Is There Something Missing From Today's Salsa?
By
Nestor Louis
Almost 15 years have passed by since the birth of romantic salsa (salsa romantica/erotica) and ever since its conception, salsa has not been the same. Because there are those who say that "today's salsa is too boring" and others that say that "yesterday's salsa is too old", salsa is as controversial as the politics of Washington D.C and The World.
It all started in the early 80s when (believe it or not) salsa was losing ground in commercial radio airplay to other rhythms, mainly balads/pop and merenge (Notice I said commercial radio play). Regardless of that, salsa was still played in all Latin clubs. From there, a huge amount of hits were spawned. However as big as most of those hits were, none of them became the benchmark of success that Periodico De Ayer", "Agua De Clavelito", "Catalina La O", "Usted Abuso" and "Pedro Navaja" were in the 70s. In order to stop this downward spiral; salsa artists, arrangers, and producers picked up on an idea already thought off and executed by the late Louie Ramirez long before Luis Enrique and Eddie Santiago thought of going into salsa. The idea was to arrange and perform popular standard ballads in a salsa rhythm. To make a long story short, the format was an instant success. Radio thought that salsa was tamed and refined enough for radio, and therefore decided to play more of it. As a result this generated more hits and more stars. Unfortunately, today we are faced with the possibility of losing what in the eyes of many is considered good music.
It all boils down to this, everyone including today's young generation knows that yesterdays salsa is 100 times better than today's salsa. Many of us have the recordings to prove it. When was the last time you heard a piano solo that was truly a piano solo and not a 15 seconds tease of what is just basic accompaniment without the horns section? When did you last hear a timbal, conga or bongo do a solo that went beyond the 1 minute mark, leaving your body shaking with goose bumps? Where were you when you last heard an extraordinary brass or woodwind solo that left you saying "damn he's got to be the best trumpet, trombone, or sax player in the whole world"? The answer is: You can't remember. If you do, I'm pretty sure that: A) it was back at some live concert. B) It was performed by an older band or some group you never heard off. C) It was done back in the 70s. I remember many Ray Barretto albums where the average track was 6:00 minutes long. They were filled with spontaneous, moņas, descargas or improvisations. Like Barretto, there were many other artists that showcased the same musical ingenuity and still created and preserved their own musical identity. There was Ismael Quintana, Justo Betancourt, Pete "Conde" Rodriguez, Cheo Feliciano, Adalberto Santiago Hector Lavoe, Ismael Rivera and many others that did their own thing filled with energy and soul, without sounding like each other.
"Yes Ness we now all that - what's the point?" Well the point is the following - As good as all of these guys were and still are, no one is buying their albums! People both young and old would much rather buy a Marc Anthony, Jerry Rivera, India, Rey Ruiz etc, etc, etc than let us say Willie Rosario, Joe Cuba, Sonora Ponceņa or even the mighty Gran Combo. I hear it all the time in record shops, people of all ages claim that today's music is crap compared to what 70s had to offer, meanwhile cds of youthful artists are in their arms and hands. I saw it with my own eyes during the two days festivities of the latest Salsa Festival in The Madison Square Garden. The first concert featured: Eddie Palmieri with Ismael Quintana on vocals, Johnny Pacheco with Pete "Conde" Rodriguez & Hector Casanova, El Gran Combo, Israel "Cachao" Lopez, The King and Queen of Mambo Tito Puente and Celia Cruz and maybe some other guys. With a line up like this you would figure that, all of us who claim "to love" yesterdays music would've showed up in droves right! Wrong!!! The MSG was not even 80 percent full!!! I am sure that Ralph Mercado made his money, but I am also sure that he won't gamble like that again. Meanwhile, the concert that featured Johnny Rivera, Rey Ruiz, Tito Nieves, India, Marc Anthony etc, etc was packed. Matter of fact It was sold out a month before they performed where as the old timers struggled in sales!!! Where were the so called 70s salsa lovers? Where were they? I know where, they were watching Marc Anthony bring the MSG down the next day.
A dear friend of mine, I call him The Bitter Old Man; introduced me to salsa about 15 years ago. I became very interested in the music, and with his help I started listening to salsa from the 60s and 70's. Still, to some degree he refuses to listen to anything done by, what he calls, "these young kids". I could understand why. After all, he does not know any of them. And why should he? Everyday of the week there is a new kid on the block. But the reason I bring him up is because, he like many others, feels that today's music is true waste of time because "they all sound the same". Lets be honest; there are many albums out there from all of today's artist that do sound alike. I do not mean in their voices, but in the way their albums sound. If you don't believe me do this experiment. Take any two albums from any young artists and swap their voices; trust me you will not notice a difference or anything out of the ordinary. As my friend the Bitter Old Man would say "there is no Identity". No longer is there that distinctive sound that you can immediately identify with a given artist or musician. The celestial trumpet sound of Bobby Cruz and Richie Ray, The forceful trombone sound of Eddie Palmieri and Willie Colon, The tight and synchronized descarga/mambo sound of Tommy Olivencia - That is all gone. I understand why every serious salsa collector is bitter, very BITTER. Trust me, I feel your pain.
Is there anything we can do about this? I mean really? I know! Let's all stop buying new music and stay locked in our basements, apartments, homes and mansions listening to all our old stuff - Yeah that will teach those young punks a lesson or two. Will it really? They will all still be recording, people will still buy their records, and a small percentage of us will actually go on through life without buying any of their recordings. No matter what we'll still be bitter and happy. On the other hand, I believe that we must understand what my Bitter Old Man friend understands. As bitter as he is he knows and suggests that "hay que darle paso a un ritmo nuevo".
Believe me when I tell you that, we the young people of today's salsa are trying our best to bring back the fierceness and the spice, together with our passion and pretty faces to let salsa be what it once was. Music of the people, by people, and for the people. I remember seeing Marc Anthony perform in what was a free concert and later in the MSG. Both times, he and his band (oddly enough made up of young musicians - I did not know any of them!) blew me away with the same intensity of Larry Harlow with Nestor Sanchez on vocals at La Feria Latina 1992 and SOB's 1995. I have been witness to Victor Manuel's rhyming on clave and extended improvisations just as those done by Cheo Feliciano at MSG during his 25th anniversary in the music business back in 1984.
Perhaps we are not trying hard enough, but we are trying. We are educating our fellow youths in something that was once considered too old fashioned to listen to. And if we have to re-invent the wheel to save ourselves, then we must and we will! And you; the bitter old people of the world, the ones that hate change and anything post 1979 will have to advice us and support us. If not, then remain bitter and watch your own youngsters loose that natural Latin flavor that is rightfully theirs. There is nothing more sad than a young Latino that wants learn about himself and his culture without a point of reference - someone he could look up too. We are trying to change things, but is not going to happen overnight - just bear with us.
The youngbloods of salsa certainly need to be more diverse and more dynamic in our music. Not every track in our albums have to be a straight salsa/mambo. In our rhythmic spectrum we also have "El Son Montuno", "La Guaracha", "El Son", "El Guaguanco", "El Cha-Cha-Cha", "La Charanga" and "El Bolero". All of these are elements of our music that should not be passed by due to lack of commercial appeal. Luis Miguel went multi platinum by recording old songs didn't he? Jerry Rivera did something closely similar when he did "Un Amor Verdadero" a Cha-Cha-Cha. If you do it, trust me there will be mass appeal and major success! Furthermore, producers have to be a bit more daring and creative. How many Cuto Soto, Tommy Villariny, Julito Alvarado, Julio "Gunda" Merced, Isidro Infante and Sergio George productions must I go through before noticing that all of them, within their scheme of things, sound the same? Bear in mind that we are not asking you to become instant soneros and out of the blue start singing stuff about the streets, or inspirational messages about getting our lives straight. Neither are we asking you become overnight producers and start developing the next "Hommy", "Maestra Vida", or the next rhythm mix craze ala "Rock con Salsa" (Gunda Merced & Salsa Fever 1987 for those triva buffs). What we are asking is that you, at least at a minimum, develop your own identity by becoming more versatile and agile with your music. Look back into the 70s if you have to, but please no remakes. They are horrible!!! Tribute songs to any dead or living salsa singer should be totally dismissed. Is enough already!!! Some of you guys don't even have 10 years in the business, wait until then!!! Enough with "baby's" and the English bits (you hear me Cuto!!!) it sounds silly. And finally park the giant egos. Remember that the people that placed you up on the throne of success with ease, can just as easily dethrone you (remember Eddie Santiago?). Do not imitate, inspire yourself from those around your environment who made it and are still there. For example: Gilberto Santarosa, Jose Alberto "El Canario", Oscar D' Leon and Tony Vega when he wants to.
I think I'm done, hopefully from now on we will have better music.
Š 1995 - 99 Nestor A. Louis
NL4mambo@aol.com