Title: Salsa | music | Britannica
Headings: Salsa
Salsa
music

Content: Salsa | music | Britannica
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Salsa
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WRITTEN BY
Susan V. Cashion
Senior Lecturer in Dance, Stanford University. See Article History
Salsa, hybrid musical form based on Afro-Cuban music but incorporating elements from other Latin American styles. It developed largely in New York City beginning in the 1940s and ’50s, though it was not labeled salsa until the 1960s; it peaked in popularity in the 1970s in conjunction with the spread of Hispanic cultural identity. 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. Highly syncopated, it employs an “anticipated” rhythm structure wherein the bass line precedes the downbeat by a half-beat, creating a distinctive pulse. Pioneered by bandleader Arsenio Rodríguez, the son became the framework on which was hung a wide variety of dance-oriented Afro-Cuban musical styles, from the bolero to the conga and from the rumba to the mambo. Afro-Cuban music spread throughout Latin America, notably to Mexico.