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Beats and rhythm of Salsa
What is salsa music? The answer
is a matter of contrasting opinions, including among
musicologists. The music considered to be salsa
music seems to vaguely follow several different
criteria. Salsa is played in a common 4/4 time,
which means four beats to each bar. The music is
played in two bar phrases, thus forming a total
of eight beats.
In the base rhythm, the eight beats
are played on a tall drum called conga. Over this base rhythm, other layers of percussion
are added and overlapped.
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African roots
The beats that are not a part of the base rhythm
in the total of eight beats are normally determined
by a number of percussionists that play together using smaller instruments.
The cooperative role
of musicians reflects the music’s African
roots, where the best way of feeling the rhythm
is listening to the music as a whole instead of
listening to each instrument individually.
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The importance of 'clave' for Salsa
Of all those percussion instruments, the most important
and the one that marks the strongest criterion when
defining a piece of music as Salsa is the clave.
The clave is a rhythm played by hitting one stick
against another. The sticks themselves are also
called clave. Both musicians and singers must obey
the clave, playing notes or accentuating syllables
that highlight most or all of the clave beats.
Despite
the fact that the songs normally follow only one
type of clave, songs containing clave changes are
becoming more and more common and at the same time
musicians are becoming more and more skilled at
these changes.
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Soneo - technique of improvisation
Another clue for determining when one is faced with
a Salsa song is the speed of music. Normally,
However, there is no exact speed or marking
point. It is sufficient to say that the faster the
music the higher the probability that is Salsa.
One of Salsa’s antecedents is the Cuban Son.
Troubadour music, sung by troubadours who would
sing about anything that comes to their mind:
how well the year’s harvest went, what they
had for dinner the previous night, etc. They are used to
improvise with the lyrics and voice but always
follow the songs clave. This improvisation technique,
called Soneo, is in evidence even today and many
well known musicians owe their reputation to it.
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Salsa and its influences
The Son, which is played following the old style
without metal instruments, clearly reveals its roots: soft African rhythm with a bass pulse that come
before the downbeat which frame the lyrics sung
in a cooperative way, where the lead singer is answered
simultaneously by other singers, or where these
singers sing different pieces as an alternative and
the combination is completed with Andalusian melodies.
Jazz is another influence which was introduced into
Salsa by the Latin inhabitants of New York and from
which salsa took improvisation and melodic riffs
between the piano and the metal instruments.
The Cumbia and the Vallenato can also fit into the
definition of Salsa. The first is characterized
by a slow rhythm closer to reggae, while the second
has an accordion base.
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