Ebook: Salsiology: Afro-Cuban Music and the Evolution of Salsa in New York City

'Salsiology' is a participant-observer's attempt to understand one genre of Afro-Hispanic music: Salsa. The title is the result of three sociologists— Juan Flores, Mauricio Font and the author—playing Cuban rhythms on a barcounter and one, Juan Flores, proclaiming the rhythm “Salsiology!” Thus, the title and core of the present work is an unpretentious effort to explore the origins, contours and present state of a music commonly referred to as ‘Salsa’.

This work is geared towards a general readership that has little or no formal training in music and wishes to know how the music took root in New York City and some of the social processes that made it possible. [...], the book does make some critical and timely contributions to the already published works on Afro-Hispanic music. It is hoped that the questions left unanswered by this work will serve as a catalyst for further writing on Salsa. If this present work accomplishes that with all its deficiencies, then 'Salsiology' will have played an important role in the field of ethnomusicology.

Part 1 draws upon Robert's “The Roots” in order to trace the roots of African and Spanish music throughout the Western Hemisphere and to clearly establish the historical antecedents of Salsa. William Gottlieb and Larry Crook provide readers with two contrasting views of the Cuban Rumba. The former is a nineteen forty-seven journalistic interpretation of it and the latter is an ethnomusicological analysis of the same rhythm. Essays by the authors, Quintero-Rivera, Flores and Duany describe three forms of Puerto Rican Music—Danza, Plena and Bomba—and their relationship to modern-day Salsa. This section sets the historical framework for Part II.

Part II is comprised of two essays that make up some “Sketches of Pioneers.” The first essay centers on the founding fathers of Salsa who were mainly AfroCuban. These pioneers later exchanged ideas with Afro-American jazz musicians and thereby incorporated jazz into “pure” Cuban rhythms. By the early 1950's, 'Newyorican—Puerto Ricans born in New York—musicians began setting the stage for what is generally called Salsa. The second essay in this section shows that Hispanic women also played an important—but peripheral—historical role in the evolution of Salsa.

Part III is a collection of essays and interviews about some of the people and places in N.Y.C. that helped to “institutionalize” the music and dances: Dick “Ricardo” Sugar, The Palladium, Ernest Ensley, Symphony Sid, Jack Hooke, Izzy Sanabria, Art D'Lugoff, the Village Gate, Al Santiago and the Cheetah. The main thrust of this section is to allow an “insider” to “paint” a picture of the disk-jockeys, clubs, club-owners, promoters, a recording company owner and dance enthusiasts who assisted in “institutionalizing” the music in the 1950's 1960's, and 1970's.

Part IV begins with Max Salazar's essay about the “invasion” of R & B music by Latin rhythms. This is followed by a panel discussion of the New York City roots of Salsa, two interviews with Newyorican musicians—Johnny Colón and Andy Gonzaléz—experiencing and promoting Afro-Hispanic/ Afro-American “transculturation.”

Part V 1s a present day examination of several different issues that have a bearing on the life of music. It begins with being given a lesson in "How to play Salsa Piano." Then an interview with Papo Pepin, his experience as a conguero/sideman and his instructions to future percussionists, a look at Salsa enthusiasts in the Bronx and a macrosociological discussion of Salsa from a theoretical and analytical viewpoint. The last essay is an autobiographical account of the author's venture into the field of Afro-Hispanic music.

All the essays and interviews included in the book were selected with a general readership in mind. The rigid academic frameworks that usually characterize scholarly works, such as the historical and musician-oriented approach, have been avoided. It is hoped that in this fashion this book will be “readable” for scholars, musicians and the general public, especially salseros.