Abstract
Salsa music is a Pan-Latino form of cultural expression born of an American experience. While its roots are varied—primarily but not exclusively Cuban and Puerto Rican, it mixes tradition and innovation, privileging mixture. Although much has been written about Salsa in the last fifteen years, the contributions of women as performers have been large ignored. This paper attempts to fill in that gap by arguing that Salsa, as an American music, was enriched by early contributions of two female performers, Celia Cruz and La Lupe. By engaging with the music scene in New York, these women reinvented themselves as Salsa stars in the 1960s and early 70s. Their stage performances and personas, however, were markedly different--- particularly their staging of race and gender. Cruz became “the lady,” while La Lupe’s performances were marked by frenzy and excess. Both also worked within established racial codes that would seek to constrain performative possibilities for black women. They simultaneously, although in different ways, played into and challenged those racial codes thereby contributing to this uniquely American sound.
Highlights
While there are ongoing discussions among scholars as well as performers regarding Salsa’s influences and roots, the one point of consensus is that New York City is its birthplace
In the years following WWII, this history led to a confluence of multiple flows and migrations into New York City as the Puerto Rican migration, the largest in numbers, was joined by others from different points in the Caribbean and Latin America
Aparicio defines Salsa as: a syncretic art form that originated in the barrios of New York City
Summary
While there are ongoing discussions among scholars as well as performers regarding Salsa’s influences and roots, the one point of consensus is that New York City is its birthplace. Salsa’s expansion outside of New York to other US cities and Latin America was due to both deliberate marketing on the part of the record label Fania as well as audience response to this form of cultural expression.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
