Title: What Is Salsa Music and What Is Its Origin?
Headings: What Is Salsa Music and What Is Its Origin?
What Is Salsa Music and What Is Its Origin?
Learn more about one of the more exciting styles of Latin music
Salsa Music
Birthplace of Salsa
Evolution of Salsa
What's in a Name

Content: The other school of thought about the genre's history says that if salsa had a passport, the date of birth would be the 1960s and its birthplace would be New York, New York; it developed there over that decade and the next via Cuban and Puerto Rican musicians. Many old-school Latino musicians adhere to the belief that there is no such thing as salsa. Famous American percussionist and bandleader Tito Puente, often credited with developing the salsa sound, was not convinced it was a musical style. He summed up his feeling succinctly when asked what he thought of salsa, by replying, “I’m a musician, not a cook.” Evolution of Salsa
Between 1930 and 1960 there were musicians from Cuba, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and South America coming to New York to perform. They brought their own native rhythms and musical forms with them, but as they listened to each other and played music together, the musical influences mixed, fused, and evolved. This type of musical hybridization gave birth to the 1950s creation of the mambo from son, conjunto, and jazz traditions. Continuing musical fusion went on to include what we know today as the cha-cha, rumba, conga, and, in the 1960s, salsa. Of course, this musical hybridization was not a one-way street.