Cultural studies: A UW student’s pursuit of art and music through salsa
Multimedia story by Nicole Ciridon. Click here to view.
Text by Andrew Hart
The word “salsa” is a metaphor for a genre of music that emerged as a result of mixture: Cuban-based rhythms played (mainly) by Puerto Ricans in New York City. Salsa is—a sauce— used to help describe the cultural and musical make-up of New York City during the 1960s and 1970s; what it isn’t is a rhythm. (National Geographic World Music)
“[The teacher] was very austere. In that if you learn this rhythm you get every little thing in place because in order for me to say this is hundreds of years old you need to make sure that all the people who have passed it on have done so accurately and precisely.” – Deva Wells
Like most styles of dance and music, salsa can be reduced to very objective components. Afro-Cuban derived, recurring rhythmic sequences set to a 4/4 time signature, percussion driven and often paired with its three-step dance of the same name. But to experience salsa – to hear it, to feel it and embrace it – it becomes clear that there is much more to salsa than what can be put on paper. To experience salsa is to taste the energy and diversity that gave rise to the style among Latin communities in the 1960s.
As the name implies, salsa is a hybrid of influences that takes on different form and meaning for different occasions and environments. The dynamic and malleable nature of salsa is what attracted Deva Wells. A neurobiology student at the University of Washington, Wells has been passionate about music, but has not excelled at reading music. In high school, Wells took a chance with a community percussion class, where she was first exposed to salsa. After learning the fundamentals, Wells’ passion for salsa exploded as she began to experience the culture of salsa – the style, the history, the creativity and the energy. Today, she continues to play salsa as a means to explore other cultures and develop her own.
One Response to “Cultural studies: A UW student’s pursuit of art and music through salsa”
Leave a Reply
Blog at WordPress.com.
Theme: Monotone by Automattic.
Love the quick shots, creative idea and more appropriate for a story about dance. I also liked the connection from title to the flow of the story.