***Trigger warning: there are violent images in the video from 34:06 to 34:31, and in the song “Juanito Alimaña.” It’s OK to skip them.***
Peter Manuel, “Salsa and Beyond,” Caribbean Currents: Carribbean Music from Rumba to Reggae. (195-203 in the text book)
“Yemaya” by Celia Cruz
“Acid” by Ray Barretto
“Imágenes latinas” by Conjunto Libre
“Juanito Alimaña,” written by Puerto Rican composer Tite Curet Alonso and recorded by Willie Colon and Hector LaVoe
From Shannel Mercado:
With age, salsa has become an important genre in many Hispanic cultures. That being said, I think its level of importance varies throughout different communities. For instance, salsa music will mean much more to someone like myself, who was raised listening to the genre, than to someone who was raised listening to music that falls more into the Pop category. Even though we don’t see salsa topping the billboard charts as often, the genre has been able to blend itself into our popular music. There are many salsa artists
who have achieved fame in different genres of the music world. Such prominence has allowed these artists to include elements of salsa into their songs or make salsa songs appeal to the masses. One example is Marc Anothny’s song “Vivir Mi Vida.” I have probably heard this song at every kind of party imaginable and have seen people of different races and backgrounds dance to it. This just goes to show how salsa music has some sort of presence in popular culture.
Currently, salsa music is being sampled a lot in pop songs or by artists who are very well known to American audiences. The song “You Stay” by DJ Khaled is an example of this as it samples the beginning of a salsa song by La India and Tito Nieves called “No Me Conviene.” By sampling salsa songs, these famous artists are giving the genre a platform and are sparking interest within American communities to listen to a genre they may be unfamiliar with.
“You
Stay” – Dj Khaled: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNW5_q08gkA
“No
Me Conviene” – La India: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3Hi5Sl1JCY
I agree with how salsa was able to mask itself into our pop culture, creating for itself a reputation and how well it’s known. Although, with your example of Marc Anthony’s “Vivir Mi Vida,” I would agree that the music is heard just about any and every party there is on Earth. Though, the concept of this doesn’t tie directly with the fact that it is a salsa genre or that it appeals to the masses. I think that this can happen with any music, given the word of mouth and algorithm of how people receive music. For example, at the same party that you hear Vivir Mi Vida, you can hear Old Town Road. It isn’t salsa but somehow managed to make its way to all those present at the party.
I do agree with you that salsa does hold it’s importance through different communities and how it blends into our popular music. Salsa music is worldwide and can be more important to one culture but is still liked by other cultures to. Also when you have a blend of salsa music with a famous Dj like Dj Khaled it gives salsa music the exposure around the world and makes people like it even more. It’s also cool to see a blend of salsa music with a American Dj to get a blend of two different types of cultures. I personally didn’t know that was salsa music after a couple times I listened to it and I never grew up with salsa music but I like that song. Like you said salsa doesn’t always top the billboards but it still holds importance and should listen to, so we can expand our diversity of music if we didn’t grow up listening to it, like myself.
Salsa has definitely blended into popular songs today. I feel that in order to keep up with what is popular today, salsa artists have had to make a hybrid of their style. You can see a lot of elements such as rap, hip hop, pop,etc. being incorporated into this music style. I do feel that that is a problem though. When mixing occurs people don’t even know that salsa is present in the song. This is a problem because with hybridization, salsa is no longer authentic, but instead is masked by other popular genres.
I totally agree with this idea–the salsa loses its original value as it is incorporated into other genres of music. While this happens, we need to not forget about the origins of the salsa, and look into the journey of its progression throughout the years, in order to fully appreciate both the music that the salsa was incorporated into, as well as the salsa itself.
Sofia,
I think your comment brings up a good point on what the future of salsa may look like. You mention hybridization and I couldn’t help to think of how jazz as a genre has evolved and blended itself with other genres over the years. Jazz nowadays can’t be placed into a single category and contains multiple sub genres. Do you think the same is happening to salsa since it is blending itself into different genres? Will all of these mixes be considered sub genres of salsa or will salsa kind of fade into the crowd and be used by other genres?
From Sofia Yatsyshyn:
I think that Salsa and any type of music genre will change with whats popular during that time. Artists will adjust their styles with what is new, to remain popular. Victor Manuelle who is a popular salsa singer is one of these artists who has adjusted his music style over time. His song “Dile A Ella” is a classic salsa song, you can hear the constant rhythm, trumpet, and drums which you can hear in many Cuban salsa songs. This song came out in 1997. A more recent song that he came out with in 2012 called, “Ella Lo Que Quiere Es Salsa” is distinctly different. You hear that rhythm and the drums, as well as a piano and trumpet, but there are artists rapping, and using autotune which is more popular in the current music age. With almost a difference in twenty years you can see that the image of salsa has changed. Even the dancing in the music videos are quite different. In the music video “Ella Lo Que Quiere Es Salsa”, there is some hip hop dancing involved, while in the “Dile A Ella” music video he is dancing salsa. Here are the links to both songs:
Ella Lo Que Quiere Es Salsa by Victor Manuelle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iYbrXeBdEo
Dile A Ella by Victor Manuelle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ijkao2n_UdM
I agree with your statement about artists and music adapting over time due to social circumstances.
I think for other artists who aren’t popular or have been left behind have a hard time adapting to the new norms of Latin music culture. This is something that is not only affecting one specific genre, in this case, salsa but other musical genres as well.
And this is exactly what is happening everyday. Artistes are forced to adapt to what the music industry is doing at the moment. You essentially have no choice because this music industry will leave you behind. Salsa being one of those genres being overlooked, as Sofia mention This is a problem because with hybridization, salsa is no longer authentic, but instead is masked by other popular genres, the genre style of salsa has been blending into these popular songs today and most people don’t even know it.
I like how you mentioned that music genres evolve and grow with the times because that is important to note. Everything must evolve with the times in order to survive. I agree with Stanley when he says that artists essentially have no choice but to adapt. This is sad because in certain cases artists might lose their authenticity but we don’t just see this happening in the music industry. Any type of performer or influencer will have to change their content as time progresses. Great selection of music from Victor Manuelle! I can definitely hear the difference between the older song and the newer song. Ella lo Que Quere, like you said incorperates more drums, and throughout the years that’s what salsa music was leaning more towards.
From Kelise King:
SALSA AND BEYOND
In the beginning, when salsa was created; it mainly pertained to Puerto Ricans and Cubans, living in New York City. This allowed for these subcultures to start traditions. The dance was passed down through generations to generations; becoming something that people would enjoy at family gatherings,Cultural traditions, and Social events. Today we see Salsa in many outlets of popular culture from television, radio, music videos, and nightclubs. For example, dancing with the stars is a popular dance show on tv, that incorporates a lot of salsa dances in which celebrities compete for the championship. Salsa has become more profitable in popular culture. This is seen in costumes,makeup, and music. Salsa is seen as sexy and reemphasizes masculinity. I will list examples below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CS9Q1wTI1Ts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ef5uK-0zJy4
I think that the idea that Salsa music has lost some of it’s authenticity is valid. This can be seen across the board with many forms of music. However, I don’t necessarily see this as an issue, but more as an opportunity for a new sound to emerge through the combination of different forms of music. Authenticity to the original form of salsa music may be lost, but a new form is emerging that brings people from different cultures together. I do believe that original forms of music should be preserved, but I also think that it is important for these hybridized forms of music to evolve with the generations that listen to it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ys589P0vLU4
This song is “Carita de Inocente” by Prince Royce which was released this year, 2020. The direct translation of the title is “Face of Innocence”. When it comes to the beat of the song I would say that it stays true to that of traditional salsa music that we listened during the lecture video but I see the main difference in the lyrics. When salsa music first came to be people would sing about what was going on in the present. When Juanito Alimaña came out people were not that accepting of salsa music and at the time people were fascinated with the idea of crime. So since that is what was going on at the time that’s what music reflected. This song, Carita de Inocente, doesn’t really have anything to do with what is going on in the times. In the lyrics, Prince Royce talks about this girl that made him fall in love. This is a common theme in salsa music that I see today.
Salsa can be considered as one of those music culture that has absorbed many influences and evolved over time. I know that original form of music should be preserved to serve as reference or to demonstrate originality but Like any other music salsa had to adapt so that it can survive, now a days salsa is even used in Tik Tok Videos. I think this is a clear example to show how salsa has adapt to the new generation.
I totally agree with Tanner about the authenticity of Salsa. As sad as it may sound change has to be made for salsa to survive, I mean when you look at it from a different perspective it’s not that bad. Salsa is a product of many other traditional music because we enjoy salsa doesn’t mean that we forgot about those other traditional music, it’s just that if there wasn’t this hybridization to these traditional musics we wouldn’t be enjoying Salsa today. Let’s just say that sacrifices have to be made for change and we have to accept and live with them but that doesn’t mean we forgot about those traditional pieces of music that salsa is based on like bomba and danzon.
From Alexia Almonte:
I feel like Salsa has grown into becoming one of the signature sounds
for Latino groups and their representation throughout America. Of
course there are various types or Latin music and they are all
important but, I feel like many people connect Latino culture to the
sounds of Salsa even if they are not necessarily the only sound. I
still feel that classic salsa is the type of sound that many people
still love to hear. Though, over the years I feel like it has been
adapted and used in a pop music sense. I think it is interesting that
songs like that exist and do get big basically by being played on the
radio and being promoted a lot. While it isn’t necessarily authentic,
and can be sometimes used as a token, I don’t always hate the way it
comes out in pop music. It all depends on the song and how it is
performed and portrayed.