What you need to know:
Salsa is a musical genre that was created from the fusion of other musical styles, all rooted in the Caribbean. especially with Cuba.
Without a doubt, the Caribbean – with honorable mention for Cuba – was a source of pure good music such as mambo, rumba, danzón, bolero and salsa. whose rhythm has transcended boundaries, so that more than one moves the skeleton with enormously courageous and romantic salsas.
Salsa, as a music genre, was not only the object of the appreciation and affection that people in Latin America – and indeed around the world – feel for him.
He collected scientific texts. Reflections on its origins and future. And, well, here’s this Scholarship holder –Erick Dimas, Gaby Espinosa and hers napkin– took the opportunity to make a short list of good romantic sauces (and more) to take along the route. Which ones would you add?
5 good sauces and a pylon to cross the route
Buuuut before we move on to these 5 rolazas and its pylon, We’ll tell you a little about the history of salsa as a musical genre. Why was he called that? Or why, if his roots are in the Caribbean, did he thrive in the nightlife of Los Angeles or New York?
Don’t think it’s us intensifying, But salsa’s origins date back to the arrival of the Spanish crown – and other European empires – in America..
Given the cultural shock that this chapter of history brought with it, in which the traditions, religion, social organization and even music of different communities came together – those who come here from America, the European and African ones.
In the case of the Caribbean the arrival and exploitation of the African population in the face of the expulsion of the original communities by the conquerors.
These changes in social systems affected and divided music “White” (for the ruling class) and “Black” (for the pull-up).
With that too “Division” they started Genres emerged that transcended time, such as rumba, son and danzón in Cuba. All at the end of the 19th century and later arrived in Mexico and Colombia.
And the sauce? This genre emerged later, in the 20th century, as a result of mixing the aforementioned mulatto genres and rhythms..
Just for it to take shape, further migrations had to take place. In this case, the musicians, orchestras and singers who left Cuba for other countries in the Americas, especially the United States, where they found other genres such as jazz to experiment further.
In the United States, the music migration wave increased during and after the revolution in Cuba.
The musicians already established in Gabacho continued to experiment with forming orchestras, whose music was christened salsa in the ’60s and ’70s; precisely because of the mix of rhythms.
(Its main representatives would be Willie Colón or Héctor Juan Pérez Martínez, here Héctor Lavoe. Some believed that salsa existed before their orchestras and did not need a name to be recognized.)
The rest? It would be a more familiar story that would come in the form of songs that were part of our daily lives: romantic salsas in the van, on the radio, and in the fifteenth year of our friends, cousins, and sisters.
1. “Cali pachanguero”, Grupo Niche
This year 2024 “Cali pachanguero” – a song composed to hype up the so-called salsa capital – turns 40.
This song doesn’t fall into that category “romantic”, It is a love letter to the Colombian city of Cali, which, as we already told you, is considered the capital of salsa due to the boost that people have given to this genre.
From schools, orchestras, nightclubs to museums, everything is dedicated to salsa. The composition of this good song comes from Jairo Varela, composer and founder of Grupo Niche and Sigara Georges.
2. “How crazy to fall in love with you,” Alejandro Vezzani
The truth is, who doesn’t know him, Eddie Santiago, the singer-songwriter of romantic salsas who made everyone dance with songs like “Lluvia” by the Argentine composer Luis Ángel or “I need you”? Or the great song “How Crazy to fall in love with you”.
The latter is a song by the singer and composer Alejandro Vezzani, written no more and no less than 1987.
3. “Loves Like Ours,” Omar Alfanno
Many probably knew this song from Shakira’s song “Hips don’t lie” – for which the Colombian, by the way, got into legal trouble over copyright because she used a bit of “Amores como el ours”, the classic trumpet song, for good measure hit to his role.
Overall, “Amores como el Nuestro” is a song by Panamanian singer-songwriter Omar Alfanno and that everything the world – at least the generations of the 90s of the 20th century – hit thanks to the interpretation of the Puerto Rican Jerry Rivera. Here we leave you the interpretation of the good Jerry Rivera from 1992.
4. “The Date,” Alejandro Jean Palacios
Well… this song isn’t exactly the romantic kind of salsas from the eighties and nineties.
However, it is a great joke that tells of the misfortune of not being loved and longing for it. The composition comes from the Spaniard Alejandro Jean Palacios, who lives in Florida.
In 1992, Colombian Galy Galiano’s rendition popularized “La cita,” which continues to be heard at weddings and XV Mexas.
5. “Idilio”, Alberto “Tití” Amadeo
Even if some people don’t believe it and today in the eyes of a good cubero all credit goes to the good Willie Colón with his interpretation, “Idilio” was written in 1930 by the Puerto Rican composer Alberto, “Tití”, Amadeo.
It is said that this sauce was inspired by an experience of Amadeo himself, who, when he was older, fell in love with a younger, married woman.
Finally, Amadeo and the young woman finally took the plunge and surrendered to their idyll… until her husband caught them and the composer had to flee Puerto Rico to later write this song in New York.
In 1993 Willie Colón, considered one of the greatest romantic salsas, sang this song, which was a hit throughout America..
The pylon: “Quimbara”, Junior Cepeda
We close this list of romantic salsas to sign the title with “Quimbara”, a song that we recognize in the voice of the great Celia Cruz.
The author of this song was the Puerto Rican Junir Cepeda. It was released and performed in 1974 by Cuban salsa icon Celia Cruz and Johnny..