Reggaeton At A Salsa Congress ?!!

[bailar y tocar]

I have heard and am totally shocked that there are salsa congresses where reggaeton, bachata etc is played in the main room. I find that unbelievable so I had to post a poll here to find out if anyone has experienced this.

Edit ops, this poll doesn't work. I forgot to add the option that allows people to confirm my OP above, so please post comments instead.

 

[borikenSalsero]

i'd never attend another congress if I were to hear reggeaton.

 

[SDsalsaguy]

i'd never attend another congress if I were to hear reggeaton.

Amen to that brother!

 

[PielCanela]

I heard it at the chicago salsa congress, they had a side room that had have bachata and reggetton, if they were to play it in the main dance floor, that will be the last time I patronize such a congress.

As if there are no already enough reasons to stop going to those, loud, overbearing,long winded song playing, overcrowded, water lacking events. And now this !!!

 

[SalsaManiac]

i'd never attend another congress if I were to hear reggeaton.

I second that.

 

[antigone]

I really don't understand why so many salser@s are so opposed to reggaeton. If it is played in a salsa venue, it's usually once or maximum twice in a night, so it's not a big deal to sit it out. If the lyrics offend you, well, they are no worse than a lot of popular rap/pop coming out of the US. If you can't dance to it, that's your problem - it's got a simple repetitive boom-boom beat, with a samba syncopation - not that difficult to fit salsa steps into it.

 

[emarrific]

I really don't understand why so many salser@s are so opposed to reggaeton. If it is played in a salsa venue, it's usually once or maximum twice in a night, so it's not a big deal to sit it out. If the lyrics offend you, well, they are no worse than a lot of popular rap/pop coming out of the US. If you can't dance to it, that's your problem - it's got a simple repetitive boom-boom beat, with a samba syncopation - not that difficult to fit salsa steps into it.

Hrm. One thought, antigone, is that perhaps many people appreciate the salsa scene in juxtaposition to the hip-hop/reggaton clubs full of bumpin' grindin' drunken people looking to hook up. Bad associations?

Since I never really did that scene in depth, I don't have those bad associations. So hearing a salsaton/reggaton/merengaton/cha-chaggae a couple times at a congress night wouldn't kill me- could even be fun to try to dance to (or watch people try to adapt bachata/merengue/salsa to it). :mrgreen:

 

[irishgirl]

at DC last year they had a bachata/merengue /reggaeton room, i think it's great but in a different room. Though they did play bachata on the main floor a few times, but i like bachata so i don't mind at all

 

[vey]

I heard it at the chicago salsa congress, they had a side room that had have bachata and reggetton, if they were to play it in the main dance floor, that will be the last time I patronize such a congress.

As if there are no already enough reasons to stop going to those, loud, overbearing,long winded song playing, overcrowded, water lacking events. And now this !!!

I guess it was so unobtrusive that I even was not aware of a side room at a chicago congress! - should really change my vote to the 2nd choice

I really don't understand why so many salser@s are so opposed to reggaeton. If it is played in a salsa venue, it's usually once or maximum twice in a night, so it's not a big deal to sit it out. If the lyrics offend you, well, they are no worse than a lot of popular rap/pop coming out of the US. If you can't dance to it, that's your problem - it's got a simple repetitive boom-boom beat, with a samba syncopation - not that difficult to fit salsa steps into it.

I do not think that the problem is with an ability to dance to reggaeton, I can dance to pretty much any music, I just have zero desire dancing to reggaeton. There is enough bad salsa music played on salsa nights, we do not need reggaeton added to that!

 

[SalsaManiac]

I really don't understand why so many salser@s are so opposed to reggaeton. If it is played in a salsa venue, it's usually once or maximum twice in a night, so it's not a big deal to sit it out. If the lyrics offend you, well, they are no worse than a lot of popular rap/pop coming out of the US. If you can't dance to it, that's your problem - it's got a simple repetitive boom-boom beat, with a samba syncopation - not that difficult to fit salsa steps into it.

I also agree with vey about the lack of desire to dance to reggaeton .. I can dance it if I want to, I just choose not to because I am there for salsa.

Last night was a case in point at a local club that has salsa nights on Thursdays. The usual DJ was out of town and the one replacing him had some individual ideas as to what constitutes salsa night. He was even up front about it when he went on the mic and said he was going to be doing something new. With that, he proceeds to play merengue/reggaeton for more than half the songs with lots of scratching and bizarre sound effects like reverbs. He was not even all that great because he also failed to properly fade one song into another so it got really confusing as to what was going on. By the time most people were:

(a) sitting through the songs and not dancing,
(b) complaining to him non-stop that he needs to start playing salsa,
(c) complaining bitterly to the owner of the club (I think this was the most effective since people started leaving and were not buying drinks)

then and only then did he realize the crowd came there for a salsa night and not a latin/hip-hop night. Just my 2 yen

 

[Salsalona]

the cyprus congress played bachata in the main room but no reggaeton. i don't mind bachata if it's a couple of songs here and there. Can't stand merengue though.

At my local club last weekend they played reggaeton for about ten mins. They've never done this before. I really liked it. It was a welcome break and a chance to relax and be a bit more off guard with my dancing

 

[MacMoto]

I voted never and then remembered that they did play some reggaeton at the Singapore Festival. There was only one room to dance in at that congress, and they also played bachata and zouk. I think the rationale there was that there were workshops during the day that covered those dances. I don't recall any merengue (which wasn't taught in the workshops).

 

[Offbeat]

I have heard and am totally shocked that there are salsa congresses where reggaeton, bachata etc is played in the main room. I find that unbelievable so I had to post a poll here to find out if anyone has experienced this.

Edit ops, this poll doesn't work. I forgot to add the option that allows people to confirm my OP above, so please post comments instead.

Why are you clubbing Bachata with Reggaeton? What do you mean by "etc" ?

If they do play Bachata or Merengue I don't mind. In the main room it gets played only once or twice a evening. Both LA and NY congress had plenty of Bachata and Merengue played in side rooms. NY also played songs you could hustle to and from what I read Sydney played Zouk in the side rooms. I consider all of these primarily partner dances of Latin American origin (Bachata and Merengue. Does Zouk from Brazil count as Latin American? It is close). They are a welcome relief from Salsa once in a while at a hardcore salsa night (which is what most congresses are).

Reggaeton to me is different. It is not really a partner dance. I see no reason to play Reggaeton at a salsa congress, just as I see no reason for them to play 80s music. Plus to hear and dance Reggaeton I can walk into any club. It doesn't thrill me pay loads of money to travel just to dance Reggaeton with strangers.

I really don't understand why so many salser@s are so opposed to reggaeton. If it is played in a salsa venue, it's usually once or maximum twice in a night, so it's not a big deal to sit it out. If the lyrics offend you, well, they are no worse than a lot of popular rap/pop coming out of the US. If you can't dance to it, that's your problem - it's got a simple repetitive boom-boom beat, with a samba syncopation - not that difficult to fit salsa steps into it.

How many Salsa venues in SF play Reggaeton on a regular Salsa night? I don't know any other than Agenda (that too one an hour or so. Plus most salser@s don't like Agenda). None of the others (including socials or clubs like Cocomo, GK, Rocca, Allegro, Jellys, Ramp, etc) play Reggaeton during Salsa nights. If it is played it is may be once in blue moon or even rarer than that.

Agree with Emma's response as well.


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People attending the salsa congresses are self-selected group. Note the name itself "Salsa" Congress or "Salsa" festival. Attendees are targeted for a specific purpose - to dance salsa and a certain level of expectation is set - great salsa dancing experience. If the promoters were not to deliver on the expectations set, they will lose the clientele very fast. We can generally agree that for most people "Salsa" doesn't include Reggaetone. In fact we all complain about long songs by live band taking away from our Salsa experience. Since we are ask to vote with our money, it makes a lot of sense on why people will usually frown at hearing Reggaetone, at a Salsa event.

 

[bailar y tocar]

Both LA and NY congress had plenty of Bachata and Merengue played in side rooms.

Attendees are targeted for a specific purpose - to dance salsa and a certain level of expectation is set - great salsa dancing experience. If the promoters were not to deliver on the expectations set, they will lose the clientele very fast.

My intentions were (with flawed implementation in the poll questions) to find out if there are salsa congresses that play reggaeton, merengue, bachata in the main room. What they play in the side room is irrelevant to me. I have yet to ever dance in the side room of a salsa congress.

The reason this is important to me is that I read contentious and contradictory reviews about a salsa congress in Europe on another website about how much reggaeton and bachata was played and for me that is a reason to not spend money to go there. Since people at sf tend to be more objective about these things I figured I'd ask here.

 

[Ron Obvious]

Ok I guess we're different then. We have salsa congresses with reggaeton as workshops and performances. Personally I prefer other genres to dance to, I can dance one reggaeton or two a night, but I like big events like congresses to have the variety to accommodate a multitude of people, and the women seem to like reggaeton a lot, so let them have it.

 

[AguaDulce]

I wouldn't want to waste my time and money listening to other types of music at a Salsa Congress.

 

[AguaDulce]

My intentions were (with flawed implementation in the poll questions) to find out if there are salsa congresses that play reggaeton, merengue, bachata in the main room. What they play in the side room is irrelevant to me. I have yet to ever dance in the side room of a salsa congress.

At the 2009 Boston Salsa Congress, a merengue and bachata were played in the main and only ballroom on Friday night at around 11:30 pm.

 

[Ron Obvious]

Well I don't like dancing to everything but I want them to still play everything. A big event like a salsa congress needs to have a bit of breadth too, if I could choose I'd like to have mostly salsa, but also a little bit of cha cha, son, merengue, bachata, rumba, bolero, cumbia, danzon. And reggaeton.

But today's congress had too much reggaeton. I don't really like reaggaeton, but to say something good of it I must say that it's a good counter to the soft bolero or bachata with its energy.

 

[bailar y tocar]

A big event like a salsa congress needs to have a bit of breadth too, if I could choose I'd like to have mostly salsa, but also a little bit of cha cha, son, merengue, bachata, rumba, bolero, cumbia, danzon. And reggaeton.

From that list I too would like to hear more son & cha-cha-cha & guajira at a salsa congress. There is usually some, but usually not with the really cool acoustic instruments like a tres (or cuatro for a PR band). And I would also like to hear a danzon at a salsa congress and even a changui. I have heard plenas at salsa congresses and Eddie Palmieri does a bomba in his live act.

If everything else is added I wouldn't consider it a salsa congress anymore it would be a generic latin music festival. If thats what it is why not add vallenato, tango and any other afro-latin genre as well.

 

[MacMoto]

If everything else is added I wouldn't consider it a salsa congress anymore it would be a generic latin music festival. If thats what it is why not add vallenato, tango and any other afro-latin genre as well.

Some tango was played at the Scottish congress - most people just danced bachata to it though. Seems bachatango has arrived in the UK?