Perspecitves on Salsa

In this article, the author a renowned Cuban writer on popular music provides a helpful and balanced overview of the debate on the meaning and historical place of salsa. He gives a clear sense of the centrality of Cuban rhythmic traditions, particularly the son montuno, as well as the crucial role played by Puerto Rican musicians and the social base of the New York Puerto Rican community. While accounting for salsa s multiple dimensions and international reach, Acosta forcefully dispels the widely-held view that salsa is a strict and unaltered continuation Cuban musical traditions, or that its creative origins are to be located in the Caribbean rather than in the Puerto Rican and Latino communities of the urban U.S.