I don't Understand Salsa Music

Hi all,

First of all, I'm just a beginner.

I like watching people dancing salsa, Its looks splendid when dancing with a partner. That's why I started learning salsa.

The important part of salsa is "dancing on beat". I'm unable to count the beats (1,2,3,5,6,7) in salsa music. Most of the people on this forum suggested me to hear lots and lots of salsa music. Which I'm trying to do but couldn't do.

I don't like this music. For me, all songs seem to be same
The thing that I hate most is, the lyrics, which is in some strange language (I don't even know what language it is?) and other part is that all music sounds to be same with same strange instruments .

But inorder to develop interest and understand the music. I'm playing salsa music all day and trying to concentrate. But as a result its just pissing me off. While listening, I feel what do people even like in this music? Why do they even dance on this music? I think if I continue this for few more days. I'm going to hate salsa.


FYI, I don't have much of salsa music with me, This is all what I have:

Jimmy Bosch - El Avion de la Salsa
Jerry Masucci - Super Salsa Singers Vol. III
Jerry Masucci - Super Salsa Greats vol.3
El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico - The Best Salsa
Africando - COMBO SALSA

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May be its because, I didn't hear the best of salsa, suggest me some. Is there any way to get out of that strange language they use?
By the way, is there any site where I can download free salsa music? I'm sure, there might be some site where music can be freely downloaded. I feel I'm wasting money on these music CDs.

Please guys.. I like salsa dance a lot but not this music.

Help me out.

At least you tried, but it might not work out.

Before giving up, try Romantic Salsa. People who like American style pop music relate better to the less percussive and more lyrical style of Marc Anthony, Victor Manuelle, Jerry Galante, Tito Rojas, Eddie Santiago.

What kind of music do you like ? Some people just can't get into rhythmic music, if you are in that category, its not going to work out. Try tango.

Yeah the Marc Anthony and Rey Ruiz albums might be more style...

i guess some people could not like the music, but...ummm I don't get how that's possible

even when your arguments may sound ambiguous or contradictory, we may help you, but first this will require a few homework from you.

first, for the dancing pleasure's sake, I don't see why the urge to understand the lyrics. I have some hindi and egyptian pop music recordings (Rangeela Soundtrack and Amr Diab Greatest Hits to name a couple) that I really like, and ask me if I know what they are saying. In musical terms, those recordings have it's charm and are quite danceable.

if you insist to understand what singers are singing about, a few spanish lessons will do the trick.

second, no matter how good this 5 Salsa CD's are, playing them over and over eventually will make you hate 'em. there's lot of excellent threads here that recomends danceable salsa recordings. search them and please check our rules about music sharing; asking for free music here is a big no-no.

you haven't told us if you had tried learning salsa dancing in any specialized dance school or latin dancehall (in this one, they often give free dancing lessons). don't know if these are available in India.

hope this helps...

actually I have to admit, that for many years I hated salsa too, i grew up in south America, so I heard it every where, and I thought it was incredible boring. whenever my friends would play it, I would beg them to change it.

all that changed a couple of months after i started learning to dance salsa. even now though a great deal of why i like salsa is because, i can dance to it, and through dancing i have learn to appreciate the complexity and beauty of salsa music. (incidentally this opened the doors for me to appreciate jazz and classic music, which i now enjoy)

i also spent the first few months listening salsa, while counting in my head or aloud, so i could figure out where the beats where. i used to get bored doing that, but i knew i had to learn if i was ever going to be able to become a salsa dancer.

what i noticed was that as learned to hear the beats, i started to perceive the clave, after that i was able to hear the second and six beat, then how the first phrase of an 8th count was stronger that the second, then I was able to isolate the piano and do shines to it. the slap of the conga, the changes of direction of the music where after the 123, you get another 123 instead of the 567(being able to hit and react with my dancing was one of my happiest moments in dancing) (it is also cool to realize that only 20 percent of people in the club realized the change, and you are now one of them) my point is that as you learn you will realize how much more is left to learn, and your ears will be able to detect sounds and nuances that before you did not even know existed.

now salsa may not be for you, but i would give i a couple of months and focus on dancing more that trying to like the music. if it does not work, you can always find something that is more to your liking

about not understanding the lyrics, my first language is Spanish, and I can't remember a single phrase of any salsa song. the worlds are meaningless to me when I dance it. since i am dancing to the music and trying hit its nuances, what the singer says is irrelevant . his/her vocalization can enhance the music but the actual meaning, quite often is down right silly. actually some of my favorite songs, have words that are nonsense. there is a beautiful song that has sounds that seem appropriated for a protest song, i thought i could really come up with a choreography for this song, that will illustrate the social injustice, pain, suffering etc etc.. then i tried to understand what they were saying, …the silly song was about some little town somewhere in the Caribbean. i was so mad, i wish i could tell the singer, such a powerful song, would you put some meaningful lyrics to it

A lot of people - members of Salsa Forums as well as people I know - say their taste in salsa music changed a lot since beginner days. They say the sort of full-on hard salsa they enjoy now wasn't their favourite type of music when they started dancing. These days I love dancing to old-school mambo and latin jazz, but I didn't 'get' that type of music at all as a beginner. When you are not used to latin music, full on salsa music can sound the same and also a bit too much to stomach. In other words, you are not alone.

You could try:
- Salsa romantica (as a few others have already suggested), e.g., Marc Anthony, Rey Ruiz, Eddie Santiago.

- Salsa remixes of English pop songs - you can find lists of these in other threads.

- R&B salsa, e.g., Alex Wilson, "Playa No More" by Crystal Sierra

Many songs by Tito Nieves also fall into these categories and may work for you.

It's also much easier to find the beat in these types of music.

claws said:

...The important part of salsa is "dancing on beat". I'm unable to count the beats (1,2,3,5,6,7) in salsa music. Most of the people on this forum suggested me to hear lots and lots of salsa music. Which I'm trying to do but couldn't do.

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First of all remember that 1,2,3,5,6,7, are not the beats of salsa. Salsa like most western music has 8 beats: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8. What you are counting are the beats on which you have to take steps. When you listen to music, you should count all the beats so you know when to step and when to pause.

claws said:

I don't like this music. For me, all songs seem to be same
The thing that I hate most is, the lyrics, which is in some strange language (I don't even know what language it is?) and other part is that all music sounds to be same with same strange instruments... ...Please guys.. I like salsa dance a lot but not this music.
Help me out.

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Yes indeed, when tou start listening to salsa music, all songs sound the same. And unless you understand Spanish, it is annoying to try to make sense of the songs. But listening to older, more traditional salsa will do tht to you. Get yourself some Sonora Carruseles, some DLG, N'Klave, Adolecent's, Willy Chirino, Charlie Cruz and you will change your mind. These more modern salsas will be more accessible to your ears.

aayeeeeyy!!!!

very happy to know that I'm not alone of my kind.
Thanks for your suggestions. I'll surely give it a try.

And I'm sorry I didn't read the rules. No Free music. No. No.

PielCanela said:

actually I have to admit, that for many years I hated salsa too, i grew up in south America, so I heard it every where, and I thought it was incredible boring.

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I am so pleased you wrote that ! " .. 1.. it dispels that myth and assumption , that ALL latinos must know salsa ( or rumba etc. ) because they are latino .

And 2 .. that all latinos like salsa . I had numerous latino friends in one city, that couldnt stand the music .

claws said:

But inorder to develop interest and understand the music. I'm playing salsa music all day and trying to concentrate. But as a result its just pissing me off. While listening, I feel what do people even like in this music? Why do they even dance on this music? I think if I continue this for few more days. I'm going to hate salsa.

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Hmm, could happen, this hating salsa thing. Maybe you need to get a salsa buddy who is interested in the music.

There is a lot of variety in salsa music, but you have to be "into" it before you can tell. As a parallel, I'm not into trance music. I can tell techno from trance, but if I said I didn't like trance to a trance fan, they might say "oh yeah, euro-trance is terrible! But goa trance, wow!" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trance_genres

So you have Jimmy Bosch and el Gran Combo, that's fine. Nikka points out Sonora Carruseles. They have a whole other vibe about them, like an excitable puppy. You also have Afrocando. Doesn't that stuff sound different to Jimmy Bosch? How about Afro-Cuban Allstars? They've got a different take again. Try Buena Vista Social Club for some "roots" of salsa. That album isn't really danceable as salsa, but it will show you the soul to afrocuban music. Try Machito for some 1940s-'50s style hard dance music. This sounds completely unlike salsa music, but you can listen for the similarities.

Finally, for me it's all about the rhythm. I don't really listen to melody and I scarcely hear lyrics even on English-language songs. So maybe that will be a way in for you.

But don't beat yourself up about it! Make sure you are doing it in a spirit of joy and don't criticize yourself for not hearing things "right". At this stage there are no wrong answers, just let thoughts come to you when you listen. Later on this will pay off as you will have developed your own vocabulary for various stylistic differences. Then you can start to attach the "right" names to these differences.

Hope that helps!

bailar y tocar said:

Before giving up, try Romantic Salsa. People who like American style pop music relate better to the less percussive and more lyrical style of Marc Anthony, Victor Manuelle, Jerry Galante, Tito Rojas, Eddie Santiago.

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Can any one suggest some good/top albums of these guys?

claws where abouts in india are u?
im from bombay.........part of salsaindia

PielCanela said:

actually I have to admit, that for many years I hated salsa too, i grew up in south America, so I heard it every where, and I thought it was incredible boring. whenever my friends would play it, I would beg them to change it.

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have a lot of boricua friends that hated salsa until they left to the mainland (USA). in a month or two they begin to appreciate how much they really miss it and then they beg for salsa, nueva trova and local folk groups, specially if it's christmas!

it's just a matter of time. it runs in our blood, I guess. :bouncy:

claws said:

Can any one suggest some good/top albums of these guys?

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all those artists have best of type albums...

rey ruiz has this: amazon.com/20-Éxitos-Originales-Rey-Ruiz/dp/B0009VI53Y/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1225461415&sr=8-1 with Luna Negra being my personal favorite.

in marc anthony's case he did a couple of best of albums in a couple of languages and some more with ballad versions of salsa songs which is the only reason i hate on the guy. I love his early albums, but post 2000 he just started pissing me off with these worthless rehashes just to increase his sales and play off his new found american popularity.

you might want to pick this up: amazon.com/Desde-Principio-Beginning-Marc-Anthony/dp/B000F8DSVA/ref=ntt_mus_ep_dpi_6

there's also Luis Enrique with this being my personal favorite youtube.com/watch?v=RSxt_RbELIM
and as far as victor manuelle this should work for you: youtube.com/watch?v=hK9JYCfe7AE

I'm not a big salsa romantica fan, but I do like the singles and that's what this is a representation of.

btw, I think one of the reasons I love the music so much was because I don't understand the lyrics (most of them at least). It's like going to eat at a new type of restaurant. You don't know what you're ordering, but you're truly shocked at how new and great the flavors are.

Keep an open mind into other types of music, not just salsa, but anything out there. The world is a filled with beauty just waiting to play with your senses.

I like salsa music, especially the percussive stuff. But I would like it a lot more if there were no vocals at all. I don't like the singing style(s), the singers' voices, the repetitive lyrics...I guess I just put up with the singing for the sake of the music.

Reflecting on my evolution, overtime I've definitely gravitated towards the salsa classica over time, and not only because of the greater percussion focus, but also because I feel the music is more creative and the breaks are more interesting musically.

I actually really really love the voices and the lyrics, even if I don't understand them all the time. I especially like the repeating chorus sections, because they are only another indicator of timing and there's something about a repeating message that's really passionate. Take "amor sin condicion" as a repeating message; when done right it has a lot of weight to it. It truly affects the way you dance.

I like the vocals and coro when they are tight..meaning that the singer's lines match up exactly with the rhythm cell. In live performances, I prefer vocal songs to instrumental only songs. The singers bring on the energy on stage.

Since I focus so much on rhythmic elements of music, I find Spanish to be one of the best, if not the best language to hear vocals in. The language has a rhythmic melody even when people are just talking.

Maybe or maybe not related: I have heard some really complex music from South India that was played for a traditional dance company performance. I liked it but it was too much "work" to keep up with.

claws said:

I don't like this music. For me, all songs seem to be same
.

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What kind of music DO you like? If you want to do a partner dance, you can try Westcoast Swing or one of the others.

AguaDulce said:

What kind of music DO you like? If you want to do a partner dance, you can try Westcoast Swing or one of the others.

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I smooth & soft music. I also like music with high tempo & I love dancing to such music. But Instrumentals constitute most the music I listen. I'm a great lover of soft & soothing romantic songs. forgot to mention, I'm a violinist.

Any American/International style ballroom dance can be danced with a partner right? Then, Why do you suggest west coast swing? Any specific reason?