Salsa music

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Salsa music is  a diverse and  predominantly Spanish Caribbean genre that is  popular across Latin America and  among Latinos abroad. Salsa incorporates multiple styles and  variations; the term can be used to describe most any form of popular Cuban-derived genre, such as chachachá and  mambo. Most specifically, however, salsa refers to a particular style developed in the 1960s and  '70s by Cuban and  Puerto Rican immigrants to the New York City area, and  stylistic descendants like 1980s salsa romantica. The style is  now practiced throughout Latin America, and  abroad; in some countries it  may be referred to as música tropical.^[1] Salsa's closest relatives are  Cuban mambo and  the son 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, or  both, fields, especially performers from prior to the 1970s.^[2]

Salsa is  essentially Cuban in stylistic origin,^[3] though it  is also a hybrid of Puerto Rican and  other Latin styles mixed with pop, jazz, rock, and   and  blues">R&B.^[4] Salsa is  the primary music played at Latin dance clubs and  is the "essential pulse of Latin music", according to author Ed Morales,^[5] 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".^[6] Modern salsa remains a dance-oriented genre and  is closely associated with a style of salsa dancing.

[edit] The word salsa

Salsa means sauce in the Spanish language, and  carries connotations of the spiciness common in Latin and  Caribbean cuisine.^[7] more  recently, salsa acquired a musical meaning in both English and  Spanish. In this sense, salsa has been described as a word with "vivid associations but no absolute definitions, a tag that encompasses a rainbow assortment of Latin rhythms and  styles, taking on a different hue wherever you stand in the Spanish-speaking world".^[8] The precise scope of salsa is  highly debatable.^[9] Cuban and  Puerto Rican immigrants in New York have  used the term analogously to swing or  soul, which refer to a quality of emotionally and  culturally genuine music in the African American community. In this usage salsa connotes a frenzied, "spicy" and  wild musical experience that draws upon or  reflects elements of Latin culture, regardless of the specific style.^[10]

Various music writers and  historians have  traced the use of salsa to different periods of the 20th century. World music author Sue Steward has claimed that salsa was originally used in music as a "cry of appreciation for a particularly piquant or  flashy solo". She cites the first use in this manner to a Venezuelan radio DJ named Phidias Danilo Escalona;^[11] Max Salazar traced the word back to the early 1930s, when Ignacio Piñerio composed "Échale Salsita", a dance song protesting tasteless food.^[12] Though Salazar describes this song as the origin of salsa meaning "danceable Latin music", author Ed Morales has described the usage in the same song as a cry from Piñeiro to his band, telling them to increase the tempo to "put the dancers into high gear". Morales claims that later in the 1930s, vocalist Beny Moré would shout salsa during a performance "to acknowledge a musical moment's heat, to express a kind of cultural nationalist sloganeering [and to celebrate the] 'hotness' or  'spiciness' of Latin American cultures".^[13]

Some people object to the term salsa on the basis that it  is vague or  misleading; for example, the style of musicians such as Tito Puente evolved several decades before salsa was a recognized genre, leading Puente to once claim that "the only salsa I know comes in a bottle. I play Cuban music". Because salsa can refer to numerous styles of music, some observers perceive the word as a marketing term designed to superficially categorize music in a way that appeals to non-aficionados.^[14] For a time the Cuban state media officially claimed that the term salsa music was a euphemism for authentic Cuban music stolen by American imperialists, though the media has since abandoned this theory.^[15]

Some doubt that the term salsa has any precise and  unambiguous meaning. Peter Manuel describes salsa as "at once (both) a modern marketing concept and  the cultural voice of a new generation", representative of a "crystallization of a Latino identity in New York in the early 1960s". Manuel also recognizes the commercial and  cultural dichotomy to salsa, noting that the term's broad use for many styles of Latin pop music has served the development of "pan-Latin solidarity", while also noting that the "recycling of Cuban music under an  artificial, obscurantist label is  but one more  example of North American exploitation and  commodification of third world primary products; for Latinos, salsa bridges the gap between "tradition and  modernity, between the impoverished homeland and  the dominant United States, between street life and  the chic night club, and  between grassroots culture and  the corporate media".^[16]

The singer Rubén Blades once claimed that salsa is  merely "a concept", as opposed to a definite style or  rhythm. Some musicians are  doubtful that the term salsa has any useful meaning at all, with the bandleader Machito claiming that salsa was more  or less  what he had been playing for forty years before the style was invented, while Tito Puente once responded to a question about salsa by saying "I'm a musician, not a cook" (referring to salsa's original use to mean sauce). Celia Cruz, a well-known salsa singer, has said, "[s]alsa is  Cuban music with another name. It's mambo, chachachá, rumba, son ... all the Cuban rhythms under one name".^[17]

Music writer Peter Manuel claims that salsa came to describe a specific style of music in the mid-1970s "when a group of New York-based Latin musicians began overhauling the classic big-band arrangements popular since the mambo era of the 1940s and  '50s", and  that the term was "popularized" in the late 1960s by a Venezuelan radio station and  Jerry Masucci of Fania Records.^[18] In contrast, Ed Morales cites the use of salsa for a specific style to a New York-based editor and  graphic designer named Izzy Sanabria. Morales also mentions an  early use of the term by Johnny Pacheco, a Dominican performer who released a 1962 album called Salsa Na' Ma, which Morales translates as "it just needs a little salsa, or  spice".^[13]

[edit] Characteristics

Though the term salsa music is  not necessarily precise in scope, most authors use the term to refer specifically to a style created in the late 1960s and  early 1970s. Author Ed Morales has said the obvious, most common perception of salsa is  an "extravagant, clave-driven, Afro-Cuban-derived songs anchored by piano, horns, and  rhythm section and  sung by a velvety voiced crooner in a sharkskin suit".

A trombone, sometimes considered a defining characteristic of salsa

At its root, however, salsa is  a mixture of Spanish and  African music, filtered through the music histories of Cuba and  Puerto Rico, and  adapted by Latin jazz and  Latin popular musicians for Latino populations with diverse musical tastes.^[8] The basic structure of a salsa song is  based on the Cuban son, beginning with a simple melody and  followed by a coro section in which the performers improvise.^[19] Ed Morales has claimed that the "key staples" of salsa's origins were the use of the trombone as a counterpoint to the vocalist and  a more  aggressive sound than is  typical in Cuban music; the trombone also carries the melody, while the rhythm is  most generally provided by bongos, congas and  timbales.^[20] Peter Manuel notes how New York and  Puerto Rican salsa differs from the 1950s Cuban "son" in various ways, such as the greater use of timbales and  trombones, the occasional use of Puerto Rican elements like the declamatory exclamation le-lo-lai, its frequent lyrics about barrio life in New York and  elsewhere, the "smooth" sound of the salsa romántica style that emerged in the 1980s, and  salsa's role as a soundscape for the Latino identity movement of the 1970s.^[21]

[ and  instrumentation">edit] Songs and  instrumentation

 less  traditional salsa instruments such as a saxophone and  a full drumset."> less  traditional salsa instruments such as a saxophone and  a full drumset." width="200" height="136" longdesc="../../../s/a/l/Image%7ESalsaband2.jpg_1a8b.html" />

A modern salsa band lineup including less  traditional salsa instruments such as a saxophone and  a full drumset.

Salsa bands play a wide variety of songs, including pieces based on plenas and  bombas, cumbia, vallenato and  merengue; most songs, however, are  modern versions of the Cuban son. Like the son, salsa songs begin with a songlike section followed by a montuno break with call-and-response vocals, instrumental breaks and  jazzy solos.^[22]

The most important instrumentation in salsa is  the percussion, which is  played by a wide variety of instruments, including claves, cowbells, timbales and  conga.^[23] Apart from percussion, a variety of melodic instruments are  commonly used as accompaniment, such as a guitar, trumpets, trombones, the piano, and  many others, all depending on the performing artists. Bands typically consist of up to a dozen people, one of whom serves as band leader, directing the music as it  is played. Two to four players generally specialize in horns, while there are  generally a one or  two choral singers and  players of the bongo, conga, bass guitar, piano and  timbales. The maracas, clave or  güiro may also be played, typically by a vocalist. The bongocero will usually switch to a kind of bell called a campana (or bongo bell) for the montuno section of a song. Horns are  typically either two trumpets or  four trumpets or, most commonly, two trumpets with at least one saxophone or  trombone.^[24]

 an  important percussion instrument."> an  important percussion instrument." width="150" height="110" longdesc="../../../k/o/e/Image%7EKoebel.jpg_0f8c.html" />

A cowbell, an  important percussion instrument.

Salsa essentially remains a form of dance music; thus many songs have  little in the way of lyrics beyond exhortations to dance or  other simple words. Modern pop-salsa is  often romantica, defined partially by the sentimental, lovelorn lyrics, or  erotica, defined largely by the sexually explicit lyrics. Salsa also has a long tradition of lyrical experimentation, with singer-songwriters like Ruben Blades using incisive lyrics about everything from imperialism to disarmament and  environmentalism.^[25] Vocalists are  expected to be able to improvise during verses and  instrumental solos. References to Afro-Catholic religions, such as Santeria, are  also a major part of salsa's lyrics throughout Latin America, even among those artists who are  not themselves practitioners of any Afro-Catholic religion.^[26]

[edit] Rhythm

A pair of claves, commonly used to play the clave rhythm.

Salsa music is  traditionally based on a 4/4 time signature, and  is mostly phrased in groups of two bars (eight beats), such as recurring rhythmic patterns and  main phrases of the chorus. Typically, the overall rhythmic patterns played on the percussion instruments are  rather complicated, with several different patterns played simultaneously. The clave rhythm is  an important foundation of salsa; all salsa music and  dance is  governed by the clave rhythm. The most common clave rhythm in salsa is  the so called son clave, which is  eight beats long and  can be played either in 2-3 or  3-2 style. The 2-3 version contains two clave strikes in the first half of the eight beats and  three in the second, while the 3-2 has the halves reversed.^[27]

Instrumentalists do not generally play out the exact clave rhythm, except when using the percussion instrument also known as claves. In most other cases, the clave rhythm simply functions as a basis for the instrumentalists and  singers to use as a common rhythmic ground for their own musical phrases. The instrumentalists emphasize the differences of the two halves of the eight beat clave rhythm; for example, in an  eight beat long phrase used in a 2-3 clave context, the first half of the phrase is  given more  straight notes that are  played directly on beat, while the second half instead contains notes with longer durations and  with a more  off-beat feeling. This emphasizes that the first four beats of the 2-3 son clave contain two "short" strikes that are  directly on beat, while the last four beats contain three "long" clave strikes with the second strike placed off-beat between beats two and  three. Salsa songs commonly start with one clave and  then switch to the reverse partway through the song, without restarting the clave rhythm; instead, the rhythm is  shifted four beats using breaks and  stop-time.

Some percussion instruments have  standardized patterns that reoccur in most salsa music with only minor variations. For example, this is  a common rhythmic pattern called the cáscara based on the 2-3 clave, and  is played on the shells of the timbales during the verses and  less energetic parts of a song:

1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.   (beats)
*.*.**.**.**.*.*   (* = cáscara strikes)

During the chorus and  solo parts, the timbalero often switches to the following rhythm, which is  normally played on a cowbell mounted on the timbales set:

1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.   (beats)
+.*.+++*.++*+.+*   (+/* = weak/accented cowbell strikes)

The timbales pattern above is  often accompanied by a handheld cowbell (bongo bell) also played during the chorus but by another person, using this simpler rhythm (in this example also based on the 2-3 clave):

1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.   (beats)
+.*.+.**+.**+.**   (+/* = low/high-pitched cowbell strikes)

The bass pattern often follows a distinct salsa rhythm pattern known as the tumbao which alternates between the fifth and  the root of a chord. One side of the tumbao will be in near unison with the clave, while the other side is  syncopated against the clave:

1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.   (beats)
...5..8....5..1.   (5 = fifth of chord, 8 = high octave of chord, 1 = low octave of chord)

[edit] Lyricism

Salsa lyrics range from simple dance numbers with little lyrical innovation and  sentimental romantic songs to risqué and  politically-radical lyrics. Music author Isabelle Leymarie notes that salsa performers often incorporate machoistic bravado (guapería) in their lyrics, in a manner reminiscent of calypso and  samba, a theme she ascribes to the performers' "humble backgrounds" and  subsequent need to compensate for their origins. Leymarie claims that salsa is  "essentially virile, an  affirmation of the Latin man's pride and  identity". As an  extension of salsa's macho stance, manly taunts and  challenges (desafio) are  also a traditional part of salsa.^[28]

Politically and  socially activist composers have  long been an  important part of salsa, and  some of their works, like Eddie Palmieri's "La libertad - lógico", became Latin and  especially Puerto Rican anthems. Many salsa songs use a nationalist theme, centered around a sense of pride in black Latino identity, and  may be in Spanish, English or  a mixture of the two called Spanglish.^[28]

[edit] History

In the 1930s, '40s and  '50s, Cuban music within Cuba was evolving into new styles derived primarily from son and  rumba, while the Cubans in New York, living among many Latinos from Puerto Rico and  elsewhere, began playing their own distinctive styles, influenced most importantly by African American music.^[5] Their music included son and  guarachas, as well as tango, bolero and  danza, with prominent influences from jazz.^[29] While the New York scene continued evolving, Cuban popular music, especially mambo, became very famous across the United States. This was followed by a series of other genres of Cuban music, which especially affected the Latin scene in New York. Many Latin musicians in New York were Puerto Rican, and  it was these performers who innovated the style now known as salsa music, based largely off Cuban, and  to a lesser extent, Puerto Rican music.^[30]

Salsa evolved steadily through the later 1970s and  into the '80s and  '90s. New instruments were adopted and  new national styles, like the music of Brazil, were adapted to salsa. New subgenres appeared, such as the sweet love songs called salsa romantica, while salsa became a major part of the music scene in Venezuela, Mexico and  as far away as Japan. Diverse influences, including most prominently hip hop music, came to shape the evolving genre. By the turn of the century, salsa was one of the major fields of popular music in the world, and  salsa stars were international celebrities.

[edit] Origins

Salsa's roots can be traced back to the African ancestors that were brought to the Caribbean by the Spanish as slaves. In Africa it  is very common to find people playing music with instruments like the conga and  la pandereta, instruments commonly used in salsa. Salsa's most direct antecedent is  Cuban son, which itself is  a combination of African and  European influences. Large son bands were very popular in Cuba beginning in the 1930s; these were largely septetos and  sextetos, and  they quickly spread to the United States.^[31] In the 1940s Cuban dance bands grew much larger, becoming mambo and  charanga orchestras led by bandleaders like Arsenio Rodriguez and  Felix Chappotin. In New York City in the '40s, at the center for mambo in the United States, the Palladium Dancehall, and  in Mexico City, where a burgeoning film industry attracted Latin musicians, Cuban-style big bands were formed by Cubans and  Puerto Ricans like Machito, Perez Prado, Tito Puente and  Tito Rodriguez.^[32] New York began developing its own Cuban-derived sound, spurred by large-scale Latino immigration, the rise of local record labels due to the early 1940s musicians strike and  the spread of the jukebox industry, and  the craze for big band dance music.^[33]

Mambo was very jazz-influenced, and  it was the mambo big bands that kept alive the large jazz band tradition while the mainstream current of jazz was moving on to the smaller bands of the bebop era. Throughout the 1950s Latin dance music, such as mambo, rumba and  chachachá, was mainstream popular music in the United States and  Europe. The '50s also saw a decline in popularity for mambo big bands, followed by the Cuban Revolution of 1959, which greatly inhibited contact between New York and  Cuba. The result was a scene more  dominated by Puerto Ricans than Cubans.

[edit] 1960s

The Latin music scene of early 1960s New York was dominated by bands led by musicians such as Ray Barretto and  Eddie Palmieri, whose style was influenced by imported Cuban fads such as pachanga and  charanga; after the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, however, Cuban-American contact declined precipitously, and  Puerto Ricans became a larger part of the New York Latin music scene. During this time a hybrid Nuyorican cultural identity emerged, primarily Puerto Rican but influenced by many Latin cultures as well as the close contact with African Americans.^[34]

The growth of modern salsa, however, is  said to have  begun in the streets of New York in the late 1960s. By this time Latin pop was no longer a major force in American music, having lost ground to doo wop,  and  blues">R&B and   and  roll">rock and  roll; there were a few youth fads for Latin dances, such as the soul and  mambo fusion boogaloo, but Latin music ceased to be a major part of American popular music.^[35] Few Latin record labels had any significant distribution, the two exceptions being Tico and  Alegre. Though East Harlem had long been a center for Latin music in New York, during the 1960s many of the venues there shut down, and  Brooklyn Heights' Saint George Hotel became "salsa's first stronghold". Performers there included Joe Bataan and  the Lebron Brothers.^[36]

The late 1960s also saw white youth joining a counterculture heavily associated with political activism, while black youth formed radical organizations like the Black Panthers. Inspired by these movements, Latinos in New York formed the Young Lords, rejected assimilation and  "made the barrio a cauldron of militant assertiveness and  artistic creativity". The musical aspect of this social change was based on the Cuban son, which had long been the favored musical form for urbanites in both Puerto Rico and  New York.^[37] By the early 1970s, salsa's center moved to Manhattan and  the Cheetah, where promoter Ralph Mercado introduced many future stars to an  ever-growing and  diverse crowd of Latino audiences.^[36]

The Manhattan-based recording company, Fania Records, introduced many of the first-generation salsa singers and  musicians to the world. Founded by Dominican flautist and  band-leader Johnny Pacheco and  impresario Jerry Masucci, Fania's illustrious career began with Willie Colón and  Héctor Lavoe's El Malo in 1967. This was followed by a series of updated son montuno and  plena tunes that evolved into modern salsa by 1973. Pacheco put together a team that included percussionist Louie Ramirez, bassist Bobby Valentin and  arranger Larry Harlow. The Fania team released a string of successful singles, mostly son and  plena, performing live after forming the Fania All Stars in 1971; just two years later, the All Stars sold out Yankee Stadium.^[32] One of their 1971 performances at the Cheetah nightclub, was a historic concert that drew several thousand people and  helped to spark a salsa boom.^[36]

Salsa quickly spread outside of New York City, to Miami, Cuba, Puerto Rico and  Colombia. The city of Cali, Colombia became that country's major center for salsa in the late 1960s, when salsa became a major part of the local Feria de la Caña de Azucar. Salsa also established itself in Guayaquil, Caracas and  Panama City.^[38]

[edit] 1970s

From New York salsa quickly expanded to Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Mexico, Venezuela, and  other Latin countries, while the new style became a symbol of "pride and  cultural identity" for Latinos, especially Puerto Ricans.^[39] The number of salsa bands, both in New York and  elsewhere, increased dramatically in the 70s, as did salsa-oriented radio stations and  record labels.^[40] Popular performers like Eddie Palmieri and  Celia Cruz adapted to the salsa format, joined by more  authentically traditional singers like Willie Colon and  Ruben Blades.^[41] Colón and  Blades worked together for much of the 1970s and  '80s, becoming some of the most critically and  popularly acclaimed salsa performers in the world. Their lyricism set them apart from others; Blades became a "mouthpiece for oppressed Latin America", while Colón composed "potent", "socio-political vignettes". Their 1978 album Siembra was, at that time, the best-selling Latin album in history.^[42]

The 1970s saw a number of musical innovations among salsa musicians. The bandleader Willie Colón introduced the cuatro, a rural Puerto Rican guitar, as well as jazz, rock, and  Panamanian and  Brazilian music.^[43] Larry Harlow, the arranger for Fania Records, modernized salsa by adding an  electric piano. By the end of the decade, Fania Records' longtime leadership of salsa was weakened by the arrival of the labels TH-Rodven and  RMM. Salsa had come to be perceived as "contaminated by fusion and  disco", and  took elements from disparate styles like go go, while many young Latinos turned to hip hop, techno or  other styles.^[44] Salsa began spreading throughout Latin America in the 1970s, especially to Colombia, where a new generation of performers began to combine salsa with elements of cumbia and  vallenato; this fusion tradition can be traced back to the 1960s work of Peregoya y su Combo Vacano. However, it  was Joe Arroyo and  La Verdad, his band, that popularized Colombian salsa beginning in the 1980s.^[45]

[edit] 1980s

The 1980s was a time of diversification, as popular salsa evolved into sweet and  smooth salsa romantica, with lyrics dwelling on love and  romance, and  its more  explicit cousin, salsa erotica. Salsa romantica can be traced back to Noches Calientes, a 1984 album by singer José Alberto with producer Louie Ramirez. A wave of romantica singers, mostly Puerto Rican, found wide audiences with a new style characterized by romantic lyrics, an  emphasis on the melody over rhythm, and  use of percussion breaks and  chord changes.^[46] However, salsa lost some popularity among many Latino youth, who were drawn to American rock in large numbers, while the popularization of Dominican merengue further sapped the audience among Latinos in both New York and  Puerto Rico.^[47] The 1980s also saw salsa expand to Mexico, Argentina, Peru, Europe and  Japan, and  diversify into many new styles.

In the 1980s some performers experimented with combining elements of salsa with hip hop music, while the producer and  pianist Sergio George helped to revive salsa's commercial success. He created a sound based on prominent trombones and  rootsy, mambo-inspired style. He worked with the Japanese salsa band Orquesta de la Luz, and  developed a studio orchestra that included Victor Manuelle, Celia Cruz, José Alberto, La India, Tito Puente and  Marc Anthony. The Colombian singer Joe Arroyo first rose to fame in the 1970s, but became a renowned exponent of Colombian salsa in the 1980s. Arroyo worked for many years with the Colombian arranger Fruko and  his band Los Tesos.^[48]

[edit] 1990s to the present

Vallenato fusionist Carlos Vives in concert

In the 1990s Cuban salsa became more  prominent, especially a distinct subgenre called timba. Using the complex songo rhythm, bands like NG La Banda, Charanga Habanera, and  Los Van Van developed timba, along with related styles like songo-salsa, which featured swift Spanish rapping. The use of rapping in popular songo-salsa was appropriated by Sergio George, beginning with his work with the trio Dark Latin Groove, which "breathed the fire of songo rhythms and  the energy of rap and  soul into salsa".^[49]

Salsa remained a major part of Colombian music through the 1990s, producing popular bands like Sonora Carruseles, while the singer Carlos Vives created his own style that fuses salsa with vallenato and  rock. Vives' popularization of vallenato-salsa led to the accordion-led vallenato style being used by mainstream pop stars like Gloria Estefan. The city of Cali, in Colombia, has come to call itself the "salsa capital of the world", having produced such groups as Orquesta Guayacan and  Grupo Niche.^[50]

Salsa has registered a steady growth and  now dominates the airwaves in many countries in Latin America. In addition, several Latino artists, including Rey Ruiz, Marc Anthony, and  most famously, the Cuban-American singer Gloria Estefan, have  had success as crossovers, penetrating the Anglo-American pop market with Latin-tinged hits, usually sung in English.^[51]

The most recent innovations in the genre include hybrids like merenhouse, salsa-merengue and  salsaton, alongside salsa gorda. Since the mid-1990s African artists have  also been very active through the super-group Africando, where African and  New York musicians mix with leading African singers such as Bambino Diabate, Ricardo Lemvo, Ismael Lo and  Salif Keita. Salsa is  only one of many Latin genres to have  traveled back and  influenced West African music.^[51]

[edit] References

[edit] Notes

[edit] Further reading

• Aparicio, Frances R. (1998). Listening to Salsa: Gender, Latin Popular Music, and  Purto Rican Cultures. Hanover, New Hampshire: Wesleyan University Press.
• (Spanish) Arteaga, José (1990). La Salsa, 2nd revised edition, Bogotá: Intermedio Editores.
• (Spanish) Baéz, Juan Carlos (1989). El vínculo es la salsa. Caracas: Fondo Editorial Tropykos.
• (1991) Boggs, Vernon W. (ed.): Salsiology: Afro-Cuban Music and  the Evolution of Salsa in New York City. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press.
• Gerard, Charley (1989). Salsa! The Rhythm of Latin Music. Crown Point, Indiana: White Cliffs.
• Loza, Steven (1999). Tito Puente and  the Making of Latin Music. Urbana: University of Illinois }ress.
• (1991) Manuel, Peter (ed.): Essays on Cuban Music: North American and  Cuban Perspectives. Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America.
• Marre, Jeremy (1985). Beats of the Heart: Popular Music of the World. New York: Pantheon.
• Mauleón, Rebeca (1993). Salsa: Guidebook for Piano and  Ensemble. Petaluma, California: Sher Music Co..
• Roberts, John Storm (1972). Black Music of Two Worlds. New York: Praeger.
• Roberts, John Storm (1979). The Latin Tinge: The Impact of Latin American Music on the United States. New York: Oxford University Press.
• (Spanish) Rondón, Cesar Miguel (1980). El libro de la salsa: crónica de la música del Caribe urbano. Caracas: Editorial Arte.
• (Spanish) Santana, Sergio (1992). ¿Que es la salsa? Buscando la melod&icute;a. Medellín: Ediciones Salsa y Cultura.
• (2002) Waxer, Lisa (ed.): Situating Salsa: Global Markets and  Local Meanings in Latin Popular Music. Routledge.

[edit] External links

• Online magazine dedicated to Latin music, dance, and  culture
• General resource for Salsa music and  dance
• Information, charts, sound files, and  club guides