Salsa Music

Paper Summary:

In this article, the writer relates that the Puerto Rican people have a sense of their cultural heritage that sets them apart from other Latinos. One may hear the cultural music of Puerto Ricans, a style that the world has come to know as salsa. The writer notes that the notion of a pure Puerto Rican culture is an irony itself, however, and this can be understood from a brief consideration of salsa and its cultural representations and implications. The writer maintains that, as the music has become popular around the world, the move to bottle it and sell it has been carried out in much the same way that other colonialist movements have, with the United States recognizing a viable product to be mined in the minority culture and then sold to the world as a product for profit. The writer concludes that in this way salsa is not only characteristic of the relationship between the Puerto Rican people and the U.S., it is in some ways contributing to their ongoing exploitation.

From the Paper:

"It is, in other words, a beautiful mongrel mix of different cultural influences just as the Puerto Rican people themselves come from the intermixing of native Taino Indians, Spanish colonizers, and African slaves. The fact that it is in no way Puro Puerto Ricano makes it no less special or globally important. It simply is to acknowledge that it is through the stewing and brewing of cultural influences that both salsa music and Puerto Rican heritage gain their magic."
"Of course, salsa is not only important for what it says about Puerto Rican specialness. It is also important for what it says about everything in daily life of Puerto Ricans - from gender and class roles to fashion to politics."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Leymarie, Isabelle. Cuban Fire: The Story of the Salsa and Latin Jazz. London: Continuum, 2003.
• Manuel, Peter. Caribbean Currents: Caribbean Music from Rumba to Reggae. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1995.
• "Salsa Music." www.wikipedia.com. (17 November 2006). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salsa_music#_note-13.
• Waxer, Lisa A.. The City of Musical Memory: Salsa, Record Grooves, and Popular Culture in Cali, Colombia. Middletwon, Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press, 2002.

More papers on Salsa Music:

• Analytical Essay # 130718 : "Salsa Music and Puerto Rican Culture"
• Research Paper # 51104 : "Latin American Music Industry"
• Descriptive Essay # 117963 : "Pop Music"

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