This Salsa Glossary will help you to understand those Salsa words, phrases and terms that you do not understand
A
Abakua This is the rhythmic dance music of the Abakuá, which is a men's secret society, which originated from the Efik people of the Calabar area, in Nigeria and was brought to Cuba by the African slave trade. The musical instruments used are the biankomeko drums.
B
Bachata Bachata is a romantic music and dance which originated in the Dominican Republic. It is closely related to the pan Latin-American romantic style called bolero.
Bar In musical terms, a bar or measure is a segment of time defined as a given number of beats of a given duration.
Bebop Bebop which was developed in the early and mid-1940s is a form of jazz characterized by fast tempos and improvisation based on harmonic structure rather than melody.
Boogaloo Boogaloo which originated in New York City among teenage Cubans and Puerto Ricans is a type of Latin music and dance that was very popular in the United States in the late 1960s. It is a mixture of African American R&B, rock and roll and soul with mambo and son montuno.
Bolero Bolero is a dance that originated in Spain in the late 18th century. It is danced by either a soloist or a couple in a moderately slow tempo and is performed to music which is sung and accompanied by castanets and guitars.
C
Chachacha The Cha-cha-cha is a Latin American style of dance music derived from the rumba and mambo.
Changui Changui is a style of Cuban music of the early 19th century which arose in the sugar cane refineries and in the rural communities populated by slaves of the eastern region of Guantánamo Province.
Changui combines the structure and elements of Spain canción and the Spanish guitar with African rhythms and percussion instruments of the Bantu Arara origin.
Charanga Charanga is a type of Cuban dance music popular in the 1940s and consisting of heavily son influenced material performed on European instruments such as violin and flute by a Charanga orchestra.
Charanga orchestras play lighter and faster versions of the danzón without a brass section and emphasising flutes, violins, and piano.
Clave Clave is a rhythmic pattern or timeline which has its roots in West African music and was developed in Cuba. The clave serves as a tool for organisation, and essentially all Afro-Cuban music including salsa is based around the clave rhythm.
In a nutshell it is about the musical basis of most Afro-Cuban music - Rumba, Mambo, Cha Cha, Salsa etc and is the key to you successfully becoming a great dancer.
Comparsa This consists of a large group of dancers dancing and traveling on the streets, followed by a Carrosa (carriage) where the musicians play and is the band which plays a conga during a Cuban Carnival celebration.
D
Danzon Danzón is the official music of Cuba, and derives from a European-influenced ballroom dance played by Cuban ensembles. These orchestras played refined music for the upper class in pre-Castro Cuba.
Doo wop Doo-wop, emerging from urban centers such as New York and Chicago, is a style of vocal-based rhythm and blues music popular in the mid-1950s to the early 1960s in America.
E
Eddie Torres Famous New York Salsa dancer who is best known for the 'Eddie Torres "on two"' style of mambo.
Ensemble In musical terms this is a group of musicians performing together.
F
Foxtrot A ballroom dance in 4/4 time, encompassing a variety of slow and fast steps.
G
Guarachas Guarachas is an early form of peasant street music, originating in Spain and evolving largely in Cuba. It was derived from the fusion of a vast cloud of rhythms during the mid 1950s.
Genre A type of style, especially of art or literature. In our case this is a type of music or dance.
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J
Jazz Jazz, rooted in Western music technique and theory originating around the early 1920s in New Orleans is an original American musical art form, marked by the cultural contributions from African Americans.
K
Kizomba Kizomba is one of most popular styles of dance and music in the African country of Angola. It is sung in Portuguese or Portuguese Creole, and is considered to be a fusion of semba (a predecessor of samba) with other musical styles. It is a genre of music with a Euro-centric romantic flow and is danced with a partner smoothly, sensually but not too tightly.
L
Latin Jazz Latin jazz is the general term given to music that is a combination of rhythms from African and Latin American countries with jazz harmonies from the United States.
There are two main types of Latin Jazz.
Brazilian Latin Jazz - bossa nova and samba
Afro-Cuban Latin Jazz - salsa, merengue, songo, son, mambo, bolero, charanga and cha cha cha.
Latin Popular Latin Popular music is generally known worldwide as Salsa.
Lukumi Lukumí, Regla de Ocha or Afro-Cuba, most widely known as Santeria,(Santería in Spanish) is a set of related religious systems that fuse Catholic beliefs with traditional Yoruba beliefs.
In the Yoruba language, Lukumí means "friends" and also applies to descendants of Yorùbá slaves in Cuba, their music and dance, and the cubanized dialect of the Yorùbá language.
M
Mambo Dance Mambo is a Latin dance of Cuban origin that resembles the rumba.
Mambo Music This is the syncopated music for Mambo dance in 4/4 time.
Mozambique Mozambique is a vigorous style of Cuban music and dance similar to dengue and pachanga, except faster paced. It does not originate in the country of the same name, and bears no connection to it.
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P
Percussion An instrument, such as a drum, xylophone, piano, or maraca, in which sound is produced by one object striking another or by being scraped or shaken.
Palo Monte Palo Monte, or Regla de Palo Monte, is one of the main currents in Cuban popular religion.
Pontins Pontins is a British holiday company founded in 1946 by Fred Pontin. However in the Salsa world, the name Pontins is synonymous with the Salsa weekenders that the chaleted venues organise at the different camps about 5 times a year.
Up to 5 years ago Pontins had the monopoly of these weekenders but with the growing popularity of Salsa and the advent of the Salsa Congresses and other popular weekenders there is a lot of competition although it is still popular now.
Q
R
R&B A style of music developed by African Americans that combines blues and jazz, characterized by a strong backbeat and repeated variations on syncopated instrumental phrases.
Today R&B defines the modern version of the soul and funk influenced African-American pop music that originated with the demise of disco in 1980.
Rock and Roll Rock and Roll is a type of music that emerged as a defined musical style in the Southern United States in the 1950s. It now has two distinct meanings, either traditional rock and roll in the 1950s style, or later rock and even pop music which may be very far from traditional rock and roll.
Reggaeton Reggaeton is a form of dance music which blends Jamaican music influences of reggae and dancehall with those of Latin America, such as bomba and plena, as well as that of hip hop. The music is also combined with rapping in Spanish.
Controversy surrounds perreo, a dance with explicit sexual overtones which typically accompanies reggaeton music.
Rumba Rumba is both a family of music rhythms and a dance style that originated in Africa and travelled via the slave trade to Cuba and the New World.
S
Salsa Congress
Salsa Erotica Salsa erotica is a style of salsa music, very similar to salsa romantica in its soft style and beats, but is characterized by sexually explicit lyrics, which are usually lacking in the more romantic romantica style.
Salsa Romantica Also known as Salsa Monga (Limp Salsa) is a "commercialized" toned down version of salsa music that emerged in the mid 80's between New York and Puerto Rico.
Samba Samba is a lively, rhythmical dance of Brazilian origin in 2/4 time danced under the Samba music.
Son Son is a style of music which became popular in the second half of the 19th century and it combines the structure and elements of Spanish canción and the Spanish guitar with African rhythms and percussion instruments of Bantu and Arara origin.
Songo Los Van Van developed what came to be known as the ‘songo’ genre, making countless innovations to traditional son, both in style and orchestration.
Soul Soul music is a combination of rhythm and blues and gospel which began in the late 1950s in the United States.
T
Tango Tango is a social dance form that originated in Buenos Aires, Argentina and Montevideo, Uruguay. The musical styles that evolved together with the dance are also known as "tango".
Timba Timba is the Cuban variant of salsa music, and is often understood to be a sub-category of salsa.
Tumbao Tumbao is the rhythms of the conga drum and their effect on our dancing. As with the clave, the tumbao is a key for the dancer to stay on timing with the music.
UV
Villa Steffano This was a Salsa venue which was situated in a restaurant in Holborn in London for about 5 years until it's demise about 3 - 4 years. It was the place to go on Sundays.
Most people who have done salsa for about 5 years or more will know about this venue. It had a fantastic atmosphere and reminded me of being in the Caribbean in the middle of London. It was a fantastic way to start the week but alas all good things must come to an end and it was taken over to be used for other purposes.
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Y
Yambu
Z
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