salsa
[key], American popular music developed largely in New York City during
the 1970s; its name is derived from the Spanish word for hot sauce. It is a
mixture of various elements: rhumba, mambo, chacha, and other Latin dance
forms; Afro-Cuban, Puerto Rican, Dominican, and other Latin American
strains; rock music; and
jazz. During the
1980s the style also became popular in Miami as well as in Puerto Rico,
Venezuela, and Colombia. Salsa is chiefly performed, and often
simultaneously danced, by singers, percussionists, keyboardists, brass
players, and guitarists. Prominent salsa musicians include bandleaders Tito
Puente, Johnny
Pacheco (who formed Fania Records and led the related Fania All-Stars), and
pianist Eddie Palmieri (who added trombones to his band to replace the
softer violins); singers Celia Cruz, Rubén Blades, La India, and Marc Anthony; and
instrumentalists such as Ray Barretto, Willie Colon, and Bobby Valentin.
See studies by C. Gerard (1989); V. Boggs (1992); J. Flores (2016); D. L.
Washington (2017); videos Salsa: Latin Pop Music in the
Cities (1988); Celia Cruz and Friends: A Night of
Salsa (2004).
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