You had Son, Mambo, Cha Cha, Bolero, and that’s just scratching the surface. Introducing the entire Cuban repertoire was confusing for Americans, and it’s no wonder, the music was exciting but foreign and the styles were numerous. Salsa is a term coined by a famous and monumental Fania All Stars band and their Fania Records label. In a nutshell, Salsa started as a marketing term that had an undisputed phenomenal international success.

Ready? Let’s go! Salsa Salsa music – Back then As I said, this article is rather opinionated, so I will also attach articles with opposed opinions throughout this article to keep what I consider to be a moderate opinion balanced with conservative views. Cultural appropriation is one of the biggest issues, but also different philosophical approaches to the evolution of art are important culprits. The topic is controversial because it deals with a few topics that tend to cause division. It’s also important to note that some of the confusion is often caused because some of these terms are referring to Music, some to dance, and some to both, and even this depends on the era. In order to do justice to any explanation of these terms some history lessons are in order, but I’ll do my best to keep it short and sweet.

We will go through the different terms & evolutions one by one and try to make some sense of what is often not explained very well (online at least). The topic is controversial and the article will be opinionated though a rather accurate (😉) description of the state of the Cuban dance scene at the moment of writing. At some point this question troubles every person that starts to take his venture into Cuban dances more seriously.

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