Salsa Music Ups and Downs; Part 3, Salsa Romantica and the Merengue threat
Posted on 02. Sep, 2009 by Hector Aviles in Blog
Salsa survived the threat of Rock and Disco in the 1980’s thanks to a mainstream trend in Salsa and to the birth of “Salsa Romántica”. But would this be enough to hold-off the “Merengue” threat of the early 90’s? Merengue took a page from Salsa’s book, and changed its message and its appearance. With these changes, Merengue found rapid acceptance of its catchy dance rhythm among the Latin youth, while Salsa Romántica was in its decline.
The Boom of Salsa Romántica:
Salsa was able to get through the huge popularity MTV gave to Rock and Pop in the 1980s with a mainstream trend that helped to elevate its popularity among “non-salseros”. This trend, which I trace back to Roberto Roena’s “Mi Desengaño” (as discussed in the previous part of this series “Part 2b, the threat of Rock and Disco”) was reinforced with a new trend of Salsa that focused on romantic songs. The trend was later baptized “Salsa Romantica” (romantic Salsa).
Some Salsa artists figured that what was grabbing the mainstream public taste, was not just the smooth tempo of using bosa-nova or a smoother mambos, with less “descargas” (solos) on the songs, but also the message the songs carried. Salsa songs that attracted the mainstream audience, like Ruben Blades-Fania All Stars’ “Sin Tu Cariño” were really romantic songs. But there weren’t enough song-writters like Ruben Blades to go around composing romantic songs for everyone, so Salsa artists began converting past popular Ballads into Salsa. Dipping into the Ballads songs bucket provided a huge inventory of romantic songs to choose from. Some established hard-core Salsa artists quickly cought on this wave, like veteran band leaders Louie Ramirez and Tommy Olivencia, who’s respective singers Ray de la Paz and Frankie Ruiz, proved excellent performers of this converted songs into Salsa.
New comers to Salsa quickly jumped in. Most notably, Nicaraguan musician and singer Luis Enrique, used his talent and good looks to gain a huge following. The same could be said of Eddie Santiago, Willie Gonzalez, Jerry Rivera, Victor Manuelle, Marc Anthony, and others. The combination of good looks and smooth arrangements, which avoided solos and complicated arrangements, and focused on a solid but simple tumbao to carry the tune, was a huge hit among the upcoming growing audience, that didn’t grow with the 1970’s hard-core salsa. They found this music danceable, more relevant to their situation (the protesting/rebellious years of the 60’s were a far and faint memory), and more palatable. (check out the Luis Enrique video of the song “Yo No Se Mañana” included in his new CD “Ciclos”)
Some hard-classic Salsa artists switched to the new Salsa Romántica style, or at least incorporated some form of it in their repertoire. In the early years of transition from Mainstream to Romantic Salsa, veteran bandleader Willie Rosario used youthful, but seasoned, Gilbertito Santa Rosa to sing love-themed songs. This produced hits like “Lluvia”, “Botaron la Pelota”, and “Me Tendran que Aceptar”. Santa Rosa wisely used his high stock value in the market to launch his solo career, catching the “Romántica” wave at full strength, and going in that direction from his very first album “Good Vibrations”which included the hit “Cantante de Cartel”. Tito Nieves, Jose Alberto “El Canario”, Andy Montañez, Oscar D’Leon, and Willie Colon are examples of classic Salsa artist who took the Salsa Romántica wave.
The Raise of Merengue (and decline of Salsa Romantica):
By the early 1990s the public started to get bored with everything sounding like more of the same stuff. Only a few artists found a way to differentiate themselves and make their music still relevant (Gilberto Santa Rosa, who always is tuned to the public taste and thinking, and Tito Nieves, are good examples of these few exceptions). But in general, creativity was lost, the music was boring, and what was different before, now became the same old stuff.
Merengue, which had seen a downturn after their huge popularity of the late 1970s with Johnny Ventura, Wilfrido Vargas, and el Conjunto Quisqueya, decided to barrow a page form the Salsa book to revitalize its genre. New, young, good-looking faces (and bodies) with new romantic-type of songs began appearing in the scene and growing rapidly in popularity.
Olga Tañon - Mujer de Fuego
Artists like Olga Tañon, Celines, Giselle, Manny Manuel, Melina León, and Grupomanía, came to the light and began attracting a huge following, putting out mega-hits by the bunches. Merengue has always been popular with dancers for its simple dancing steps, and with club owners, as they normally charge less, and the Merengue popularity exploded.
With these two factors acting at unison, most Salsa artists began to struggle to find work. Merengue was everywhere, and the Salsa artists in Puerto Rico and New York, recurred to frequent tours to other cities in the continental United States, Europe, and Latin America to keep food on the table.
The Return of Salsa Clásica:
With all things working against it, Salsa still had a healthy heartbeat. Salsa artists, and particularly the old-school ones, were acclaimed in U.S. cities like Chicago, Orlando, Dallas, and San Francisco, where competition wasn’t as tough. Spain, France, and Germany still welcomed Salseros with open arms. And Central and South America cities like Panamá, Caracas, Lima, Barranquilla, and Cali, became a safe haven for Salseros. These new frequented sites validated to these Salsa artists what they already felt; that Salsa was not dead! Not even close. These countries did embrace the Salsa Romántica kings, prince, and queens, but just the same adored the old-school Salsa idols, and knew their history and repertoire as well as they knew it in San Juan, Miami, or New York.
With this spark, the move to a return to Salsa Clásica surged. Salseros started asking for heavier, more beefy Salsa. They were tired of the “Salsa Monga” (soft Salsa), as they scornfully called “Salsa Romántica”. And in the new millennium, the old became new again.
Promoters started reuniting the old orchestra-singer duo’s. Barretto was doing gig’s with Tito Allen and
El Gran Combo - Arroz con Habichuelas
Adalberto Santiago. Richie Ray and Bobby Cruz made such a huge comeback, they recorded one of their Live performances into a CD. Oscar D’León came out with a CD called “Formula Original” (original formula), drawing on his old “Salsa Mayor” band type of arrangements to infuse his dormant CD sales with new life. Ismael Quintana was just fine in retirement, so Eddie Palmieri used his steady singer, Herman Olivera to record “La Perfecta II”, and “El Rumbero del Piano” with some old classics recreated. Manny Oquendo came back with his Conjunto Libre before passing away this year. Raphy Leavitt got more active with La Selecta and also recorded an excellent Live CD, and El Gran Como said “no mas” to the “ensaladita light” (light salad), because “arroz con habichuelas es lo que hay” (rice and bean is what we’ve got), from the title song of their last CD.
Conclusion and Recommendations:
Salsa is alive and well. Salseros all over the world are enjoying the better things of Salsa Romantica, which is evolving to a more dynamic music style, and also embracing the old-idols of the Salsa Clasica days. Legends like the above mentioned, as well as Cheo Feliciano, Ismael Miranda, and Ruben Blades on his recent return, are finding plenty of work in Salsa Festivals, Salsa halls, and tours around the world.
Salsa dancing is taking off to new heights. There are more Salsa Congresses now than ever before, in many parts of the world, where salseros showcase their dancing abilities. Salsa dancing classes for the casual dancer are also very popular. The old inventory of Fania Records recordings has been bought twice in the last few years, and people want more of it, be it from old legends or newcomers, which are now entering through the Salsa Dura door.
I couldn’t be happier to see these different styles of Salsa co-exist. Its important the genre maintains its vitality by staying close to its roots. The Salsa Clasica movement vibrating across the globe is important to keep Salsa alive. On the other hand, there will always be space for variants and experimentation. Artist that don’t do their own thing, that don’t experiment with variants, that always stick to a formula they found that works commercially, will become unexciting and irrelevant.
A Few Salsa Recommendations for Your Collection:
I find these to be very good additions to the collection of any salsero:
Raphy Leavitt: “Live 30 Aniversario”
Eddie Palmieri: “Rumbero del Piano”, “La Perfecta II”
Jose Lugo: “Guasabara”
Frankie Ruiz: “Solista Pero No Solo”
Louie Ramirez & Ray de la Paz: “Con Cache”, “Otra Noche Caliente”
Willie Rosario: “Afincando”
Gilberto Santa Rosa: “Perspectiva”
Next on the “Salsa Ups and Downs” Series:
“Salsa Music Ups and Downs – the popularity of Regaetton”
Related Links at LatinoWebCafe.com:
Salsa Music Ups and Downs- Series Intro
Salsa Music Ups and Downs- Part 2a, the threat of Rock and Disco
Salsa Music Ups and Downs- Fania All Stars sidebar
Salsa Music Ups and Downs- Part 2b, the threat of Rock and Disco
Is this “Salsa Ups and Downs” series making any sense to you? Let me know what you like and what you don’t like about these articles by posting your Comments below.
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