NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICAN CULTURE OF MUSIC
For many years, different styles of Latin American music and dance have mixed with each other and then blended with North American pop and jazz styles. The result is an internationally popular collection of music and dance styles called Latin pop. The popular musics of Spanish-speaking people are vast. They are as varied as all of the countries in which they are found.
Spanish colonists brought their musical styles to the Caribbean Islands in the 1500s, and they also brought slaves to work the land. Those who arrived as enslaved people from parts of Africa brought their musical traditions with them. Slaves remembered the rhythms, dances, and percussion instruments from Africa, and applied them to Spanish songs. African religious music and dance mixed with Catholic music and religious practices.
Many people who live on the islands of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic sing and play Spanish melodies and lyrics with African rhythms. The clave rhythm, is one African rhythm still used today in Cuba and many other areas. It sets the tempo and maintains it. The son is a Cuban rhythm like the clave, but slightly more syncopated, and is also the name of a style of music that originated in rural areas. African influence can also be found in the use of some percussion instruments that have their roots in Africa.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, and other Latinos living in New York played urban Latin music based on the Cuban son rhythm and style. Some record companies began to market this music as salsa. Like the 1950s Latin styles, salsa music is closely linked to dancing. Salsa dancing is related to the earlier mambo.
The Spanish word salsa means "sauce" in English. Just as a sauce can be a mixture of vegetables and spices, musical salsa is a mixture of musical ingredients, such as African rhythms and instruments, Spanish melodies and lyrics, and urban pop. Singing star Marc Anthony, who is of Puerto Rican heritage, mixes salsa with international pop. Today salsa music and dance are popular in cities in Latin America, North America, and many other places in the world.