Lets Get Down to the Roots....

peachexploration

peachexploration

New Member
Everytime I read something of Boriken's, I get inspired. :D At our sister site (Salsa Forums), we were posting about On1/On2 and got on the subject of "The Roots of Salsa". Boriken raised some good topics to discuss within his quote.
BorikenSalsero said:
..The roots :cry: , not only the roots seem to have been forgotten, but also the lifestyle that followed them. Today, it seems that salsa is seen only dance...

No talk of roots, "dress codes", religious beliefs, knowledge, all seems to have been swallowed by the sea. Now, salsa is mentioned and seemingly all think of dance.

Where is the old lady dressed all in white? Where is the knowledge of what the "dialect" within salsa means? Where is the burning desire to be more than a dancer within Mambo? Where is the guaguanco, columbia, yambu feel of the dance? Where oh where I ask! where? :cry:
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Boriken, I hope you don't mind that I posted your quote. I apologize if this is not okay. But when I read it I thought it would be a good topic.

Now, my own personal take on this is that I think one of the reasons it is thought of as just dance is because that's how it is presented to masses. Mostly, from the time you walk into your first dance lesson or see an advertisement, the last thing you learn about is the "Roots or History of Salsa. Any takers for this discussion? :)
 
Sheesh ... and I thought salsa was the stuff they put on mexican food. ;)

But seriously, this sounds like a terrific topic, and one on which I know nothing. I look forward to being enlightened!
 
Watch people dance. Who expresses the dance with their bodies, who dances with all the right moves yet seem to be skiming on the surface. Does not matter how good you are, you can tell...
 
You start by learning the local salsa style.
You struggle with the beat, the lead, the patterns and spins.
You get hooked, and want to learn it all.
You start playing with some other styles.
You try to mix in your own flavour.

Salsa is growing and changing.
It’s alive, and under some heavy evolution.

I don’t want it cut back to how it was done original.
I’m not into the dance for the religious purposes.

But at some point, I like to dig in the history of the salsa.
Taking old bits and pieces, and reshuffle them into the mix.
 
I don't mind at all peach, on the contrary you've brought a smile to my face by thinking it was worthy of a topic. :D


I have nothing against evolution, however, I have everything against a dilution created to attract money from the masses then pass it as evolution of Salsa.

For example, the music itself, new age salsa STINKS!!! Everyone that is a least bit hardcore Salseros knows it, that new age music is the cascara (the shell). Yet, it is all we hear, it is all we become accustomed to, we learn not a thing about the music's history. We get stuck in an island and forget that across the ocean there is another world, a world that has been kept form the masses because the shell is thought of as more than the contents. That is what evolution of salsa has come to, a dilution that has nothing to do with evolution but is seen as such. Grabbing a 50s T-Ford, creating an enhanced, and 21st century outside to impeccable form, yet putting 2 rats as engine doesn’t equate to evolution. That is what salsa is… I’m speaking not of the dance, but the philosophy that has been lost, the purpose… There are those who actually believe that if you aren’t a Santero, or don’t know about the spirituality and religion of the music, then you aren’t a Salsero. You are the shell…

Evolution is a natural process that helps the most suited survive, when did money change the equation?

Masses not being able to understand the purpose of the music, nor its deeper hidden meanings, caused the seekers of money to bring upon something that would appeal... The age of Pop, where media drives the world but everyone denies it. It has control of how we think, what we think, what we wear, how we dance, even how we lead our lives. The media tells us what to do and we follow stating evolution, and the course of progress... Dilution if you asked me!

We can't just listen to salsa, we have to really listen, I mean listen to the implications it causes deep inside of us, not just it sounds nice, but what the music itself tells us. Need speak Spanish not, feel and you'll know what the music is telling you... get to know yourself and the music will speak deeper to you... the lyrics are the icing on the cake, but what truly does the job it’s the music itself!
 
borikensalsero said:
........We can't just listen to salsa, we have to really listen, I mean listen to the implications it causes deep inside of us, not just it sounds nice, but what the music itself tells us. Need speak Spanish not, feel and you'll know what the music is telling you... get to know yourself and the music will speak deeper to you... the lyrics are the icing on the cake, but what truly does the job it’s the music itself!
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I like that Boriken. Remember the "What musical Instrument Moves You Emotionally" thread? Well, this is what I was getting at. When I really started to listen to the different instruments of salsa and the music as a whole, I noticed how my emotional thinking started to change. I had no technical or psychological idea of what did it. I just know the music had begun to speak to me yet I only knew very few words in the Spanish language. I heard the the conga and woke up as if it called to me. Heard the shakere and began to shake my shoulders. So, instead of shaking my shoulders, moving my hips when I heard a 4th measure of a piece of music (whatever that means :lol: ) or bought a CD because a singer was hot or popular (as the media would tell me), I just listened and the music told me what do.

PS, I have more stuff to post but will later to give others a chance to post their thoughts. :)
 
Back in the days when I started learning salsa :lol: I started with a cuban guy. I was never told that "salsa is a lifestyle" or anything like that. As a result of having an enquiring mind :oops: I have sought to expand my knowledge/understanding of it.

Peach, you mentioned how you feel when you hear certain instruments/songs. I know this feeling/aspect. I feel it with other types of music so I never consciously set out with the thought that I had to "feel the music".

I believe that the conga/drums is the root of it all.

I did an african dance workshop last year. The thing that I came away from the workshop with, was the realisation/awareness that african dancers really have to listen to the drums for instructions, be it a double tap or something, to know when to change their steps. Another way of looking at it - a singer sets the pace for the musicians, but the drums dictate what the dancer does, when and how. Until they get the signal from the drummer, they will continue doing that step/movement. It was an interesting experience and would definitely recommend that dancers give it a try if they haven't already done so. It really makes you listen to the music/drums as there is no neat "8 of this" or "16 of that". He can change his drumming as you are coming up to your 6th or 12th repetition and you change.
 
There are many reasons we join Salsa, different levels, different goals. Some are just with what they do, others aren’t.

Salsa becomes a lifestyle when a search for self meaning begins, a search for culture, a representation of what the person is, what culture was before the person, the evolution of an socio-cultural identity, and what makes not only us but the society we live in, hence the label: lifestyle.

I’d like to get deeper, but a spiritual view of Salsa… is for each one of us to…
 
borikensalsero said:
I’d like to get deeper, but a spiritual view of Salsa… is for each one of us to…
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:shock: :banana: you were saying? :D I hope this is a temporary break :wink:
 
Pacion said:
borikensalsero said:
I’d like to get deeper, but a spiritual view of Salsa… is for each one of us to…
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:shock: :banana: you were saying? :D I hope this is a temporary break :wink:
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Ok, maybe I can say a lot by saying little, hehe, for the first time hopefully...

To understand Salsa we must understand the origins of percussion, we must understand its use since the dawn of banging, that understaning could possibly give us some of the necessary tools to experience what spirituality and salsa have to do with each other.

All we need is someone, something to tap the idea, from there life itself will follow suit... we can even listen to percussion alone and we'll notice that our bodies will react unlike it would react to any other instrument... santeria might be a good start, well at least the closest to salsa...
 
borikensalsero said:
....To understand Salsa we must understand the origins of percussion, we must understand its use since the dawn of banging, that understaning could possibly give us some of the necessary tools to experience what spirituality and salsa have to do with each other....
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Boriken, are you reading my mind. :lol: Let's start with discussing percussion. Okay, we'll keep out the "religious" aspect of it and will only use it as a reference in history. I found this site that has the following excerpt.

Afro-Cuban 6/8 feel, Bembe:
Some of the fundamental rhythms in West Africa are based on 6/8 feels. In Cuba, one popular 6/8 feel is known as bembe, originating from the world bembes, which are religious gatherings that include drumming, singing and dancing. There is an example of it for listening purposes here
Afro-Cuban Rhythms for Drumset-Chapter One This clip is called Afro-cuban 6/8 feel (Bembe) located under the first paragraph.

This example is played on a hoe blade, shekeres (hollowed-out gourds with beads loosely wrapped around them), and conga drums(tumbadoras). This feel, played in Cuba, is completely African in style and instrumentation. Similar rhythms are heard throughout West Africa, especially in Nigeria (the Yoruba tribes) where much of the African population in Cuba originated. You'll hear the entire feel, and then each instrument solo, to show how the individual parts interlock.
What do you think about or feel when you here these drums? Any disecting views? What do you think?
 
peachexploration said:
borikensalsero said:
I guess I am... wow... Peach, every day I come here, every day more and more you impress me. thank you for the joy!
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:oops: :oops: :oops:

Nope, my friend. Thank YOU for the inspiration! :)
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It is my pleasure Peach :D , it is wonderful to be here enjoying all of what DF has to offer!
 
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