The 1979 film- Salsa: Latin Pop Music in the Cities- mostly features the hot dance music that originates from Afro- Latin (Salsa), alongside a combination of jazz from North America and bomba from Puerto Rico. On top of that, the film features rumba, cha-cha-cha, mambo and danzon rhythms, all of which originate from Cuba. Salsa music started in the 1960s in New York City and has become one of the most popular genres of music in the whole Hispanic world. In one of the segments in the film, Charlie Palmieri, a keyboardist who is a brother to the legendary expert of piano Eddie Palmieri, conducts a class of music in Latin for school children and has the children dance to one of his popular hits “Mambo Joe.” Felipe Luciano, a member of the ex- Young Lord, combines the whole music in the film in an urbane experience of Latino in New York. The film reaches a climax when the rehearsal footage performed by Cecilia Cruz, commonly known as the “Queen of Salsa.” It is from this footage that almost all singers of salsa music use as a standard for their songs due to the piercing vocals and elegant choreography (Negrón, 2015). With all of the above acts combined with the poignant performance that is done by Puerto Rico and the santeria religious ceremonies which have their origin derived from the African culture, the film; Salsa: Latin Pop Music in the Cities proves with no reasonable doubt that salsa is the main source of happiness for the Americans and is a very important aspect of their lives.
In the article- Migration and Worldview in Salsa Music- John Rockwell dedicates a full chapter to Eddie Palmieri. The article addresses the impact that immigration had on the rise of the American Art Music that took place in the late 1930s (Simpson-Litke, & Stover, 2019). In the article, Rockwell views the innovations that Palmieri had made as only folk craftsmanship but not art at all. He further argues that by engaging in folk music, the audience would not be much interested. In order to survive all that criticism, the article suggests that Eddie Palmieri had to change his innovations to a form that would be more “natural” and thus acceptable to his audience. However, despite the much criticism Palmieri received, the use of Spanish in his songs was assumed to be an assurance to all his fans that he was still sticking to the Latin tradition. In the article; Can Salsa Escape the Cultural Ghetto, Robert Palmer states, “From Boogaloo and salsa to the spoken word craze, Puerto Rican New Yorkers have had a profound impact on music and literature around the world.”
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Salsa is a genre of music that is not only hot sauce but also hot music- the exact kind of dance that is needed by the Latino communities and the other cities that are located in the East of the United States of America. On top of that, Salsa is a favourite of many people in both Puerto Rico and Cuba. Over a period of the last thirty years, salsa music has been of great influence to both pop and jazz music and gives an original Latin way of when it comes to walking, dancing and even talking. The music gives Puerto Ricans working in New York City the assurance that they are still at a place that is like their homeland and that all their dreams are achievable. It gives such people a reality of belonging in the city and makes feel confident as the film, the article and the quote clearly indicate.
After a thorough analysis, it can be concluded that salsa is an international urban folklore. Even if the music style has its origin in New York City, it is a result of various other genres some of which include guaracha, cha-cha-cha, montuno, and son which are all Afro-Cuban and plena which is Puerto Rican. On top of that, Latin Jazz also has a great influence on the composition of Salsa music (Torres-Rivera, 2014). Even though salsa music is primarily as a result of Cuban Son, guitar and caucian from Spain and other styles music from North America, it is also made up of some few elements of funk, R&B and rock, which are combined with Cuban son template in order to make them compatible with the salsa music genre. As a result of salsa being a combination of many different genres, it is highly acceptable by many people from all over the world because it incorporates a certain genre that a specific individual finds interesting to listen to.
Basically, the first singers of salsa music were mainly Cubans and Puerto Ricans who had been residing in New York City since the 1920s even though the genre was developed in the 1960s. From New York City, salsa music was spread to the district of Colombia and the rest of America. Shortly after the spread of salsa music to the rest of America, it spread to the remaining parts of the world and many people greatly fell in love with it and made it one of their favourite music genres. Alongside the legendary Piano expert Eddie Palmieri, other founding artists of salsa include Johnny Pacheco who created the Fania all Stars, Larry Harlow, Celia Cruz and Roberto Roena.
References
Negrón, M. (2015). Fania Records and its Nuyorican Imaginary: Representing Salsa as Commodity and Cultural Sign inOur Latin Thing. Journal of Popular Music Studies, 27(3), 274-303. doi: 10.1111/jpms.12129
Simpson-Litke, R., & Stover, C. (2019). Theorizing Fundamental Music/Dance Interactions in Salsa. Music Theory Spectrum, 41(1), 74-103. doi: 10.1093/mts/mty033
Torres-Rivera, C. (2014). Puerto Rican Children’s Literature and the Need for Afro-Puerto Rican Stories. Bookbird: A Journal of International Children's Literature, 52(3), 81-85. doi: 10.1353/bkb.2014.0104
