styles and Rhythmic Patterns ~ Www.justsalsa.com.” Just Salsa,
www.justsalsa.com/salsa/music/son/.
“History of Salsa Music & Dance.” SalsaGente, 11 May
2019, www.salsagente.com/history-of-salsa-music-dance/.
MasterClass. “Learn About Music: Clave Rhythm Definition and
Examples - 2020.” MasterClass, MasterClass, 2 Oct. 2020,
www.masterclass.com/articles/learn-about-music-clave-rhythm-definition-and-examples.
Pethick, Kris. “How Bomba Became Puerto Rico's Most Popular
Genre.” Culture Trip, The Culture Trip, 15 Feb. 2018,
theculturetrip.com/caribbean/puerto-rico/articles/bomba-in-puerto-rico-what-is-so-interesting-and-captivating-about-it/.
“Puerto Rican Bomba and Plena: Shared Traditions - Distinct
Rhythms.” Smithsonian Folkways Recordings,
folkways.si.edu/puerto-rican-bomba-plena-shared-traditions-distinct-rhythms/latin-world/music/article/smithsonian.
“Salsa - Paired Dance - GCSE Music Revision - BBC Bitesize.”
BBC News, BBC, www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zt6bgk7/revision/3.
“Salsa.”
Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.,
www.britannica.com/art/salsa-music.
“Salsa.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service,
www.pbs.org/wgbh/latinmusicusa/music/salsa/.
Study.com,
study.com/academy/lesson/salsa-music-history-instruments.html.
Awesome Blog Bayley! It is very information and very concise. I never knew that R&B and Jazz influenced such a spicy music genre, I guess it just goes to show how connected everything is in the music world. But when I listened to the first videos you showed us, I can definitely hear how jazz influenced the first video and the second video reminded me a lot of native American music. (is that just me?) Great Blog Bayley! thank you for teaching more about this spicy music genre.
ReplyDeleteI love reading your blogs so much. With so many latin and african influences, I never thought that it would have american roots but after reading, i can see how. It really goes to show that America is a melting pot of cultures!
ReplyDeleteI really like how you organized your information. Your blog had so much information, but I didn't find myself overwhelmed by it. You did a great job of teaching Salsa music and explaining where it comes and the influences. I was really surprised by how similar the mbira and the marimbula are. I would have thought they were the same otherwise.
ReplyDeleteHello! I really enjoyed your blog. I thought that the way that it was organized your blog was super good. Made it super easy to follow along and learn, also all of your information is really good.
ReplyDeleteI loved reading your blog. I spoke about salsa in my South American blog and I really enjoyed it. I love the way they move and I would've never known it was in American roots music.
ReplyDelete