Salsa romántica

Soft form of salsa music

Salsa romántica (Spanish for Romantic Salsa) is a soft form of salsa music that emerged between the mid-1980s and early 1990s in New York City, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic. It has been criticised for it being supposedly a pale imitation of "real" salsa, often called "salsa dura".[1]

## Description and origins

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The genre was introduced by La Palabra, a Cuban musician, in the mid-1980s. It arose at a time when classic salsa, popularized by Fania Records, was growing on the Latin record charts, including the rise of Latin pop. Salsa romántica was an adaptation of melodic love songs to a smooth, light salsa backing. The style sprang from a single album, Noches Calientes, created in 1984 by Fania producer Luis Ramirez.[1]: 102

Young salseros such as Lalo Rodriguez and the Puerto Rican Eddie Santiago were creating salsa with frothy songs and suggestive lyrics.[2] Salsa romántica uses softer, quieter orchestral sounds, ballads set to a slowed-down salsa rhythm and romantic lyrics. Due to the softer orchestration and leisurely rhythm, some have nicknamed this genre "limp salsa".[1]: 140

## Criticism

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Salsa romántica was heavily influenced by the balada style (or pop style) of salsa and is widely criticized due to the simple compositional style of both types.[3] Salsa romántica has been considered to be an imitation of classic salsa.[4] In Cuba, some critics refer to salsa romántica as the "white" style to differentiate it from traditional salsa.[5][6] Critics have also stated that "true salsa" involved intricate composition. Critics of salsa romántica, especially in the late 1980s and early 1990s, called it a "commercialized, watered-down" form of Latin pop,[7] in which formulaic, sentimental love ballads were simply put to an Afro-Cuban beat.[8]

## Today

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Jerry Rivera was the first salsero to go triple platinum with his record Cuenta Conmigo (Count on Me), which was all salsa romántica.[9] La India, Luis Enrique, Giro Lopez, Marc Anthony, and Víctor Manuelle are some of the best-known performers of salsa romántica. Marc Anthony has been the highest-selling salsa artist of the past two decades.[4] Another salsa artist, Omar Alfano, was handheld into a business by salsa dura songwriter Johnny Ortiz.

## References

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1. ^ a b c Waxer, Lise (2013). Situating Salsa: Global Markets and Local Meanings in Latin Popular Music. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis. ISBN 978-1-135-72541-9.
2. ^ Sweeny, P. (2001). The Rough Guide to Cuban Music. London: Rough Guides. p. 189\. ISBN 978-1858287614.
3. ^ Hutchinson, Sydney (2015). Salsa World: A Global Dance in Local Contexts. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. p. 162\. ISBN 9781439910078.
4. ^ a b Moore, Robin (2010). Music in the Hispanic Caribbean : experiencing music, expressing culture. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-537505-3.
5. ^ Garcia, David F. (2006). Arsenio Rodríguez and the Transnational Flows of Latin Popular Music. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. pp. 133–134. ISBN 9781592133864.
6. ^ Waxler, Lise A. (2002). The City of Musical Memory: Salsa, Record Grooves and Popular Culture in Cali, Colombia. Middletown: Wesleyan University Press. p. 105\. ISBN 9780819564412.
7. ^ Stavans, Ilan, ed. (2014). Latin music: musicians, genres, and themes. Santa Barbara, California: Greenwood. ISBN 978-0-313-34395-7.
8. ^ Manuel, Peter (1994). The soul of the barrio: 30 years of salsa. NACLA Report on the Americas. 28 (2).
9. ^ Ulloa, Alejandro (2020). La salsa en tiempos de nieve: la conexión latina Cali-Nueva York (1975-2000). Colección Artes y humanidades. Investigación (Primera edición ed.). Cali, Colombia: Programa Editorial Universidad del Valle. ISBN 978-958-5164-08-6. OCLC 1286273153.

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