Not to be confused with the music genre of mambo originally created by Cuban musician, Perez Prado, the “mambo” talked about here refers to a section of the songs in which wind and brass instruments take center stage. In yet another installment of musicality-oriented posts that this blog is so known for, this article helps us keep exploring the inner workings of the son montuno so that we can use this knowledge of the music to transform the way we dance casino.

International dance festivals in Cuba: they are everything you ever asked for in a festival, and then some more–except if you asked for a lot of Cubans to dance with at the festival. Then no. You can’t have that. Here’s why.

Es hora de reconsiderar el papel que juega la rueda en la instrucción de casino. Escrito originalmente por James Buclew.

¿Qué es la salsa? Desde musicólogos hasta músicos, desde aficionados de música hasta bailadores, hasta cualquier otra persona que ha escuchado esta música, todos parecen tener su propia definición. Partiendo de entrevistas hechas a diferentes músicos, algunos de los cuales tuvieron un papel crucial en el historia de la salsa, quizá encontremos una respuesta.

Why should others do what Cubans themselves do not do? What’s the point of “staying true” to the name of casino when the Cubans themselves do not? And if Cubans themselves call casino “salsa,” isn’t calling casino “salsa,” just like Cubans do, showing respect for the culture? These are the questions I always get. And this is why these are the wrong questions to ask.