Dance Salsa

Salsa music is a predominantly Cuban genre that is popular across Latin America that was brought to international fame by Cuban, and Puerto Rican musicians. Salsa incorporates multiple styles and variations; the term has and can be used to describe most any form of popular Cuban-derived genre, such as chachachá and Son. Most specifically, however, salsa refers to a particular style developed in the 1960s and '70s by Puerto Rican and Cuban immigrants to the New York City area, and its later stylistic descendants including 1980s salsa romantica and other sub-genres. The style is now practiced throughout Latin America, and abroad. Salsa's closest relatives are Cuban son and mambo, typified by orchestras of the early 20th century, as well as Latin jazz. The terms Latin jazz and salsa are sometimes used interchangeably; many musicians are considered a part of either (like Tito Puente, Eddie Palmieri, Ray Barretto among others), or both, fields, especially performers from prior to the 1970s.Unterberger, pg. 50

Salsa is essentially Cuban in stylistic origin.Waxer, pg. 5, notes that it is generally agreed "that salsa's primary musical foundation is Cuban; in particular, salsa generally follows the same two-part structure and rhythmic base of Cuban son. though it also has styles mixed with pop, jazz, rock, and R&B.Morales, pg. 33 Morales claims that many Afro-Cuban purists continue to claim that salsa is a mere variation on Cubas musical heritage (but) the hybridizing experience the music went through in New York from the 1920s on incorporated influences from many different branches of the Latin American tradition, and later from jazz, R&B, and even rock. Ed Morales essential claim is confirmed by Unterberger's and Steward's analysis. Salsa is the primary music played at Latin dance clubs and is the "essential pulse of Latin music", according to Ed Morales,Morales, pg. 33 while music author Peter Manuel called it the "most popular dance (music) among Puerto Rican and Cuban communities, (and in) Central and South America", and "one of the most dynamic and significant pan-American musical phenomena of the 1970s and 1980s".Manuel, Popular Music of the Non-Western World, pg. 46 Modern salsa remains a dance-oriented genre and is closely associated with a style of salsa dancing.