Music of Puerto Rico centers. After the island was taken over by Spain, the music and dance of Puerto Rico consisted of a combination of the harmonious musical styles that are borrowed from Spanish, African, and other European cultures, creating Puerto Rico's signature style of Latin dance. Salsa is a Spanish word that means sauce. It refers to the mixture of different rhythms composed of different Latin, African and Caribbean dances. Salsa is said to be first created around the 1960s and became popular to the non-Latino world drastically. The salsa dance is similar to the mambo dance. Salsa dancing is structured in six
Salsa music would seem at last that Cuban popular music could be marketed as salsa. In 1997, the film and CD Buena Vista Social Club, produced by Ry Cooder, was a big hit in the United States. America "discovered" Cuban music once again. However, for the most part, the music of the BVSC and its spin-offs was from the pre-mambo era. They do not play salsa. One exception was the BVSC spin-off, the Afro-Cuban All Stars. When touring the United States the All Stars performed arrangements that began very much like salsa tunes, but they would also employ breakdowns about halfway through