Note: The ensuing discourse contains numbers in square brackets that cross-referenced with musical examples found in the musicography. The author accepts that many concepts have been greatly simplified in the interest of clarity. For more detail, please consult resources listed elsewhere in this site.

What is salsa music? That is a matter of opinion, musicologists included. You could apply salsa footwork to a number of songs with common (4/4) time of the proper tempo. Some would argue that you would be dancing salsa, others would not. Should you really care if you were all having fun?

What is regarded as salsa music would seem to satisfy loosely, a number of criteria. Salsa is played in common time, that is four beats in every bar. The music is played in two bar phrases, thereby forming an eight-count.

Bass Rhythm
An eight-count is usually played on a tall narrow drum called the conga. In the diagram a chachachá rhythm, played by a number of percussion and bass instruments (including the conga) is used as an example [1]. The chachachá rhythm is quite common, but is by no means the only one. The first beats of every bar, numbers 1 & 5 of the eight-count, are louder as represented by the larger dots. Occasionally beats 1 & 5 can be differentiated from each other as well. The second beat of every bar, numbers 2 & 6, usually bears an accent caused by striking the conga skin sharply. The fourth beat, numbers 4 & 8, is a clear “double tap” (two syncopated beats) played on a different conga resulting in a different tone, as represented two dots off the line. The double tap is part of the signature rhythm of the chachachá that lends the rhythm its name.

Musicians and singers alike should obey the clave, playing notes or stressing syllables to highlight most or all of the clave beats. They should do this even if no clave rhythm actually being played, performing to an imaginary beat. Songs used to be of only one clave flavour; with musicians and singers tending to get a bit upset if a song changed clave intentionally or if cued in incorrectly by the band leader. This is no longer the case. Songs containing changes in clave are becoming increasingly common and musicians are becoming more adept at playing them [4]. The changing clave lends to the dynamism of the song, but renders it less accessible to the novice dancer.

In my experience non-Latin Americans/ non-Africans tend to encounter more difficulty in “picking out the beat”. This is not because they lack the “rhythm” gene. More likely they are used to listening for an obvious beat, played on a whacking big drum, by a specialist drummer. Once they understand that there is no one beat to pick out, and to listen to layers instead, all notion of the phantom rhythm gene is exorcised (Hurrah).

The son played in the older-style without the brass line-up, reveals its roots more readily [6]. Smooth African rhythms roll in the bass lines, headed by lyrics sung co-operatively: lead singers backed by other singers simultaneously, or they might sing separate pieces in alternation. The phenomenon of lead and backing singers taking turns is known as call and response, and is evident in the majority of salsa music, though it is found in other music forms too, like gospel. Andalusian melodies complete the partnership. Arguably most of the Hispanic influence in Latin America came from southern Spain.

Another undeniable influence is the impact of jazz. Introduced into Latin music via the barrios (Latin neighbourhoods) of New York, jazz notes played on piano and brass are testament to the days when the big jazz bands of Machito and his peers played at the Palladium theatre in the ’50s. The African / Spanish / jazz mix is no longer localised to the first point of fusion that is New York, but has spread to Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, Europe, and as far as Japan. But jazz is not the only flavour, the evolution of the species and its diversification can observed, where charanga line-ups featuring flute and violins [7] can be found alongside pop and rap [8] movements in salsa.

Trends suggest that salsa is beginning to establish an identity in its own right, instead of being considered as a generic term for songs bearing a number of Cuban rhythms. As an example, some works by Colombian artists are now sent to New York where they are “finished”. This is done by adding extra instruments and/or remixing during the final production stages, to ensure that they comply with a salsa formula.

When applying the criteria, you might find that Latin America does not have a monopoly of salsa music production. “Accidental” salsas can be found in the halls of Nouveau Flamenco, Ambient Native American chants, Irish Folk, and African music [9].

I am of the opinion that it is the inclusion, not the exclusion, of different musical influences that has been responsible for making salsa the phenomenon it is today. And it will be the continuing inclusion of musical and cultural influences, such as those accidental salsas above, that will rejuvenate and ensure its longevity tomorrow.