When did Salsa become a popular dance?

[David]

I was reading a disco book that was published in the late 70's I believe. The last chapter was about Salsa, as if it were the new sensation. When DID Salsa start becoming popular? Who are some of the people who are credited with being early innovators?

[peachexploration]

Interesting excerpt from Evolution of Mambo, Salsa and Cha Cha by Paul F. Clifford

There is some debate whether Salsa and Mambo are the same dance. However, if we get technical, we could argue that Bolero, Rumba, Son, Mambo, Salsa, Cumbia and others often appear to be the same dance. The fact is that in modern music each dance often includes musical segments from other dances and so, one dance borrows moves from another. Eventually the moves merge - so each dance often appears to have vaguely similar timings and steps, but in a pure piece, the mood of the music, the rhythm, the tempo and the dance technique for each is different. So, don't let people confuse you with technicalities! Each of these dances has a uniqueness of it's own! You might be able to transfer many moves from one dance to another, but there are many instances, where the tempo suggests footwork and moves that just don't work anywhere but in that one dance.

Cha Cha evolved from Mambo, and there are many musical arrangements that beg for both dances to be performed in the same piece of music. Sometimes, it is a Cha Cha piece that has a Mambo interlude and sometimes it is a Mambo piece with a Cha Cha interlude. So it is really worth while knowing how to do both! The same can be said for Mambo and Salsa. The biggest difference between Mambo and Salsa is that, rarely can you Salsa to contemporary North American Music. In contrast, there are lots of tracks that beg you to do the Mambo!

Despite its African resonance, the mambo can be traced back to an unexpected source, English country dance, which in the 17th century became the contredanse at the French court and later the contradanza in Spain. In the 18th century the contradanza reached Cuba where it was known as danza and became the national dance. In the 19th century, with the arrival of planters and their slaves who fled from Haiti after it became independent, a particularly spicy syncopation called the cinquillo was added to the danza (tango derived from the contradanza also has this cinquillo).

Through this time, the Native African Folk Rumba which is essentially a sex pantomime danced extremely fast with exaggerated hip movements, was merged into the contradanza to form Son and by the end of the 19th century the formality of the contradanza was replaced by freer, more spontaneous dancing. This new kind of music was known as danzon.

Danzon became the dance of wealthy Cuban Society. Son was popular amongst the middle class and Rumba, well, the Americans popularized it by turning it into a modified version of Son. The Danzon has now evolved into Mambo and Salsa.

The danzon had several sections, one of which was a lively coda, which musicians soon got in the habit of improvising. It was played by brass bands or tipicas, which gave way in the 1920s to lighter combos known as charangas. These featured violins, sometimes a cello, a piano, a guiro (a grooved calabash scraped with a comb), a clarinet, a flute, a bass and double drums adapted from European military drums.

Charangas, notably, that of the flautist Antonio Arcano, flourished in the late 1930's. In 1938, Arcano's cellist, Orestes Lopez, composed a danzon he called "Mambo," and in the coda Arcano introduced elements from the Son, a lively musical genre from Cuba's Oriente province. As a signal to band members that they could start their solos, Arcano would call out, "Mil veces mambo!" ("A thousand times mambo!"). In the Latin American music known as salsa, the mambo is a theme that is played in unison by the rhythm section and serves as a transition between two improvised passages.

In 1959 Fidel Castro's revolutionary forces took control of Cuba and many composers and musicians fled to America. In New York, the music of Cuba became inextricably mixed with the musical variations of Puerto Rico and American popular music. New styles of music, by new types of groups hit the Latin Club scene. New instruments were introduced and new sounds produced, giving a wild new interpretation of the Mambo. Trombones found a place besides trumpets, making the sound brassier. The traditional instruments were relegated to supporting the rhythm sections. The music was wild and classy and extremely popular. Then, with the advent of the Beatles in the 1960s, the bubble burst and the popularity of Latin Music declined throughout North America and Europe. Something had to be done to revitalize interest in Latin Music! So, in the early 1970s, Fania records, needing a way to promote their artists and music, started to think about the problem. They needed a name for their product. Something that captured the markets attention! "Salsa" was born!

Development of the music and dance continues but is no longer restricted to the creative talents of musicians from the Caribbean, Miami or New York. New bands and musical variations have origins in Colombia, Europe, Australia and Japan.

[salsachinita]

Wow, that was great :D !

Thankyou, PeachE 8) .......!

[JaneMas]

Something had to be done to revitalize interest in Latin Music! So, in the early 1970s, Fania records, needing a way to promote their artists and music, started to think about the problem. They needed a name for their product. Something that captured the markets attention! "Salsa" was born!
Very interesting. Fania had no problems being that they were signing every talented artist in Latin Music. Latin Music, that's what they called it. Salsa as a marketing term came in the beginning of the 80s. The word existed way before but only as a form of expression, not misapplied as a musical genre covering many latin genres. Fania did not need to name their product. They had products called, Charanga, Latin Soul/Boogaloo, Boleros, Mambo, Son, Son Montunos, Guajiras...etc. It was the expansion of distribution that prompt the suits to tell the giant music stores (non-hispanic) to label it under SALSA since it was too complicated for the workers to label them under Charanga, Son, Boleros. One reason is that most groups had various genres recorded on 1 album, thus separating it by category would be impossible. This led to misinforming the public on what they bought for example Son, Guajira, Cha Cha Cha, Mambo and the New York Sound aka Salsa. The people who began to discover Latin Music thought they were buying SALSA and weren't educated or didn't take the time to learn by looking at the back and checking out the genres. Salsa is not a dance. When I say I'm going Salsa dancing, I'm saying I'm going Latin Dancing. The dance is Mambo whether it's on 1, 2, 3 or anyway you can do it. But Salsa as a dance does not exist.

Very good site!
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[squirrel]

Mambo is the ballroom dance, Salsa is the street dance... Mambo is danced on 2, Salsa on any beat :) ... and try telling a Salsero from Cuba or Puerto Rico Salsa does not exist! :wink:

[JaneMas]

Mambo is the ballroom dance, Salsa is the street dance... Mambo is danced on 2, Salsa on any beat :) ... and try telling a Salsero from Cuba or Puerto Rico Salsa does not exist! :wink:
I disagree. Mambo is Mambo on 1 or on 2. It's still Mambo the dance. Ballroom is Ballroom. Mambo was created in Cuba and continued to develop outside of Cuba by those who improvised and explored the art of improvisation with plena elements, etc. What is the term "Street Dancing" :?: How can you define that into a style if everyone is different in the basics :?: That's just doing your own thing. Like mom and pop. You know...they danced not necessarily in the streets but at house parties, just moving to the music, looking good or bad. :wink: When one says street dancing what comes to my mind are those people who hang out near Bodegas or gather outside in front of their stoops to shake or as we say " Acer aguaje". Salsa is not a dance. If so where is the structure to call it a style that separates it from Mambo? For example, I love Classic Soul FM 105.3. You know why? Cause they say, "We play all your Classic Soul, providing you with the best music in R&B". :idea: See SOUL is a nick. A form of expression, a lifestyle...just like "SALSA".
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