Newsletter for the Center for Black Music Research. In many musical discussions, styles of music found in the Americas and the Caribbean are often referred to as African-derived. Similarities in sound and function to African bell patterns provide evidence towards a theory of clave's origins and an evolutionary link between African music and salsa.
Salsa is a Latin musical style that incorporates a variety of influences.
Originating in Cuba and Puerto Rico and emerging from the musical climate of New York City in the 1950s, it has found popularity throughout the Americas and the other Caribbean islands, as well as in Europe and Japan. Salsa has its roots in Cuban popular and folkloric music and is enhanced by jazz textures. In Spanish, clave literally means key, clef, code, or keystone. Claves are two wooden sticks hit together to produce a high piercing sound. In Latin music terminology the word clave refers not only to these instruments but also to the specific rhythmic patterns they play and the underlying rules which govern these patterns.