As well as being a delicious dip for Mexican food, salsa is also a popular form of dance. So, why the strange name? Salsa has deep Caribbean and African roots despite being more associated with Latin America. Indeed, it is incredibly popular in latino communities all over the world and is gaining in popularity in both Europe and Asia too.
It is so popular thanks to its catchy, sexy beats and the fact that it’s relatively easy to pick up, although hard to master completely! The early history of salsa dates back to the 1900s in Cuba. The styles and rhythms of several different musical elements joined together, most prominently the Cuban son and Afro-Cuban rumba. It would take half a century before the sound reached Havana. If you’d like to try your hand at Salsa Classes London, visit a site like rvdance.co.uk/dance-classes-london/salsa-classes-london/
The sound of salsa continued to evolve as it came in contact with diverse influences from the capital, such American jazz for example. When the revolution occured, many musicians fled to the United States, particularly New York where salsa grew in popularity in the Spanish Harlem community.
The dance and music craze was further promoted when a record label was set up in 1964 called Fania Records. Fania took traditional Cuban music and made them catchier for the New York market. They called this new wave ‘salsa’ and the record label became very famous. Salsa is a diverse mix of influences whose sound is forever evolving.
