The Roots Of Salsa

Rondón tells the engaging story of salsa's roots in Puerto Rico, Cuba, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, and Venezuela, and of its emergence and development in the 1960s as a distinct musical movement in New York. Rondón presents salsa as a truly pan-Caribbean phenomenon, emerging in the migrations and interactions, the celebrations and conflicts that marked the region. Although salsa is rooted in urban culture, Rondón explains, it is also a commercial product produced and shaped by professional musicians, record producers, and the music industry. --from publisher description.

The Roots of Salsa is the first English version of the history of Cuban music. This book is a complete and concise history on the Afro-Cuban popular music called Salsa. It includes extensive material on the musicians who developed the musical form and were part of its evolution from Cuba to the United States and beyond.

Arguably the world's most popular partnered social dance form, salsa's significance extends well beyond the Latino communities which gave birth to it. The growing international and cross-cultural appeal of this Latin dance form, which celebrates its mixed origins in the Caribbean and in Spanish Harlem, offers a rich site for examining issues of cultural hybridity and commodification in the context of global migration. Salsa consists of countless dance dialects enjoyed by varied communities in different locales. In short, there is not one dance called salsa, but many. Spinning Mambo into Salsa, a history of salsa dance, focuses on its evolution in three major hubs for international commercial export-New York, Los Angeles, and Miami. The book examines how commercialized salsa dance in the 1990s departed from earlier practices of Latin dance, especially 1950s mambo. Topics covered include generational differences between Palladium Era mambo and modern salsa; mid-century antecedents to modern salsa in Cuba and Puerto Rico; tension between salsa as commercial vs. cultural practice; regional differences in New York, Los Angeles, and Miami; the role of the Web in salsa commerce; and adaptations of social Latin dance for stage performance. Throughout the book, salsa dance history is linked to histories of salsa music, exposing how increased separation of the dance from its musical inspiration has precipitated major shifts in Latin dance practice. As a whole, the book dispels the belief that one version is more authentic than another by showing how competing styles came into existence and contention. Based on over 100 oral history interviews, archival research, ethnographic participant observation, and analysis of Web content and commerce, the book is rich with quotes from practitioners and detailed movement description.

A teacher's guide covering everything from the origins of Salsa; different styles of salsa dancing, a 20 week learning syllabus of moves from Cuba, New York, LA and Colombia, teaching methods, learning styles and how to start your own salsa dance practice. This book starts with my personal experience of salsa dance and explains the history of salsa from a worldwide historical view point. It traces England's influence on the roots of salsa dancing and the development of the UK salsa scene. This book is divided into practical guidance and theoretical exercises. The book will tell you about the different ways to teach salsa, the rules and regulations you must follow and how to set-up a salsa dance school. It shows you everything you need to set yourself up as a salsa dance teacher.

In Cuban Fire, the prize-winning author Isabelle Leymarie tells the thrilling story of popular music of Cuban origin and its major artists from the 1920s to today. Afro-Cuban music derives its richness from the fusion of many cultures. On the island of tobacco, rum and coffee, nicknamed 'The Green Caiman' because of its long and curvy shape, the wedding of sacred and secular African musical genres with Spanish and French melodies gave rise to numerous genres that have gained international fame- son, rhumba, guaracha, conga, mambo, cha-cha-cha, pachanga, and nueva timba. The history of Cuban music also unfolds in the United States, where large Cuban, Puerto Rican, Dominican and other Hispanic communities have established themselves over the years. It was in New York, indeed, that the boogaloo, salsa and Latin jazz, created by such musicians as Machito, Mario Bauz , Dizzy Gillespie and Chano Pozo, emerged out of the contact with the Puerto Ricans and African-Americans of that city. This major reference book also deals with the incandescent rhythms of Puerto Rico and -- to a lesser degree -- Santo Domingo, integrated today into salsa and Latin jazz.

'Salsa Rising' provides a full-length historical account of Latin music in this New York guided by close critical attention to issues of tradition and experimentation, authenticity and dilution, and the often clashing roles of cultural communities and the commercial recording industry in the shaping of musical practices and tastes.

Boggs presents a readable, exciting history of Salsa, showing how Afro-Cuban music was embraced in New York City and how it has undergone cycles of popularity and been replicated abroad. From its roots in Cuba through present-day Salsa clubs, Boggs provides a tour of a popular music form that has had a significant impact on the Latin community as well as contemporary musicians and composers. Extensively illustrated with photographs of the bands and clubs as well as the key leaders and promoters, the book also contains interviews with top performers and others instrumental in making salsa what it is today.

This book explores the complexity of Cuban dance music and the webs that connect it, musically and historically, to other Caribbean music, to salsa, and to Latin Jazz. Establishing a scholarly foundation for the study of this music, Raul A. Fernandez introduces a set of terms, definitions, and empirical information that allow for a broader, more informed discussion. He presents fascinating musical biographies of prominent performers Cachao López, Mongo Santamaría, Armando Peraza, Patato Valdés, Francisco Aguabella, Cándido Camero, Chocolate Armenteros, and Celia Cruz. Based on interviews that the author conducted over a nine-year period, these profiles provide in-depth assessments of the musicians’ substantial contributions to both Afro-Cuban music and Latin Jazz. In addition, Fernandez examines the links between Cuban music and other Caribbean musics; analyzes the musical and poetic foundations of the Cuban son form; addresses the salsa phenomenon; and develops the aesthetic construct of sabor, central to Cuban music. Copub: Center for Black Music Research