Why Are There So Few Female Salsa Singers?

I am younger than most people here. When I was a kid I remember "Ven devorame otra vez" was played quite often on the radio. I liked it and I thought it was a female singer, lol.
 
kitune said:
In this book "only" Canada, Chile, Cuba, Colombia, Croatia, Denmark, USA, Spain, France, Holland, Japan, Mexico, Peru, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, United Kingdom and Venezuela :)
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North and South Holland are the name of two provinces from the Netherlands and the people from the Netherlands are called Dutch in English.
I know it is very confusing.
I think Maite Hontele is our most famous female salsa artist at moment. Or am I wrong?
 
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Remgre said:
North and South Holland are the name of two provinces from the Netherlands and the people from the Netherlands are called Dutch in English.
I know it is very confusing.
I think Maite Hontele is our most famous female salsa artist at moment. Or am I wrong?
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Yes, she is, even though she's retired from performing upon her return from ten years of superstardom in Colombia. There are many women active in Dutch salsa - singers and/or instrumentalists - but as anywhere else they get less attention than their male counterparts. Some other established names are Maaike van Zetten, a sought-after singer since her days as the female lead of Axioma (officially disbanded in 2014); Titia Bal, percussionist and leader of Leticia y su Rumbadama who would've celebrated their 25th anniversary this year if it wasn't for the Pandemic. Rumbadama was one of the many bands that bass-player Mick Paauwe performed with till her untimely death last year ; she led her own group Sonbonbon which had a similar instrumentation to Rumbadama (bass, piano, congas, vocals, sometimes trumpet) but with a mixed line-up that included Van Zetten during the final years. The list is endless. Some recent additions are Mujeres Latinas Band, also a four -to six-piece, and Chalina Smit, conguera and lead vocalist of ChaChaChalina, a band whom I've yet to see; two years ago she joined the percussion-section of Pimiento for some gigs and has collaborated with conga-master Gerardo Rosales. To return to Hontele, her Nochecita has become a staple in the repertoires of MLB and Pimiento; she's taking part in an all-star judge at the Dias Latinas band-contest on July 3rd.
 
Remgre said:
North and South Holland are the name of two provinces from the Netherlands and the people from the Netherlands are called Dutch in English.
I know it is very confusing.
I think Maite Hontele is our most famous female salsa artist at moment. Or am I wrong?
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Yes, Maite Hontelé is on the book ;)
 
jr1308 said:
Yes, she is, even though she's retired from performing upon her return from ten years of superstardom in Colombia. There are many women active in Dutch salsa - singers and/or instrumentalists - but as anywhere else they get less attention than their male counterparts. Some other established names are Maaike van Zetten, a sought-after singer since her days as the female lead of Axioma (officially disbanded in 2014); Titia Bal, percussionist and leader of Leticia y su Rumbadama who would've celebrated their 25th anniversary this year if it wasn't for the Pandemic. Rumbadama was one of the many bands that bass-player Mick Paauwe performed with till her untimely death last year ; she led her own group Sonbonbon which had a similar instrumentation to Rumbadama (bass, piano, congas, vocals, sometimes trumpet) but with a mixed line-up that included Van Zetten during the final years. The list is endless. Some recent additions are Mujeres Latinas Band, also a four -to six-piece, and Chalina Smit, conguera and lead vocalist of ChaChaChalina, a band whom I've yet to see; two years ago she joined the percussion-section of Pimiento for some gigs and has collaborated with conga-master Gerardo Rosales. To return to Hontele, her Nochecita has become a staple in the repertoires of MLB and Pimiento; she's taking part in an all-star judge at the Dias Latinas band-contest on July 3rd.
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Thank for the names! I'm currently working in a second part of the book ;)
 
jr1308 said:
Yes, she is, even though she's retired from performing upon her return from ten years of superstardom in Colombia. There are many women active in Dutch salsa - singers and/or instrumentalists - but as anywhere else they get less attention than their male counterparts. Some other established names are Maaike van Zetten, a sought-after singer since her days as the female lead of Axioma (officially disbanded in 2014); Titia Bal, percussionist and leader of Leticia y su Rumbadama who would've celebrated their 25th anniversary this year if it wasn't for the Pandemic. Rumbadama was one of the many bands that bass-player Mick Paauwe performed with till her untimely death last year ; she led her own group Sonbonbon which had a similar instrumentation to Rumbadama (bass, piano, congas, vocals, sometimes trumpet) but with a mixed line-up that included Van Zetten during the final years. The list is endless. Some recent additions are Mujeres Latinas Band, also a four -to six-piece, and Chalina Smit, conguera and lead vocalist of ChaChaChalina, a band whom I've yet to see; two years ago she joined the percussion-section of Pimiento for some gigs and has collaborated with conga-master Gerardo Rosales. To return to Hontele, her Nochecita has become a staple in the repertoires of MLB and Pimiento; she's taking part in an all-star judge at the Dias Latinas band-contest on July 3rd.
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Wow you know a lot about the dutch salsa music scene. Cool! I think I have to go to Amesfoort then this year to check out Dias Latinas. I did not realise things where starting up again.
 
Remgre said:
Wow you know a lot about the dutch salsa music scene. Cool! I think I have to go to Amesfoort then this year to check out Dias Latinas. I did not realise things where starting up again.
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A 'scaled down' version that is with one regular stage and the contest as part of the Saturday line-up.
 
Drjamesaq2 said:
I'm a bass-baritone and my highest note in chest voice is Eb4. In this page, two female salsa singers that has no mention in this page is Mimi Ibarra and Brenda K. Starr. Plus, she isn't well known as a salsera because she is probably most famous for her freestyle hits. She started in the late 80s with freestyle and in the mid 90s, she entered the salsa scene with, "Herida". Her most famous salsa songs are, "Herida" and her version of, "Por ese hombre" by Pimpinela and Dyango. She sung it with Tito Nieves and Victor Manuelle. She's not well known as a salsa singer.

Same as what happened with La India. I mean, I'm not a fan of freestyle, never was though. La India started with freestyle and she started with a freestyle group TKA, and eventually she became a salsera. People will obviously remember her more as a salsa singer than somebody who sings freestyle, I know I will. Not that many people know that she sang freestyle before she started singing salsa, though.
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Have heard of them; BKS is featured in this article from the late 00s https://www.liveabout.com/the-next-queen-of-salsa-2141368. It may provide the answer to the question why she's relatively unknown. Had it been written now then it would've stated that La India can still be regarded as La Princesa de la Salsa.
 
In my personal experience as a local musician here in Houston, TX, USA for 18 years, I simply haven't run across as many female salsa musicians as much as men. And the few females I have run into were all singers. I (and virtually every musician I know) 100% welcome more diversity in this scene of course...but here in Houston, there simply aren't as many female salsa musicians to choose from as there are males (that's why you see most of the local bands here in Houston comprise males). There's no unspoken rule or attitude that female musicians are not welcome (quite the opposite, actually). So, that's just my observation on a local musician level. But then, if we're speaking about what the public wants...well it's hard for me to relate to them (but I don't see why they would be against seeing female musicians)
 
groseron said:
In my personal experience as a local musician here in Houston, TX, USA for 18 years, I simply haven't run across as many female salsa musicians as much as men. And the few females I have run into were all singers. I (and virtually every musician I know) 100% welcome more diversity in this scene of course...but here in Houston, there simply aren't as many female salsa musicians to choose from as there are males (that's why you see most of the local bands here in Houston comprise males). There's no unspoken rule or attitude that female musicians are not welcome (quite the opposite, actually). So, that's just my observation on a local musician level. But then, if we're speaking about what the public wants...well it's hard for me to relate to them (but I don't see why they would be against seeing female musicians)
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Seen footage on Youtube from the late Norma Zenteno, one of the even fewer female latin-rock-singers.
 
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