ABSTRACT
Like other genres, salsa is a deceptively simple word that refers to an identifiable category of music which is internally diverse and historically changing, and also to a broader series of extra-musical social practices and cultural associations. Like all music it can be studied in formal terms as a genre with specific identifiable stylistic traits, melodic phrases, rhythmic patterns, harmonies and instrumental-vocal exchanges, and these can be learnt by musicians wishing to perform salsa (Gerard and Sheller, 1989). As with the other genres covered in this book, salsa can also be approached in anthropological or sociological terms as a dynamic social practice created across analytic distinctions such as production/ consumption and culture/politics.
