Salsa Music Dictionary

The information is credited to John Storm Roberts from the book The
Latin Tinge. Oxford Paperbacks (Oxford University Press
Bata Drums - Double-headed drums shaped like an hour-glass with
one cone larger than the other. Sacred to Yoruba religion in Nigeria,
they are also necessary to Cuban and U.S. lucumi worship. A number
o salsa musicians ha!e begun using bata drums in secular music.
Bolero - "he Cuban bolero, originally a mid-paced orm or string
trios, became !ery popular internationally, usually in a slower and
more sentimental orm. "he modern bolero is a lush romantic popular-
song orm, largely distinct rom salsa, and !ery ew singers are e#ually
good at both.
Bomba - $riginally a %uerto &ican three-drum dance orm o marked
west-central Arican ancestry, the bomba is especially associated with
the %uerto &ican !illage o 'oi(a Aldea. )n its old orm it is still played
there at the esti!al o Santiago, and New York %uerto &ican olk
re!i!al companies also perorm it rom time to time. *!en in the dance
band orm introduced by &aael Corti+o in the late ,-./s, the bomba0s
melodies, as well as rhythmic pulse, are strongly Arican.
Bongo - Small double-drum played resting on the cal!es o a seated
musician, called a bongosero. )ts heads are tuned a ourth apart.
1idely used in Cuban music o many sorts, especially the #uartets and
se2tets playing sones, and an integral part o the salsa percussion
section. )n salsa, as in earlier string-based groups, the bongo tends to
be played more ad lib than other drums and to pro!ide a comple2
counterpoint to a number0s main rhythmic pulse. "he basic to#ue or
the bongo, called the martillo, can be rendered onomatopoeically as
3Dicka-docka-dicka-ducka.3
Bugaloo - "he 'atin bugalu was a somewhat simpliied and more
sharply accented mambo with *nglish lyrics, singing that combined
Cuban and Arican-American inlections, and r4b inluenced solos. 5or
a ew years the bugalu, and a less known %uerto &ican rhythm, the
+ala +ala, were staples o the 3'atin soul3 mo!ement.
Chachacha - "he chachacha is said by some to ha!e deri!ed rom the
second section o the dan(on, by others to be a slower mambo. )t was
sometimes called a 3double mambo3 in New York, because its basic
dance step was the mambo with a double step between ourth to irst
beats. "he chachacha de!eloped around ,-.6 in the hands o Cuban
charangas, most notably $r#uestra Aragon.
Changui - "he early predecessors to the Son groups using original
instrumentation o guiro, maracas, bongo, tres and marimbula. Some
ensembles still perorm today. 7. "he early style o Son perormed by
these groups.
Charanga - A Cuban dance orchestra consisting o lute backed by
iddles, piano, bass, and timbales. Charangas tended to play dierent
dances rom the Aro-Cuban con+untos, the most characteristic being
the dan(on. Charangas ranged rom large society units to small street-
bands. 8odern charangas use bongo and conga in the rhythm section
and ha!e taken on many more Aro-Cuban elements than their
predecessors.
Clave - An obeat 697 or 796 rhythmic pattern o!er two bars, the
basis o all Cuban music, into which e!ery element o arrangement and
impro!isation should it. Cla!e is an Arican-deri!ed pattern with
e#ui!alents in other Aro-'atin musics. "he common 697 Cuban cla!e
!aries in accentuation according to the rhythm being played. Cla!e
seems to be part o the inspiration or the two-bar bass patterns in
modern black music. 796 re!erse cla!e is less common, though the
guaguanco uses it.
Claves - "win strikers o resonant wood used less re#uently in salsa
than in earlier Cuban music. "he cla!es player usually plays the basic
cla!e pattern, which is normally implied rather than stated by modern
bands. 8any !ariants o cla!es e2ist throughout 'atin America.
Columbia - "raditional Aro-Cuban dance. "he columbia is one o the
6 parts o the rumba :along with yamb; and the guaguanc<=. "his
slow dance is accompanied only by percussion and is danced only by
men. "he astest style o rumba, played in more o a >9? time
signature and danced by solo male dancers who perorm acrobatic and
daring mo!es to demonstrate their courage, strength, agility, and
sense o humor.
Conga Drum - A ma+or instrument in the salsa rhythm section, the
conga is literally the 3Congolese drum,3 and it began lie in the Aro-
Cuban cults. Arsenio &odrigue( is said to ha!e introduced it to the
con+untos on a regular basis, and 8achito0s Aro-Cubans were the irst
to use it on New York bandstands. "here are se!eral types o conga,
including the small #uinto, a solo impro!ising the instrument@ the mid-
si(ed conga@ and the large tumbadora. %layed by an e2pert, the conga
is capable o great !ariety o sound and tone, not only rom the
dierent ways o striking or rubbing the head, but through the
instrument rom the ground when it is played held between the knees.
A conga-player is called a conguero or congacero.
Conga Rhythm - "he Cuban conga was originally a carni!al dance-
march rom Santiago de Cuba, with a hea!y ourth beat, but the
rhythm is common to carni!al music in many parts o the New 1orld.
"he conga rhythm is more easily simpliied than most Cuban rhythms
and was a natural or nightclub loorshows. )t ne!er became
permanent in mainstream 'atin music, though *ddie %almieri
introduced a modiied !ersion called the mo(ambi#ue in the late
,->/s.
Contradanza - ,Ath and ,?th century dance o 5rench origin rom
which many 'atin ballroom dances deri!e !ia mainland Spain,
including the dan(on and the dan(a.
Conjunto - Cuban con+unto sprang rom the carni!al marching bands
and combined !oices, trumpets, piano, bass, conga, and bongo.
Arsenio &odrigue( ran a seminal Cuban con+unto that used the smokey
tone o the tres to balance the brass, and o!er the years con+untos
began adding a trombone or e!en in New York substituting trombones
or trumpets. "he %uerto &ican con+unto, the basic group o +ibaro
country music, consisted o cuatro, guitar, and guayo scraper, though
trumpet and9or clarinet were added at !arious times, and accordion-
led con+untos playing dan(as and walt(es or dancing were not
uncommon.
Coro - "he 3chorus.3 )n salsa, the two or three-!oice rerains o two or
our bars sung during montunos. "he lead singer impro!ises against
the rerains. Coros are used in !arious ways in arrangements@ as
reprises or, by an alteration o the rerain, to establish a change o
mood. A perect e2ample o this call and response between the lead
singer and rerain in salsa, are on the song %ara $chun sung by Bector
'a!oe.
Cuatro - A small, ten-stringed guitar, one o the many guitar !ariants
to be ound in Spain and 'atin America. "he cuatro is a ma+or
instrument in %uerto &ican +ibaro country music.
Danzon - A Cuban ballroom dance deri!ed rom the contradan(a in
the late ,?A/s. )t was regularly played by lute-and-iddle charangas
until the early ,-./s. "he dan(on bears the mark o *urope and its
irst section was usually a promenade, but its charm is not merely
nostalgic. )ts melodies echo rom time to time in modern salsa.
Descarga - "he word means 3discharge3 and is a 'atin musician0s
slang term or a +am session. Descargas occupy a position midway
between salsa and 'atin-+a((, since they tend to preser!e the Cuban
structures yet contain ar more +a(( soloing than does salsa.
Guaguanco - "he mid-paced guaguanco has Arican roots and was
originally a drum orm related to the rhumba. "hough oten played in
C9C, it has a strong >9? eel. "he basic rhythm is traditionally carried
by three conga drums and usually includes a good deal o solo
drumming. "he theme o a modern guaguanco is a somewhat loose
melody line. )t is one o the ew 7-6 re!erse cla!e orms.
Guajeo - A rit in the charanga style, especially or !iolin. 5unctionally,
gua+eos tie the melodic and rhythmic elements o a number together,
acting as a sort o trampoline or lute and other solos. "hey are
melodic patterns irmly based on the basic cla!e and tumbao.
Guajira - "he slow gua+ira came rom the Spanish-Cuban music o the
gua+iros. 8uch o its eeling comes rom Bispanic melodies and
gua+eos that were originally, and oten still are, played on the tres.
"he gua+ira is similar to the slow son montuno but is more delicate and
less dri!ing. )ts lyrics re#uently deal with rural nostalgia.
Guaracha - "he original Cuban guaracha was a topical song orm or
chorus and solo !oice, with impro!isation in the solo. )t was presented
in 69C and >9? or 79C time signature. "he guaracha de!eloped a
second section, employed or much impro!isation, as in the son
montuno. )t appeared to ha!e almost died out in Cuba by the ,-6/s,
yet it is now one o the orms commonly used by salsa groups@ a ast
rhythm with a basic chicka-chicka pulse. )ts last section is the probable
source o the instrumental mambo. "he guaracha is said to ha!e
originated in ,?th-century maison d0assignation and its lyrics are still
oten racy and satirical.
Guiro - A scraper. "he Cuban and %uerto &ican guiro, oten called
guayo in %uerto &ico, is made rom a notched gourd and played with a
stick. %oor players produce a steady ratchet-liked sound. Skilled ones
pro!ide endless, crisp counter-rhythms against the rest o the
percussion section. "he guiro, like the maracas, is usually played by a
singer. )n the Dominican &epublic, the guiro, also called the guira
there, is made o metal and played with a kind o metal ork. "he
metal instrument0s harsh sound adds a (est to country merengue
playing, but is rarely used in salsa.
Habanera - Cuban dance o Spanish origin, the irst ma+or 'atin
inluence on U.S. music around the time o the Spanish-American 1ar.
%ro!ided the rhythmic basis o the modern tango, which makes its
inluence in 7/th century American music diicult to trace.
Jibaro Music - "he +ibaros are the mountain armers o %uerto &ico,
and their music is the most strongly Bispanic part o the island0s olk
tradition. 8ostly string-based, +ibaro music uses many Spanish-deri!ed
orms, including the ten-line decima !erses - which a good singer must
be able to impro!ise. A notable instrument is the small cuatro guitar.
8any ine +ibaro musicians, including singers &amito and Chuitin, and
cuatro player Yomo "oro, li!e in New York. "hough !arious %uerto
&ican salsa singers had used occasional +ibaro inlections, 1illie Colon
brought the style into salsa by hiring "oro or a Christmas album in
,-A7.
Latin Jazz - A hybrid o +a(( and 'atin music. "he term could co!er
anything rom a Cuban number with a couple o 'ouis Armstrong
phrases to a straight +a(( number with a conga, but is best conined to
crosses with a more or less ull 'atin rhythmic section, or one
combining se!eral 'atin and +a(( elements, and an instrumental
rontline.
Mambo - An Aro-Cuban orm that came out o the Congolese
religious cults. "he big band mambo o the ,-C/s and ,-./s
de!eloped characteristic contrasting brass and sa2 ris, which many
musicians regard as stemming rom the last section o the guaracha.
Maraccas - A tuned pair o rattles made rom gourds illed with
pebbles or seeds, one o a wide range o Amerindian-deri!ed rattles. A
skilled maracca-player such as 8achito plays a subtle role in the
polyrhythmic counterpoint.
Merengue - "hough dances by this name are ound in many
countries, the merengue is originally rom the Dominican &epublic,
where it dates back at least to the early ,-th century. "he modern
merengue has a notably brisk and snappy 79C rhythm, with a la!or
!ery dierent rom the somewhat more lowing Cuban and +aunty
%uerto &ican dances. "he country orm, or accordion, tambora drum,
metal scraper, and !oice, is heard e!erywhere in the Dominican
&epublic. "he big bands like Dohnny Eentura0s and 5eli2 del &osario0s is
oten heard at New York concerts.
Montuno Section - A !ehicle or impro!isation in Cuban and Salsa
numbers, based on a two or three-chord pattern repeated ad-lib under
the instrumental or !ocal impro!isations. "he piano oten maintains a
repeated !amp o gua+eos, a process known as montuneando.
achanga - "he pachanga was a rage among New York 'atin
teenagers around ,->,, as played by the then hugely popular
Charangas. "here is some dispute as to its origins. )t seems to be
Cuban, but it ne!er reached the popularity there that it en+oyed in the
eastern U.S. )t had a ast, syncopated ta-tum ta-tum pulse. "he
pachanga died out because the dance in!ol!ed pro!ed to be too
energetic or most.
lena - An Aro-%uerto &ican urban tropical song orm said to ha!e
been de!eloped in %once during 1orld 1ar ). "he plena has our or
si2-line !erses, with a rerain. 'yrical content is social comment, satire,
or humor. )nstrumentation has ranged rom percussion through
accordion or guitar-led groups to !arious dance band ormats. )ts most
amous composer and e2ponent was 8anuel Dimine(, known as
Canario. )t has been a minor inluence on salsa through the work o
&aael Corti+o in the late ,-./s and 1illie Colon in the ,-A/s.
Rumba - 8ost o what Americans call rumbas were orms o son which
swept Cuba in the ,-7/s. "he Cuban rumba was a secular drum orm
with many !ariants, including the guaguanco and the columbia, though
modern musicians tend to regard all these as separate. )ts descendent
!ariations can be heard in New York parks any summer weekend
played by groups called rumbas or rumbones. Fy analogy, a
percussion passage in a salsa number, or a percussion-only +am
session, is sometimes called a rumba or rumbon.
Salsa - A contemporary word or hot, up-tempo, creati!e 'atin music,
it means 3gra!y3 or 3sauce.3 $riginally, it was used as a descripti!e
such as 3swinging3 or 3unky.3 "he origins o the current usage are
obscure, but it began to circulate in the late ,->/s. "he basic meter o
salsa is C9C, organi(ed by the two-bar cla!e pattern.
Se!teto - "he Cuban septetos and se2tetos o the ,-6/s played
mostly sones and boleros. "hey were trumpet-led string groups,
usually with tres, guitar, maraccas, bass, and bongo. 5amous groups
included the Septeto Nacional and the Se2teto Babanero. "he music
they played ell somewhere between the gua+iro string groups and the
brassier con+untos. Septeto trumpet style is singularly lyrical, mo!ing
between ,-th-century brass-band cornet and +a(( in its inspiration.
"he septeto style as a whole is subtle, crisp, and charming.
She"ere - An Arican-deri!ed rattle made o a large gourd with beads
held by a string net on the outside. )t is one !ersion o a rattle
common in Arica and Aro-'atin America and works on the opposite
principle rom maraccas.
Son - "he son is perhaps the oldest and certainly the classic Aro-
Cuban orm, an almost perect balance o Arican and Bispanic
elements. $riginating in $riente pro!ince, it suraced in Ba!ana
around 1orld 1ar ) and became a popular urban music played by
string-and-percussion #uartets and septetos. Almost all the numbers
Americans called rumbas were, in act, sones. 3*l 8anicero3 :3"he
%eanut Eendor3= was a orm o son deri!ed rom the street cries o
Ba!ana and called a pregon. "he rhythm o the son is strongly
syncopated, with a basic chicka-CBUNG pulse.
Son Montuno - A re!erse cla!e :7-6= orm, usually mid-paced or
slow, with a pronounced CBUNG-chicka eel. "he son montuno
de!eloped as a separate orm rom the general son tradition. )t was,
like the guaracha, one o the irst orms to include a second,
impro!ised section, the montuno. "hough it is not ast, the Aro-Cuban
son montuno has an intense, almost relentless #uality.
Sonero - )n the strict sense, a man who sings or plays the Aro-Cuban
son, but now the impro!ising lead singer in the salsa style. A good
sonero impro!ises rhythmically, melodically, and !erbally against the
rerain o the coro. "he word guarachero is a synonym, though less
used.
#ambora - A double-headed drum, basic to the Dominican merengue.
)t is played with a single stick, while the other head is damped by hand
to gi!e tonal !ariety.
#imbales - A percussion set-up consisting o two small metal drums
on a stand, with two tuned cowbells, oten a cymbal and other
additions. "he timbales descended rom small military dance and
concert bands. "hey were originally conined to the charangas and
or#uestas tipicas, to which they imparted a distincti!e, +aunty march-
like rhythm, but during the ,-C/s they came into wider use. "he
timbales are played with sticks, with the player striking heads, rims,
and sides o metal drums. All this plus cymbal and cowbells make or a
!aried instrument. A standard timbales beat, the abianco, is a rimshot-
roll-rimshot combination.
#i!ico - An imprecise but e2tremely important concept in modern
salsa. 'iterally it means 3typical3 or 3characteristic,3 but it is generally
used to identiy the down-home, rural, popular styles o the 'atin
countries. "hus, the Cuban tipico music that became so important in
New York in the ,->/s and ,-A/s was basically con+unto and charanga
music. Fut the septetos are also tipico, since their style is simple and
popular rather than bourgeois.
#o$ue - A 3beat,3 but essentially a standard rhythmic phrase or
percussion. 8any to#ues deri!e rom Arican religious drumming, in
which particular rhythmic patterns were used to summon indi!idual
gods. A 'atin percussionist is +udged not by his energy le!el, but by his
knowledge and use o standard to#ues and !ariations in his
impro!isations and in support o the band.
#res - A Cuban guitar with si2 strings doubled in three course@ a
mainstay o gua+iro music and the Aro-Cuban septetos. "he tres was
established as an important part o the Cuban con+unto by Arsenio
&odrigue(, himsel a ine player. "he instrument came into New York
salsa during the Cuban tipico re!i!al o the late ,->/s and early
,-A/s.
#umbao - A repeated rhythmic pattern or bass or conga drum. Fased
on the undamental cla!e, the bassist0s tumbaos pro!ide the
scaolding or the constant rhythmic counterpoint o the
percussionists.