A Short History of Salsa Music and Dance

Salsa developed from a number of African and European dances that fused in the colonial Caribbean in the 18th century. However, only in the 19th and 20th century, when Afro-Cuban dances and music styles like Son, Danzón or Rumba merged with Mambo, Chachachá as well as elements of Rock’n’Roll and Jazz, the dance and music that we refer to as salsa today was created.

Early Development and Labelling

Contemporary salsa dance and music mainly developed from the 1960s on in New York. Puerto Rican immigrants had brought Caribbean music and dances with them to the US where they evolved cut off from Cuba and its music scene after the revolution in 1959.

In the beginning, salsa had a strong political meaning. It supported cultural pride and awareness among the Latin population and opposed racism and material (US) values.

As for the term “salsa”, there are many different opinions to be found on where it originates from. Most probably, “salsa”, which also means “sauce” in Spanish, became popular as a marketing label used by Fania Records in the 1970s, promoting a wide range of Latin music.

Salsa Today

Since the 1990s, salsa has been commercialized to adapt to a more mainstream taste. Lyrics have mainly moved from politics to love and romance and the music itself has developed further into a hybrid genre, including Reggaeton, Hip-Hop, RnB,… , thus continuing to move across musical, cultural and ethnic boundaries.

With the success of this commercialized version of salsa in the US and Europe, salsa also regained popularity in Latin American countries, where it had long been connected to African-derived cultures and/or poverty, giving it a lower status than, for instance, Rock or Pop music.

In a Nutshell…

The roots of what we know as salsa today developed when African and European dances merged in the colonial context. However, only its adaption and evolution through Puerto Rican immigrants and the Latin community from the 1960s on in New York, taking in many different styles and genres, made it the music and dance that we listen and dance to today.

Further Reading:

If you are interested in diving deeper into the topic, Britta Schneider offers a nice introduction to the history of salsa in her PhD Thesis “Language and Transnationalism” (p.141ff.), which also served as main source for this entry.

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