Salsa romántica

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Salsa romántica, also known as salsa monga, is a sub-genre of salsa music that emerged in the mid 1980s in New York and Puerto Rico. It has been the most commercially successful form of salsa in the last 20 years, despite criticism that it is a pale imitation of "real" salsa.

1 Description and Origins
2 Criticism
3 The Form Today
4 Salsa erótica
5 Notable singers

[edit] Description and Origins

Salsa romántica arose at a time when classic, big-band salsa, of the kind popularized by Fania Records in the 1970s, was taking a severe beating on the Latin record charts, owing to the merengue boom and the rise of Latin pop. To give the music broader commercial appeal, especially in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, emphasis was taken away from the hard-hitting orchestrations of the 60s, 70s and early 80s, and focused mainly on the romantic, softer aspects of salsa, creating a mixture of earlier salsa brava and the ballad style. Salsa romántica was championed in recordings by, among others, Eddie Santiago, Frankie Ruiz, Luis Enrique, Willie Gonzalez, Lalo Rodriguez, and Jerry Rivera.

[edit] Criticism

Critics of salsa romántica, especially in the late 80s and early 90s, called it a commercialized, watered-down form of Latin pop, in which formulaic, sentimental love ballads were simply put to an Afro-Cuban beat--leaving no room for classic salsa’s brilliant musical improvisation, or for classic salsa lyrics that tell stories of daily life or provide social and political commentary. Marketing, it is true, often has been based more on the youthful sex appeal of the singers than on the quality of their music. For these reasons, the form sometimes has been derided as salsa monga (limp or flaccid salsa), as opposed to salsa gorda or salsa dura (fat or hard salsa).

[edit] The Form Today

However, the strict lines between salsa romántica and classic salsa have been blurring in recent years. Several performers have succeeded in blending elements of salsa romántica and more hard-driving, traditional salsa, including Tito Rojas, Eddie Santiago, Anthony Cruz, Gilberto Santa Rosa, La India, and Victor Manuelle.

Marc Anthony and Tito Rojas are the best-known performers of salsa romántica today. Young salseros gravitating to the form include Anthony Cruz, Angel López (former lead singer of Son by Four), Frankie Negrón, Kevin Ceballo, Charlie Cruz, and Jay Lozada.

Omar Alfanno is probably the most prolific songwriter in the salsa romántica genre. Other notable composers include Palmer Hernandez and Jorge Luis Piloto. Antonio "Tony" Moreno, Sergio George and Julio "Gunda" Merced are some of the most notable producers in the salsa romántica genre.

[edit] Salsa erótica

Main article: Salsa erótica

Salsa erótica (or “sexy salsa”) was a short-lived offshoot of salsa romántica in the late 1980s, in which a few performers branched off into explicitly sexual lyrics. The most popular salsa erótica recordings are probably “Ven, Devórame Otra Vez” ("Come, Devour Me Again") by Lalo Rodriguez, in which the singer is imploring his woman for another session of oral sex; and “Desnúdate, Mujer” (“Get Naked, Woman”) by Frankie Ruiz.