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SALSA
By Mark Rogers

I have a love/hate relationship with salsa. My fiancée is a great salsa dancer and is always gently prodding me to take salsa lessons. I usually nod my head and say, “Sure, baby, sure.” Then I promptly forget about it – that is, until the next party comes along and the DJ plays a salsa tune. I stay nailed to my chair while my fiancée takes to the floor with some guy who put in the time to learn the steps.

Salsa was born in Cuba with roots in Cuban Son, Son Montuno, and Guaracha. It later spread to Puerto Rico and other Latin American countries, as well as New York City.

In Spanish, Salsa means sauce. Titans of salsa include Tito Puente, Ray Barretto, Willie Colón and Eddie Palmieri.  Modern salsa remains a dance-oriented genre and is closely associated with a style of dancing. The most important instrumentation in salsa is the percussion, which is played by a wide variety of instruments, including claves, cowbells, timbales and conga. Apart from percussion, other core instruments are the trumpets, trombones, and bass guitar.
Some musicians dispute the very existence of salsa. Tito Puente once responded to a question about salsa by saying "I'm a musician, not a cook.” The legendary Celia Cruz has said, "Salsa is Cuban music with another name. It is mambo, chachachá, rumba, son ... all the Cuban rhythms under one name.”

Once I learn the steps, I’m pretty sure I’ll have a love/love relationship with salsa. Being able to dance to Celia Cruz’s amazing song, “La Vida Es Un Carnaval” is enough of a reason to learn the dance. You can hear Celia singing “La Vida Es Un Carnaval” HERE.