Salsa

A popular form of Latin-American dance music, characterized by Afro-Caribbean rhythms, Cuban big-band dance melodies, and elements of jazz and rock. It represents the ongoing evolution and assimilation of a variety of styles which have traveled from Cuba and Puerto Rico to New York, Miami, and elsewhere. The big bands which blazed forth in city dance halls and on New York's famous Fania label in the mid-1960s used rhythm sections and a compositional structure based in the son music style. But they ultimately added fiery horn sections and jazz harmonies, landing squarely in the samba tradition. South and Central America developed their own appetites for Salsa, contributing to its growth through the trailblazing work of artists like Panama's Ruben Blades and Cuba's Celia Cruz.