Music Origins

Learn more about the origins of salsa music!

History and Origins of Salsa Music
Technical Info

The Latin music we hear today has its origins in Cuba where the blending of African drum rhythms and Spanish guitar evolved into a variety of Latin American music.

In West Africa, where the slave trade thrived, the Yoruba, Congo and other West African people created rhythms in ancient times to call forth various gods. The slaves used the drum rhythms in Christian worship when they were forced to adopt Christianity upon arrival in the new world, often calling their own gods by Christian names so as to avoid punishment.

Troubadours from Spain brought Flamenco guitar music to Cuba. Out of this came Son. Rural Cubans brought the folk guitar to Havana after the war in 1898.

The Cuban Son rhythm can still be heard in the Salsa music of today. With heavy use of percussion, the instruments and the singers often mimic the call and response patterns of traditional African songs, and then segue into the chorus.

Every Salsa composition involves complex African percussion based around the Clave rhythm. The instrument that provides the core groove of a salsa song is the conga drum. The conga drummer slaps on the 2nd beat of each measure and strikes twice with an open tone on the 4th beat.

Every instrument in a salsa band is either playing with the clave (generally: congas, timbales, piano, tres guitar, bongos, strings) or playing independent of the clave rhythm (generally: bass, maracas, güiro, cowbell). Other salsa instruments include vibraphone, marimba, guitar, violin, piano, accordion, flute and a brass section of trombone, trumpet and saxophone. More recently, electronics have been added to the mix.

Salsa music varies from place to place. In New York, for example, new instrumentals and extra percussion may be added to some Colombian songs so that New Yorkers - that dance mambo "on two" - feel comfortable dancing to the rhythm and beat of the song.