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Content: Renowned Latin music historian Max Salazar has written one of the concise and 
comprehensive chronicles about the evolution of the word "Salsa." This article in its 
entirety was first published in the November 1991 issue of Latin Beat Magazine. Much thanks to Max Salazar and the publishers of Latin Beat magazine for 
allowing this article to be reproduced in
www.SalsaRoots.com. SALSA ORIGINS
By Max Salazar 
The popular usage of the word “salsa” for danceable Latin 
music began in 1933 when Cuban song composer Ignacio Pi&241erio wrote the song Échale Salsita. According to the late Alfredo Valdés 
Sr. whom I interviewed in 1974, he said “On July 6, 1933, I married Anita 
Purmuy, guitarist for the all-female band La Anacaona. I didn’t have a 
honeymoon because hours later I was on a boat with Nacional (Septeto) headed 
toward Miami…then on to the Chicago World’s Fair in Chicago. On the train I 
rehearsed Ignacio’s new Échale 
Salsita. He got the idea after tasting food which lacked the Cuban spices. It was a protest against tasteless food.