Tag Archives | Salsa

Rafael Cortijo helped start Salsa

We can’t end our week of music from Puerto Rico without even a nod to salsa, one of Puerto Rico’s most danceable musical exports, and one of its formative stars, Rafael Cortijo.

The musical progeny of Cuban son, from which it borrows its signature 3-2 and 2-3 clave patterns, the genre may have started in Cuba and Puerto Rico but really took root in the ’60s and ’70s in New York City where Puerto Rican immigrants fused son, mambo and little guaracha to make an extraordinary new musical form. In this video meet Rafael Cortijo, a leading Puerto Rican big band leader from the ’50s and ’60s. He and his combos started by performing only plena, then branched out to merengue and, eventually, salsa.

Sal-SA dance, Sal-SA dance….

We end this week with our verrrrrrrry basic version of the basic salsa dance step. Remember that many of the kids in All Around This World classes are too young to walk, let alone dance! Okay, for me, I know that’s no excuse…. In our Salsa dance we choose to start “on the 1,” meaning we begin our phrase — “Sal-SA dance, Sal-SA dance” on the first beat of the measure, which you would likely do if you’re enjoying styles from L.A. rather than starting “on the 2,” which you might be inspired to do in New York.

Incredibles Salseros Baliando

Salsa dancing developed hand in hand with salsa music, emerging in nightclubs frequented by Puerto Rican New Yorkers (“Nuyoricans)” in the late ’60s and early ’70s. Just like salsa musicians created a new genre by fusing meoldic and rhythmic forms from many Latin genres, salsa dancers found inspiration in classic Latin dances like son, Afro-Cuban danzon. While that all sounds academic, one of the most salient features of salsa was that it was FUN. Salsa was party music, and dancers created a party dance.

Willie and Hector, Salsa Kings

Willie Colón and Héctor Lavoe were some of salsa music’s truly heroic early superstars. Born to a Puerto Rican family in the South Bronx, Colón was extraoridnarily talented trombonist who released his first mega-hit salsa record on the Fania label at age 17. Lavoe was a dynamic vocalist born and raised in Puerto Rico but moved to New York when he was 16. Lavoe and Colón joined forces in 1967 and began to make music at a blistering pace, ultimately releasing 14 albums together. Lavoe lived boldly and brightly but also fell deeply into depression in the late ’70s. He passed away in 1993. Colón became a community organizer, Civil Rights activist, and eventually a professor and politician.

Meet the Fania All-Stars

This is the stuff…THE FANIA ALL-STARS! In 1964, Domincan band leader Johnny Pacheo and pioneering businessman “Jerry” Masucci, unified Latin musical talent onto their Fania label. They quickly welcoming Latin legends like Willie Colon, Celia Cruz, Hector Lavoe and Ruben Blades. Rather than isolate each of their superstars, Fania fused as many of its leading performers as possible into the Fania All-Stars, one of the furst “supergroups.” The revloving cast All-Stars were the heart of the salsa scene for the next decade, traveling first around Latin America, then the United States, then Africa, then the rest of the world. In this video we travel with the All-Stars back to 1972.

Johnny Pacheo helped put it all together

Let’s start this week’s search for salsa by finding one of its earliest, strongest stars. Johnny Pacheco was a Dominican band leader who was a master of myriad Latin genres, like cha cha chá, guaracha, son montunu and pachanga. In 1964 he co-founded Fania Records, which powerfully unified Latin genres into Salsa, a musical and movement that was as much a genre as it was a cultural force.

American Music Gets Hot Hot Hot

All Around This World US and Canada "Everywhere Map"

Salsa is Puerto Rico’s most danceable musical export. The musical progeny of Cuban son from which it borrows its signature 3-2 and 2-3 clave patterns, the genre may have started in Cuba and Puerto Rico but really took root in the ’60s and ’70s in New York City where Puerto Rican immigrants fused son, mambo and little guaracha to make an extraordinary new musical form. Over the next week we’re going to visit with just a few of our favorite salsa musicians. There are so many! And so many wonderful instruments to play and the “sauciest” of rhythms that inspire us to dance. ¡Vamanos!