Salsa (musical genre)

Congas set, emblematic instruments of the salsa. Note the presence of the tuning hardware or "laaves", introduced around 1940 and attributed to the musician Patato Valdés.

The salsa is the favorite label to refer to the set of danceable musical genres resulting from the synthesis of the Cuban son and other genres of Caribbean music such as Guaguancó, Guajira, Boogaloo, Mambo, Montuno, Plena, Bomba, Cha Cha Cha, Guaracha, Descarga and American genres such as jazz and blues. Salsa was consolidated as a commercial success by musicians of Hispanic origin (predominantly Cuban and Puerto Rican) in New York in the 1960s, and by the work of who was its main creator, the Dominican Johnny Pacheco,

Eventually, salsa spread throughout Latin America, giving rise to regional variants such as Cuban, Puerto Rican, Panamanian, Venezuelan, Dominican, Colombian, Ecuadorian, and other countries in the region. Salsa encompasses various styles such as hard sauce, romantic sauce, and timba.

Essence

Cuban director Machito stated that salsa was what he had played for forty years (between 1930 and 1970 approximately) before the musical genre was called that way. In addition, New York musician of Puerto Rican descent Tito Puente denied the existence of salsa as a genre in itself, stating that «what they call salsa is what I have played for many years: it is called mambo, guaracha, chachachá, guaguancó.^{[citation required]}

Musician Eduardo Morales defines salsa as "a new twist on traditional rhythms to the sound of Cuban music and the cultural voice of a new generation," "a representation of Cuban and Puerto Rican identity in New York."

Musical Features

The rhythmic pattern called the "key of sons", which is frequently used in Latin music (son, rumba, salsa, etc.), here is presented in its version "3-2". This rhythmic cell is shown here in 4/4 (“modern” notation, popular in Europe and the United States), as well as in its “traditional” form in 2/4 (which is still used by many Latin American percussionists).

The "key" in its "2-3" version (much less common than the 3-2 key.
This rhythmic cell is shown here in 4/4 (“modern” notation, popular in Europe and the United States), as well as in its “traditional” form in 2/4 (which is still used by many Latin American percussionists).

The sauce has the following characteristics:

• Ritmo: Uses as a basis the key to be, the rhythmic pattern of the Cuban are, which can be 2-3 or 3-2.
• Melody: In many cases the melodies used in the salsa correspond with those traditionally employed in the are montuno although it can also be assimilated to other genres of traditional Cuban and Caribbean music, including melodies of Latin American popular music.
• Harmony: It corresponds to the one used in Western music.
• Instrumentation: Use Cuban percussion instruments popularized since the 1920s as pailas or timbales, bongó, güiro cubano, cencerro, dos maracas y conga. Arsenio Rodríguez appeared as the first musician to incorporate the conga or tambó to the dance orchestras.

In addition to percussion, the instrumentation is completed with piano, double bass (in many cases electric bass), trumpets, saxophone, trombones, flute and violin. The influence of Afro-Cuban jazz is determined by the arrangement, although it is not an essential condition in salsa.

Rhythm and beat to the music

Sound clef

The most representative rhythmic cell of salsa is called “clave de son” which is traditionally interpreted by claves.

Salsa dancers and musicians group the pattern into two parts:

A) A part of 3 clave touches where an intermediate counterrhythm is presented.

B) A part of 2 touches of clave 2 without counterrhythm.

Numbers represent quarter notes, plus sign [+] represents clef strike, and period [.] represents each eighth note.

"key of son 3-2"

1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

X--X--X---X-X---

"key of son 2-3"

--X-X---X--X--X-

Rumba clave

There is another similar rhythmic pattern that is rarely used in salsa, and it comes from the Cuban rumba complex. This pattern presents 2 counterrhythms in one of its parts.

"rumba clave 3-2"

1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

X--X---X--X-X---

"rumba clave 2-3"

1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

--X-X---X--X---X

The clave is not always played directly, but it forms the basis for other percussion instruments, as well as song and accompaniment, which use it as a common rhythm for their own phrases. For example, this is the common rhythm of the bell with clave 2-3:

.. +. +... +.. +... + key 2-3 +. *. +. * * +. * * +. * * bell matching the 2 key

The plus sign [+] represents a low blow of the bell.
The asterisk [*] represents a sharp blow of the bell.

The term "sauce"

In 1933, Cuban musician Ignacio Piñeiro used a related term for the first time, in a Cuban son titled "Échale salsita."

In the mid-1940s, Cuban Cheo Marquetti immigrated to Mexico. Back in Cuba, influenced by spicy food sauces, he gave that name to his group Conjunto Los Salseros, with whom he recorded a couple of albums for the Panart and Egrem labels. In 1957 he went to Caracas (Venezuela) for several concerts in that city and it was in Venezuela where the word "salsa" began to be broadcast on the radio to the music made by the Cuban soneros of that time and later it would be designated this name to what would be the compilation of many Caribbean rhythms that began to be made in New York and Puerto Rico.

Salsa (musical genus)

Music author Sue Steward states^{[citation needed]} that the word was originally used in music as a "cry of appreciation for a particular spiciness or solo." fast," coming to describe a specific genre of music from the mid-1970s "when a group of Hispanic musicians from New York began examining the arrangements of classical big bands popular since the mambo era of the 1940s and 1950». She mentions that the first person who used the term "salsa" to refer to this musical genre in 1968 was a radio disc jockey, the Venezuelan named Phidias Danilo Escalona, who broadcast a morning radio program called La hora de la salsa in which Hispanic music produced in New York was spread as a response to the bombardment of rock music in those days (beatlemania).

According to this version, Phidias Danilo Escalona asked Richie Ray:

What are you playing?
"This we do is tastefully done, it's like ketchup, which gives food taste.
What's that ketchup thing?
Well, that's a sauce used in the United States to give the burger a taste.

Oh! So what you guys play is salsa? Well, ladies and gentlemen, let's hear the Ricardo Ray and Bobby Cruz sauce now.^{[chuckles]required]}

Bobby Cruz called Pancho Cristal to baptize with the term «salsa» the new LP that was being launched on the market, Los durísimos (1968). This version is supported by salsa singers such as Rubén Blades, Tite Curet Alonso and others.^{[citation required]}

It was time for lunch, for the dressing, for the flavor, and of course, for the Cuban son, the guaguancó, the guaracha and the son montuno.

Ed Morales also mentions the word as being used to encourage a band to increase the tempo and "put the dancers up high" to welcome a musical moment, and express a kind of cultural nationalism, proclaiming the heat and flavor of Hispanic culture. He also mentions Johnny Pacheco, who made an album called Salsa na ’má, which Morales translated as “you just need a little bit of sauce or seasoning”.

The word salsa to designate the music made by "Hispanics" in the United States began to be used on the streets of New York in the late 1960s and early 1970s. At this time, Latin pop was not an important beat in the music being heard in the United States as it lost ground to doo wop, R&B, and rock and roll. The emergence of salsa opens a new chapter of Latin music in American popular music, where the Fania All-Stars orchestra played a leading role, directed by the Dominican Johnny Pacheco who, along with lawyer Jerry Masucci, founded the important Fania Records salsa label.

Story and Expansion

Between the 1920s and 1950s, Afro-Cuban music was widely consumed by sectors of Latino origin, specifically Puerto Rican, in New York. Puerto Ricans in New York based their music largely on elements of Afro-Cuban origin.

According to some musicians and historians,^[who?] salsa is a trade name given to all Afro-Cuban-influenced Caribbean music in the 1970s. Salsa spread in the late 1960s and from the 1970s to the 1990s. New instruments, new methods and musical forms (such as songs from Brazil) were adapted to salsa. New styles appeared like the love songs of the romantic sauce. Meanwhile, salsa became an important part of the music scene in Cuba, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, Spain, Panama, Venezuela, and as far away as Japan. With the arrival of the XXI century, salsa has become one of the most important forms of popular music in the world..

Origins and instrumentation

The integration of the tumbadoras in the ensembles that played son montuno was a fundamental element in the instrumentation of dance bands.

At the end of the year 1920, the son sextets and septets achieved notable popularity in Cuba. In 1928, Gerardo Machado, with the intention of reducing the influence of African elements in Cuban music, prohibited the use of the bongo, the congas and the carnival comparsas. This caused that the brass bands with the use of timbales) increased their popularity.

Circa 1940, Rafael Ortiz's Conjunto Llave introduced tumbadoras or congas into an orchestra,^{[citation needed]} instruments previously only used in Afro-Cuban folk music. Arsenio Rodríguez popularized the use of the congas by integrating them into his ensemble, introducing the son montuno on a commercial level.

In the 1940s, Mario Bauzá, director and arranger of Machito's orchestra "Los Afro-Cubans," added trombones to the son montuno and guaracha. These innovations influenced musicians such as José Curbelo, Benny More, Bebo Valdés.^{[citation required]} In the album Tanga (from 1943), Bauzá he fused elements of Afro-Cuban music with jazz.

The influence of Afro-Cuban jazz and the mambo developed by Pérez Prado in 1948 led to the introduction of the saxophone in son montuno and guaracha orchestras. In 1955, Enrique Jorrín added trumpets to the charanga orchestras, which until then had only used violin and flute.^{[citation required]}

By the 1950s, Cuban dance music, that is, son montuno, mambo, rumba and chachachá, became a very popular element in the United States and Europe.

In New York, the "Cuban sound" of the bands was based on the contributions of Puerto Rican musicians who played the Cuban music in vogue at the time. As an example, mention Tito Rodríguez, Tito Puente or even figures like the Catalan director Xavier Cugat. On the other hand, and already outside the New York circle, groups such as the Aragón Orchestra, the Sonora Matancera and Dámaso Pérez Prado and his mambo achieved significant international projection.

The mambo was influenced by Afro-Cuban jazz and son. The big bands of this genre kept alive the popularity of the long tradition of jazz within Latin music, while the original masters of jazz confined themselves to the exclusive spaces of the bebop era.

Latin music performed in New York since the 1960s was led by musicians such as Ray Barretto and Eddie Palmieri, who were heavily influenced by imported Cuban rhythms such as the pachanga and chachachá. After the 1962 Missile Crisis, Cuban-American contact declined sharply, allowing Puerto Rican groups to take advantage of salsa's popularity.

In 1969 Juan Formell introduced the electric bass in the Cuban son ensembles.

The Puerto Rican cuatro was introduced by Yomo Toro in the Willie Colón orchestra^{[citation needed]} in 1971 and the electric piano in the 1970s by Larry Harlow.^{[citation required]}

In the 1970s, Puerto Rican influence increased in the field of Latin music in New York and the "nuyoricans" became a fundamental reference. The word salsa, to designate the music made by "Latinos" in the United States, began to be used on the streets of New York in the late 1960s and early 1970s. At this time, Latin pop was not a force important in the music heard in the United States, having lost ground to doo wop, R&B and rock and roll. In that context, the rise of salsa opened a new chapter in Latin music, especially in the United States.

The Fania record label

The history of salsa, in which a large number of musicians participated, can be traced to some extent in the history of some important record companies. In the 1970s, Fiesta Récord, the Manhattan Recording Company, and especially Fania Records, launched a large number of "salseros" from New York to stardom, touring and concerts all over the world.

Fania Records was founded in March 1964 by lawyer and businessman Jerry Masucci and Dominican flutist and bandleader Johnny Pacheco. Fania began with Larry Harlow and Willie Colón and Héctor Lavoe's production of El Malo in 1967.

Fania Records gave the genre the definitive support by recording and distributing the records of the vast majority of the salsa stars of the 1970s. Within this company the Fania All Stars group was formed, an orchestra that brought together a large number of salsa musicians and singers such as: Ray Barretto, Willie Colón, Johnny Pacheco, Rubén Blades, Héctor Lavoe, Ismael Miranda, Cheo Feliciano, Bobby Cruz, and guest artists such as Tito Puente, Celia Cruz, and Eddie Palmieri.

The instrumental endowment of the Fania All Stars represented the new turns of Caribbean music in the 1970s. In addition to the piano and bass, the presence of percussion instruments such as timba, tumba and bongos that were widely used by the Puerto Rican orchestras Rico and New York since the 1940s. The wind instrument section was made up of three trumpets and three trombones, a rather strange equipment in the Caribbean musical tradition and which would shape the particular sound of Salsa to this day. The absence of the saxophone was notable, since at that time it belonged to musical concepts of the past and to the magnificence of the Big Band. The replacement of the saxophone by the trombone made it possible to differentiate, somewhat, the sound of salsa from the traditional Cuban sound. Finally, the presence of the Puerto Rican Cuatro is highlighted, performed by the musician Yomo Toro incorporated into the group to bring the guitar of rural Caribbean areas to the urban musical environment (both the Cuban Tres and the Puerto Rican Cuatro). The Puerto Rican Cuatro acquired the status of soloist and flagship instrument in the Fania All Stars at the same time that instrumental and sound differences with Cuban music were established.

Genesis and expansion of salsa: chronology of songs

In 1961 Tito Rodríguez on the hit album "Returns To The Palladium - Live" presented the song "El que se fue" that anticipates the essential elements that will configure the Salsa. The same thing happens with the song "Avisale a mi contrario" from the album "Carnival of the Americas" recorded in 1964.

In 1965 the Joe Cuba Sextet, with singer Cheo Feliciano, recorded the song "El pito (I'll never go back to Georgia)" and the same year Richie Ray and Bobby Cruz recorded the song "Comején".

In 1969, El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico recorded «Falsaria». This theme, originally a bolero, was interpreted as salsa. The Willie Colón orchestra, with Héctor Lavoe as vocalist, also recorded "Che che cole" and other important songs.

In 1971, Eddie Palmieri recorded the song "Vámonos pa'l monte" and Cheo Feliciano, as soloist, recorded "Anacaona".

In 1973 Raphy Leavitt with the La Selecta Orchestra recorded “Jíbaro soy”. In turn, in Peru the song "Llego la banda" by Enrique Lynch and his ensemble is recorded, the same one that would be popularized a year later by Héctor Lavoe.

In 1974 Celia Cruz and Johnny Pacheco recorded «Quimbara» and Ismael Rivera did the same with «El nazareno». On the other hand, the Fania All Star festival held in Zaire that same year was an event to highlight in the diffusion of salsa.

In 1975, Dimensión Latina, from Venezuela, with Oscar de León as vocalist, recorded "Llorarás", Fruko and his Tesos recorded "El preso", and El Gran Combo from Puerto Rico, "Un verano en Nueva York". Héctor Lavoe began his career as a soloist with the song "Periódico de ayer".

In 1978 La Sonora Matancera recorded «Mala mujer». Likewise, the duo made up of Willie Colón and Rubén Blades released the album Siembra, which contained emblematic salsa songs such as "Pedro Navaja" and "Plástico".

In 1980 Henry Fiol released his songs «Oriente» and his version of «La juma de ayer».

From New York, salsa spread first in Latin America (especially in countries like Cuba, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Puerto Rico). In the 1980s it reached an important spread in Europe and Japan.

Miami became a kind of “second metropolis” for Cuban music, given the specific weight of the large number of Cuban immigrants. The Cuban community became an important reference in the life of Miami, contrary to what happened in New York, where the Puerto Rican influence prevailed.

Salsa after the 1970s

1980s

During the 1980s salsa spread to Europe and Japan. In this country the Orchestra of Light arose, which achieved some popularity in Latin America.

At the end of this decade, the so-called «romantic sauce» arose, a style that became popular in New York, characterized by slow melodies and romantic lyrics, that is, a concept similar to the lyric of the ballad but with a rhythm of dip. This new manifestation of salsa was soon assimilated by Puerto Rican artists such as Frankie Ruiz, Eddie Santiago, Paquito Guzmán, Marc Anthony, Willie González, Cano Estremera; Cubans like Dan Den, Rey Ruiz, Issac Delgado and the Nicaraguan Luis Enrique.

Columbia

Salsa in Colombia is linked to important musicians who came from old Colombian Caribbean music groups such as cumbia and porro, while others were part of the New York salsa processes, such as Edy Martínez, Justo Almario and Joe Madrid. At the beginning of the seventies, groups such as Fruko y sus Tesos emerged through the Discos Fuentes company and the group The Latin Brothers, which was the same band as Fruko, but with an emphasis on the sound of trombones.

In the eighties groups such as Los Titanes, Grupo Niche, Joe Arroyo and Orquesta Guayacán appeared. Around the same time, the Cuban Roberto Torres, with the executive production of the Colombian Humberto Corredor, developed the concept of charanga-vallenata in Miami.

Over time, many groups have emerged in Colombia, as well as events that bring together the world's great salsa orchestras, such as the Cali Fair where dancers command the parade.

Venezuelan

Since the late 1940s and early 1950s, "tropical dance music" such as Alfonso Larraín's (1947), Sonora Caracas (1948), Billo's Caracas Boys (1951) and Los Melódicos (1958) and Sexteto Juventud (1962), combined cumbias, merengues and other rhythms in their repertoires Antilles with Cuban genres. This determined the emergence of a movement that later influenced Venezuelan salsa.

In this vein, one can speak of artists such as Canelita Medina, Federico y su Combo Latino, Los Dementes or the group of musician Carlos Emilio Landaeta, known as "Pan con queso" of the Classic Caribbean Sonero.

Salsa in Venezuela had groups such as Sonora Maracaibo, Grupo Mango or Dimensión Latina, from which figures such as Oscar D'León emerged. Musicians like Nelson Pueblo also added influences from llanera music to the native salsa.

The Nelson y sus estrellas orchestra was very well received in the 1970s, also in Cali, Barranquilla and Colombia in general.

Subsequently, bands such as Guaco, Cádaver Exquisite, Adolescentes Orquesta and other proposals by Porfi Baloa emerged that show that it continues to be a powerful salsa epicenter.

1990 to present

Salsa grew steadily between the 1970s and 2000s and is now popular in many Latin American countries and some spaces in the US market. Among the prominent singers and groups in the 1990s we find figures such as Rey Ruiz, Luis Enrique, Jerry Rivera, Salsa Kids, Dan Den, Marc Anthony, La India, La Sonora Matancera, DLG, Gilberto Santa Rosa, Víctor Manuelle, Michael Stuart, Celia Cruz, Maelo Ruiz.

The most recent innovations in this genre include mixing rap or reggaeton with hard sauce.

Salsa is one of the Latin music genres that has influenced West African music. An example of this influence is the sonero group Africando, in which New York musicians work with African singers such as Salif Keita and Ismael Lo.

The irruption of sensuality

Starting in the 1980s, salsa bands gradually left loud sounds and "descargas" to enter a more rhythmic and melodic sound, accompanied by lyrics with abundant references to love and sexual relations as the main reason and, in some cases, exclusive. This music was called "sensual salsa" or "erotic" and had Eddie Santiago, Frankie Ruiz, David Pabón, Lalo Rodríguez, Rey Ruiz, Willie González and Luis Enrique as its greatest exponents.

The categorization of sensual salsa resulted in the previous genre being called «salsa brava», which suffered a drop in production and popularity at the same time that the new genre was consolidated.

Decay of sensual salsa and news

At the end of the 1990s, sensual salsa began to decline in popularity, mainly due to the strong impulse of other Caribbean rhythms such as Dominican merengue, Brazilian Lambada and bachata in the United States, Central and part of South America, bringing with it the disappearance of the RMM label, of purely romantic productions.

By that time, salsa had lost many of its great strongholds, either by death (Héctor Lavoe, Ismael Rivera), or by reorienting their careers towards "Latin" jazz (Ray Barretto, Eddie Palmieri) or by the making increasingly spaced recordings of those who continued in the genre (Rubén Blades, Willie Colón, Johnny Pacheco).

The end of the century brought a resurgence of hard salsa (which in the 1990s was only represented by Manny Oquendo and Libre) thanks to recordings for independent or tiny labels. This was the case with Orquesta La 33, which accentuated salsa with son montuno and guaracha, and Jimmy Bosch, who once again gave prominence to the trombone, thus giving the initial impetus for the reinstatement of the "old school" sound in the genre: some current examples are La Sucursal SA and the Orquesta Bailatino.

Significant exponents and festivals

Columbia

Throughout the Colombian territory, salsa is generally relevant; although markedly in cities such as Barranquilla, Bogotá, Cali, Cartagena, Eje Cafetero and Medellín. In Cali the World Festival of Salsa is celebrated; in Bogotá, the Salsa al Parque festival; and in Barranquilla, the Barranquilla Carnival Orchestra Festival. In Cali there are several salsa academies that compete in international competitions.

Other outstanding groups and soloists:

Cuba

The cradle of the Cuban son, musical influence of salsa.

Spain

Since the arrival of Latin Americans in Spain, the influence of Caribbean music began in that country. During the Franco dictatorship, Cuban music was banned (except in the Canary Islands) as several songs were critical of the dictatorship. In the Canary Islands, salsa had a certain importance since the 1970s and 1980s, with performers such as Caco Senante and other traditional Cuban music and contemporary salsa bands. The SalsaOpen, the Canary Islands Salsa Championship and the Gran Canaria Salsa Congress are held.

• Sensing Coat
• La Grande de Madrid
• Orchestra Plateria

United States

A country that produces salsa in the cities with the largest number of Latin Americans, such as: Los Angeles, Miami or New York, the vast majority of Puerto Rican origins.

Japan

The Island of Salsa Festival is held in Fukuoka.

• Orchestra of Light.

Mexico

It is heard in the central part of the country and in the southern region of the Gulf of Mexico. It is heard in the states of Veracruz, Oaxaca, Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatán, Quintana Roo and in the capital, imposed by the sonideros.

Nicaragua

• Luis Enrique

Panama

Country where salsa had an overwhelming presence since the 1970s.

• Camilo Azuquita
• Gabino Pampini
• Omar Alfanno
• Roberto Blades
• Rubén Blades

Peru

Salsa is the most listened to genre in Peru, according to a 2020 study by the Institute of Peruvian Studies (IEP), obtaining 21% of preferences. Callao is known for being the cradle of Peruvian salsa, where The Chim Pum Callao International Festival has been held since 1997. It is also hosted in Lima, where it hosted the World Festival in 2004 and which has exclusive festivals such as Una Noche de Salsa, to a lesser extent in other regions of the country. It had some exponents in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, and currently salsa artists are entering the scene whose songs have a high international impact, whose style is called urban salsa.

Puerto Rico

It is one of the countries or the one that has produced the most salsa singers.

Dominican Republic

Regardless of the fact that salsa is heard throughout the Dominican territory, especially in the capital, Santo Domingo, it is worth noting that in the origin and history of the Salsa concept, the Dominican presence, in the figure of Johnny Pacheco, has been decisive and which collects the essence of the rhythms born in the Spanish-speaking Antillean Caribbean, mainly from Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic with its capital neighborhoods such as Villa Consuelo, Villa Juana, Borojol, Villa Duarte Los Minas and Villa Mella, among others.

Venezuelan

Eminently salsa country, specifically in Caracas, Maracaibo, Barquisimeto, Valencia, Los Teques, Puerto La Cruz and Maracay.

Fusion with other rhythms

Salsa itself is already a consolidation and combination of Caribbean rhythms and influences from jazz and others. However, it has been combined over time with other musical genres, so it has been combined with rock, rap, ska, bachata, bolero, in some cases mariachi and one of the most significant is the Colombian cumbia. The first recordings that combine these genres were made in Mexico by Mike Laure at the end of the 1950s and by Carmen Rivero creating her orchestra ―or her “sonora”― in 1962 and in the mid-1960s the Sonora Santanera (with Mexican musicians), and later in the late 1970s and early 1980s the Colombians Joe Rodríguez and Joe Arroyo implemented these combinations, along with Fruko y sus Tesos with, for example, their song Como cumbiambero que soy, which shows a combination between both genres while the salsa music part with the title chorus of the theme is played.

Timba: salsa in Cuba

Cuba is the motherland of rhythms that, like the son, the guaracha and the son montuno, constituted an obligatory reference in the later development of what would become salsa. However, those rhythms endured and evolved in the interior of the island, always marked by the virtuosity of its musicians and the ability of its composers.

The son evolved to the rhythm of the songo by bands like Los Van Van while other groups continued to play salsa dura or charanga, such as Son 14, the Orquesta Reve, the Orquesta Aragón, Adalberto Álvarez, the Original de Manzanillo or Las Maravillas Florida, among others.

By 1988 NG La Banda developed a new style of salsa. Internationally, its screening began in Japan in 1993 and later reached other parts of the globe. This new form of "Cuban salsa" was called timba. This style of music is based on musical pieces characterized by great rhythmic and sound complexity, solos and "downloads". Bands like Juan Formell y los Van Van, Chucho Valdés and Irakere, have strongly projected the "timbero" sound.

Also, musicians and singers from the Cuban diaspora have excelled in romantic salsa, a style popular in New York since the early 1980s. In this vein, we can mention singers such as Dan Den, Rey Ruiz and Isaac Delgado.

Dance forms

Cuba

It is danced with rhythmic hip and shoulder movements. Both the man and the woman turn around each other in both directions and the movement of the arms and solos are executed with an almost incomparable rhythm. It is rich in choreographic movements, but in general, Cubans place the emphasis fundamentally on the erotic game that is established between the couple of dancers, leaving the display and exhibition for the part of the piece known as montuno, when the singer, the choir and the orchestra initiate a kind of counterpoint.

This permanent game has led many to oppose the Cuban way of dancing salsa to the so-called online salsa, of rather American origin, where the exhibition is the very end of the dance, from the beginning to the end of the piece. The improvisation of steps without giving up keeping the rhythm all the time is another distinctive feature of the Cuban style.

Puerto Rico

In Puerto Rico it is preferred to slow down the movements of the feet and hips. However, Puerto Ricans perform a lot of pirouettes in salsa contests.^{[citation needed]}

Others

But Latinos in the United States not only connected their rhythms, they developed a new genre of dance: the New York Style, determined by the Cuban and Puerto Rican school and extended by a lot of dance academy elements. From New York, this style of dance has also found much popularity in Europe along with the Cuban dance style known as rueda de casino.

In the 1980s, an acrobatic dance genre characterized by the rapid movement of the feet and hips, which has an 8-beat count, was developed in Cali, Colombia. In this style the twists or turns are of great importance. Records were playing at a higher speed than usual (for example, a 33.3rpm record would play at 45rpm). On the other hand, in other Colombian cities such as Barranquilla and Cartagena, the original style of dance with movements of the shoulders, hips and feet was preserved.

Also in the 1980s, the L.A. Style (Los Angeles style) developed on the west coast of the United States, similar to the New York Style, although it is danced at a different time (in the 1) more than half of the dance is done with feet on the floor, but with even more show elements. Around the end of the millennium, one can see that Mexicans returning from California are increasing the popularity of L.A. Style in Mexico as well.

Rueda de casino: Cuban group dance in a circle in which one acts as a voice and gives orders with turns and changes of partners that make this subgenre fun and participatory. Examples of turns are the classic «70», even complex figures such as “take her to Matanzas”.