Introduction
Hi! My name is Mike Bello and welcome to my world of salsa and mambo clarity.
Most people, especially those who are new to salsa
music, have a difficult time making out what is going on. They only know that the sounds they are hearing are infectious and
compel them to dance. By listening to and applying the techniques presented on the CD, you will begin to have a clearer path to understanding the rich
complexities of the rhythmic music called salsa.
The Real Deal
The first thing that needs addressing is the Salsa and Mambo controversy. Salsa is the music and Mambo is the dance.
In the late 1960’s and early 1970's the
term Salsa was used, primarily in the music industry, to identify and market the Afro-Cuban/Afro-Puerto Rican song styles
that, many times, became fused with jazz. All that really changed was the name for what people were listening to.
Mambo dancing first caught on close to two decades
before the term Salsa was used for the music. The dance did not all of a sudden become something else due to a name change.
The dance did experience an evolution of sorts and started to become fused with other dance forms like swing and hustle. This
primarily changed the style of the dance but not its inherent nature.
Throughout this publication, and during the audio
program, references to Salsa are specifically made to the music as are the specifics of Mambo are made to the dance.
The goal of this presentation, though, is to get
you to develop an "ear" for the interplay between the different rhythmic elements that can be found and that are consistently
present in most salsa tunes. Once you realize and can actualize how the traditional approach to salsa music is arranged and
constructed you will, as a dancer, be better able to allow yourself to synchronize your steps to the rhythms of salsa.
Part I
The Music
Salsa music is, essentially, Afro-Cuban with the
influence, and often-times fusion, of different song styles like son, güajira, mambo, guaguanco and so on (this includes the Afro-Puerto Rican, song styles like
Bomba and Plena). The one consistent element that specifically drives all of the
music is the rhythm of the clave. Typically, this rhythm is played on the Afro-Cuban instrument
of the same name (two wooden sticks).
Simply stated, salsa music is arranged and played
in a traditional fashion. Songs created today are done the same way as those from decades past. Make no mistake, the music
and rhythms always have the same alignment to the clave rhythm.
The clave is the governing factor in how the music
is organized. Every single element of the music and rhythm is done in line with the clave, or "en clave". The piano, the bass,
violins, flutes, horns, of course percussion and yes, even the vocals are done with the clave woven into its rhythmic delivery.
That is because rhythm is the primary force behind the music. Most western music is melodic with rhythms
added while salsa music, fundamentally, is rhythms played melodically. There is the distinction. The clave is the lifeblood
of each rhythm; hence the music.
Well, if every element is done "en clave" then
it makes perfect sense that the dance done to the music is also "en clave."
Let us begin with the way music is written. All
music is organized into specific building blocks. Most of salsa music has building blocks with each segment consisting of
four beats (or quarter notes) which equal one whole note that complete a segment called a bar or measure. This organizing
principle gives us a way to anticipate how the music is formulated as well as giving the listener guides to each rhythmic/musical
passage. Once that is understood then the relationship between music and dance, salsa and mambo, becomes clearer.
LA CLAVE
The clave (pronounced cláh-veh) rhythm is five
notes that encompasses two bars. For most salsa music, the clave has two notes in the first bar (called the 2 part, or 2 side
of the clave) and three notes in the second bar (called the 3 part, or 3 side of the clave). The expression of this clave
is considered the 2-3 (two-three), or reverse, clave. Once an understanding is developed for this "direction" of the clave
rhythm the quicker realization will set in on how all the rhythms in the music follow this same directional principal.
NOTE: The clave rhythm is expressed
in several different manners with different classifications which also can be heard in salsa music like Son, Rumba and Afro (6/8 time signature written as six eighth notes
to the bar or measure) as well as having three notes in the first bar and two notes in the second bar. In fact, this
is called 3-2 (three-two), or forward clave.
The notation of the rhythms in salsa music, when
written in non-musical lay terms can be expressed numerically from 1 through 8 and using the "&" symbol to represent the
syncopations (in this case, the off-beat time exactly between each number). An example is as follows:
1, &, 2, &, 3, &, 4, &, 5, &,
6, &, 7, &, 8, &.
The forward (or 3-2) clave is noted this way:
1, 2&, 4, 6, 7. The timing is on beat 1, between beats 2 and 3, beats 4, 6 and 7. The 2-3 (or reverse) clave, then, happens
like this: 2, 3, 5, 6&, 8. This means that the clave instrument, or any wood-like instrument, is struck at beats 2, 3,
5, between 6 and 7 as well as beat 8.
Note: Most of salsa music is in reverse
clave.
In the following material, presentations of dance
and rhythmic patterns will be expressed using the preceding notation. Clave alignment to specific rhythmic elements in the
music and to the dance patterns will be apparent. Use the numbers and (if you have the CD) listen to how they work with each
other on the audio program. It then will make more dance sense once you start to apply it to your daily listening of salsa
music.
MAMBO
Mambo is not just a dance of one rhythm but of
many. For several years past, presently and probably well into the future, the controversy that salsa (as a dance) is danced
on1 and mambo is danced on2 will, more than likely, never go away (more on this below). Yet mambo, the name of the dance that
began before the advent of the salsa umbrella term, now seems to be synonymous with the salsa term today. The following dance
patterns of mambo in relation to the clave will allow you to synchronize to the rhythms and music of salsa.
Note: Mambo
is also a song style and there are volumes of songs done in the mambo song style. Any references made to this type of music
in this publication will be made specifically and a distinction will be ascertained at that time.
Click here for Part II - The Dance
