Homepage | This page will contain general, basic information about salsa dancing and music. There will be information on contemporary salsa music and artists as well as foot charts that explain the basics of the salsa dance steps.
The following is a list of artists in the salsa and merengue genres along with a list of albums they have produced.If you hold your mouse over an album title, a tooltip will provide a rough translation of the title.
List by Abi and Danielle |
Gotta Dance.org | |
DanceCorner.com:Rhythm Chart | |
Dance In Time Productions | |
DC Dance.net | |
Basic Steps | |
Variation 1 | |
Variation 2 | |
Variation 3 | |
Variation 4 | |
JustSalsa.com: Pictures of the Celia Cruz Exhibit at the National Museum of American History |
Merengue is a type of music very similar to salsa, but with a different beat. While salsa focuses around a 2 on 3 beat with steps that generally move forward and back, merengue has a 2/4 beat and moves side to side. It's tempo and steps resemble sort of a march. |
CeliaCruz |
Celia Cruz was born in Cuba...Celia's famous catch-phrase was "Azucar!", which means "sugar". She inserted it in songs, sort of the way musicians in other genres will say "Yeah!". This is where our group got "Azucar!", for any of you who were wondering why on earth we were signing our blog posts, etc. with that word. From what we understand Celia is to Salsa what Elvis was to rock'n'roll. Celia was declared the "Queen of Salsa" and her music is very popular in the salsa scene in Lubbock; her music is classic and widely appreciated. This link will take you to a webpage with more information about Celia's life and career development: Celia Cruz This link will take you to the lyrics (and translation) of one of her songs: Lyrics |
Celia Cruz: La Vida Es Un Carnaval |
Todo aquel que piense que la vida es desigual, tiene que saber que no es asi, que la vida es una hermosura, hay que vivirla. Todo aquel que piense que esta solo y que esta mal, tiene que saber que no es asi, que en la vida no hay nadie solo, siempre hay alguien. Ay, no ha que llorar, que la vida es un carnaval, es mas bello vivir cantando. Oh, oh, oh, Ay, no hay que llorar, que la vida es un carnaval y las penas se van cantando. Todo aquel que piense que la vida siempre es cruel, tiene que saber que no es asi, que tan solo hay momentos malos, y todo pasa. Todo aquel que piense que esto nunca va a cambiar, tiene que saber que no es asi, que al mal tiempo buena cara, y todo pasa. Ay, no ha que llorar, que la vida es un carnaval, es mas bello vivir cantando. Oh, oh, oh, Ay, no hay que llorar, que la vida es un carnaval y las penas se van cantando. [Para aquellos que se quejan tanto. Para aquellos que solo critican. Para aquellos que usan las armas. Para aquellos que nos contaminan. Para aquellos que hacen la guerra. Para aquellos que viven pecando. Para aquellos nos maltratan. Para aquellos que nos contagian.] |
Translation: |