Is Salsa A Musical Genre?

Hettie Malcomson

Approaches to Musicology
Marisol Berrios-Miranda Situating Salsa
Chapter 2: Is Salsa A Musical Genre?
Berrios-Miranda, Marisol, (2002) "Chapter 2: Is Salsa a Musical
Genre?" from Waxer, Lise, Situating Salsa: Global Markets and Local
Meanings in Latin Popular Music pp.23-50, New York: Routledge

- Study of salsa music as a scholarly subject in the US started in

1980s
- Much debate over the origins of salsa
FROM THE OLD SON TO THE NEW SALSA
- 1960s Puerto Rican bandleader Rodrguez updated the Cuban
sound, other musicians looked to their own country for new ideas to
keep moving the music forward.
- Began mixing Cuban sounds with Puerto Rican genres,
experimenting with harmonies and brass sounds of many New York
jazz bands that Puerto Rican musicians played in since WW1.
- Experimentation transformed Cuban son into a new sound, became
known as salsa.
- Analogy to a spicy blend of flavours, captured in excitement of the
music.
- Adding trombones into a traditional charanga ensemble, which was
originally piano, violins, flutes and percussion.
- Not only changed instrumentation, but Puerto Rican musicians from
1950s onwards fused diverse stylistic elements in their music.
- Techniques of juxtaposition of different styles helped identify salsa
by acknowledging different Latin nationalities among their listeners,
and giving a local flavour to the salsa played in different countries.
- Recognition of salsas diversity and inclusiveness.
- Venezuelans tend to think of salsa in general as a distinctive genre
of music created by Puerto Ricans, doesnt negate the Cuban origins of
the music.
RITMO, RHYTHMS, AND FEEL
- Salsa, based on the most complicated rhythmic patterns in the
whole world.
- Often distinguish salsa from other music by its rhythm.
- Distinctive rhythms in Puerto Rican salsa locked rhythm, nobody
inventing anything (Puerto Rican Salsa)

- Not one rhythm, but composite of rhythms, resulting from a

combination of fixed rhythms.
Uses of the term Ritmo
- Ritmo has several definitions:
o individual rhythms
o genre
o quality of the rhythmic ensemble
o differentiation of salsa styles associated with variety of genres
included in salsa repertoire
Individual Rhythms every musician in a salsa band has to
master particular rhythmic patterns.
Some patterns are idiomatic to one instrument, but must be
understood by all members of the band salsa is a polyrhythmic
music.
Parts only lock together if each musician listens to the whole
band and plays in the proper relationship to everyone elses
parts.
Most important individual rhythm is the clave played on pair of
wooden sticks by the same name.
Two claves commonly used in salsa are son clave and rumba
clave.
Songs can feature 2-3 clave or 3-2 clave, depending on the
relationship of the clave pattern to the melodic or harmonic
downbeat of a phrase.
All other rhythms, and melody, must be played in relation to the
clave, so every member of the band must understand the clave.
Genre Latin America, and Spanish Caribbean, the word Ritmo
is often used to mean genre, and also the dance that
accompanies that genre.
Quality of Rhythmic Ensemble Ritmo may refer to the quality of
individual rhythms, and the overall effect when they interlock.
This quality is defined by timing, volume, timbre and the manner
of blending each individual rhythm with the others.
afinique means everything in the band is locked to
perfection.
afincada is greatest possible compliment to musicianship.
Marker of Regional/National Salsa Styles another use of
Ritmo is the differentiation of a variety of salsa styles.
- Salsa style can be defined to a particular country understanding
salsa in terms of a national genre.
- e.g. Venezuelans feel comfortable in making salsa their own,
because theirs is very different to salsa of other countries.
- Other ways in which a band might include national influences
e.g. including typical phrases of Puerto Rican brass music
- Many others in Latin America do this, giving salsa a unique flavour
in different regions.

DANCE
- Salsa dance is also influenced regionally by national dances, etc.
e.g. when people from Cali, Columbia, dance to salsa, theres a little
jump in the way they dance comes directly from Columbias national
dance.
- People dance differently in Venezuela to Puerto Rica, for example.
- Both dance and musical interpretation include markers of
national/local character, enabling people from different Latin countries to
regard this music as their own.