Dancing to English Salsa Music

A logical solution to ending the frustration of many Salsa bands is to sing Salsa in English. The Latin Pop band Gloria Estefan & the Miami Sound Machine had a world hit in 1989 with the Salsa song ‘Oye Mi Canto’ (‘Hear My Singing’). This song was a combination of Spanish and English. Other international artists such as Ricky Martin and Chayenne also had great hits with some Salsa songs in 2 languages.

But the Latin Pop sound of their Salsa Music did not appeal to the general Salsa dance public. Instead the music evolved into the commercially very successful Latin House. 

New York became the city for pioneering Salsa in English. In 1986 the Salsa artist Tito Nieves decided to start his solo career and set himself apart by singing Salsa in English. His song ‘I Like It Like That’, an English sung Boogaloo from the album with the same name which was released in 1996, became a chart-topper. The Salsa Romantica song ‘I’ll Always Love You’ had been an immensely popular tune on the Salsa dance floors of the late 90’s. In April 1996 the band with young artists DLG released its first album ‘Dark Latin Groove’. They successfully combined the Latin Salsa with Hip-Hop, Reggae, and samples of House music. Their Puerto Rican counterparts Son By Four (album ‘Son by Four’ released in 2000 including the number one song ‘A Puro Dolor’) added Flamenco to the mix. But their music was too much ahead of its time for Salsa dancers. Many Salsa dancers did not have a clue on how to dance eclectic Salsa music. In 2010 this problem is quite evident when seeing lots of Salsa dancers dancing Salsaton: they seem completely oblivious to the Reggaeton parts of the music.

A front runner of the modern English sung Salsa is Alex Wilson, one of U.K.’s foremost Latin Jazz recording artists. In his album ‘R&B Latino’ (released in 2004) the pianist, composer, producer and educator Wilson blends English and Spanish sung Salsa with different types of R&B tunes and Latin Jazz music. International Salsa Dance instructors from the U.K. started to spread his music around the world by using it to teach at international Salsa congresses.  From is Salsa music workshops, his many albums,  Rhythm and Timing CD’s, to his newest book ‘Find The Rhythm’: Wilson is constantly breaking boundaries and helps Salsa dancers worldwide to understand and appreciate Salsa music even better.

Remakes of well known Pop Top 40 charts are also making their way into the collections of most Salsa DJ’s. ‘My Favorite Things’ (from the classical movie ‘The Sound of Music’), ‘You Rock My World’ (Michael Jackson), and ‘Ain’t Nobody’ (Chaka Khan) are just a pick out of a growing list of music which have been transformed into understandable and very danceable Salsa and Mambo music.