Excellent introduction, but I believe you did a little mistake:

At 3' 52'' you are the *Rumba* clave pattern is heard, instead of the *Son* clave you mentioned.

Rumba clave is rarely played in Salsa music.

A-ha! You are correct, and that is the rumba clave pattern at 3' 52". Good ears. In the next installment of this one, we're going to explain son-vs-rumba, but in the meantime, a little preview of rumba clave.

My understanding is that rumba clave is getting used more and more in salsa, particularly in timba salsa.

I believe "los van van" (timba band) empahsizes rhumba clave on some of their songs. But son clave is definitely used more in salsa music.

Great job guys. It's a bear to tackle all the different rhythms going on at the same time in Latin music. It's one of my favorite styles to play on the drum set. Usually I Play the cascara on the high hats with the right hand, and the clave on the snare (as a rim click) and the the tumbao on the kick.

salsa is the life! :D

another great pancast out~

(congrats on the sponsorship from hyundai as well, goes to show that pandora is getting more popular. :) )

Another fantastic podcast, Kevin.

Latin music is so powerful and fascinating that it loses none of its charms by being "demystified." The way you have focused on the various intertwining musical elements, while giving their historical roots as well, is excellent.

I would love to hear a future podcast focused entirely on the clave: its roots in Yoruban religious ceremonies, its various forms, and its presence in various forms of music.

Bravo,
mz

Thanks, MZ! I would love to spend a whole episode on just the clave alone. Such a rich history there to mine.

I wish you did not "zip" the podcasts. MP3 hardly compresses at all so by zipping it you save no download time while creating an extra step for your listeners (unzipping)

Great podcast Kevin! and congratulations to the guys in Orquesta D'Soul too!

It totally managed to capture the basic sounds of this style.

Explaining this rhythm is not easy because of syncopation. "Son" is really complex and beautiful musically speaking...

And talking about latin rhythms... Why not make a podcast about Bolero too?

Ah, I love Bolero. So many more Latin rhythms to cover... we'll definitely get to more. I'm glad you liked it.

Tony, as for the MP3-vs-ZIP, I will ask the engineers.

just to say, clearly instructive, surely not demystifying, let's be real, nothing is going to demystify a music that makes people move the way salsa does. I was lucky enough to witness some killer salsa at The Elbo Room, San Francisco a couple of winters ago. Guess what, you don't get that chance on the seacoast of New Hampshire!
Pandora has genuinely elevated my spirits this winter, though I do long mightily for the City by the Bay and my very good friends there.

The seacoast of New Hampshire... wait a second... this isn't Shayne, is it? If it is, then... Shayne! Good to hear from you, man.

The Elbo Room in San Francisco hosts some amazing salsa bands. Definitely. Also great: Cafe Cocomo in Potrero Hill, El Rio and Roccapulco in the Mission, Club Montero's in Albany, and that's just the proverbial iceberg tip.

I'm happy to hear that Pandora has made the winter more bearable for you. Greetings from the cities by the bay, and thanks for the kind words. We all hope you're back out here soon.

fantastic all! At last we have someone who is thinking of getting the groove of this music out to all for more saturation throughout the world.

T'is Shayne, tis. Baying at the icey, calcified moon, longing for the City by the Bay with her heat, diversity, beauty, and rollicking spirit. Pandora will help to nourish me toward that day I do return, perhaps this time to stay to the end.

Um? You don't think my Sigur Ros station is bad for my morale do you? Happy Chinese New Year Kevin and all Pandora creators and listeners! Year of the Boar, the pig. Snarfle and rut!

Snarfle and rut indeed. A Sigur Ros station conjures imagery of windswept Icelandic glaciers, which I would find healthy for morale. Aye, for there are places colder than the New Hampshire seacoast in February. Happy Chinese New Year, Shayne.

todavia no escuche

Those MP3's are zipped because a browser by default will play the file instead of propmt you to save it to disk. If they are left as MP3 they will play in the browser and will take you away from Pandora.com. Who wants that!?

Thank you SO SO much for the salsa lesson! It's so awesome that the people of Pandora are making these pocasts. What an amazing way to share, not just tricks of the trade, but music.

THANK YOU PANDORA AND CO.

You are correct about the ZIP reasoning, Jayson.

You're welcome! I'm very glad that you enjoyed the salsa show. I will pass word along to Marina and the guys.

While I always appreciate an attempt at explaining clave in technical terms, and am an admirer of Pandora, I need to point out that this was about "Son" and really had little to do with salsa.
The unique sound of what has come to be called "Salsa" (A highly disputed term in and of itself) while having strong roots in Cuba, is distinctly NOT Cuban, and NOT about "son"
Here in the bay area CubanoPhiles (I am Cuban American) completely miss the entire point of what brought Afro-Latin music to the world's attention inf the first place. It is an international musical expression, and Puerto Rico plays a stronger role than most people on the west coast seem to understand.
The singing is different, (ronco Vs, tenor) the melodies are different, (spanish and west African, Vs, Spanish, west African, gypsy, and middle eastern) many of the rhythms are different, (Rumba Vs, Bomba and Plena) and while most music from Cuba sounds dated (something that west coast newbies seem to like. that "good ol' sound") music from Puerto Rico was far more progressive.
Salsa was influenced by R&B because many of the arrangers and singers lived in New york during then50's and 60's and were influenced by doo wop, gospel,and soul, and Salsa has a far more political, and aggressive mood, as opposed to son, which in most cases is love songs or traditional themes.
I think it sime for the "good old timers" to Give Salsa, Especially Puerto Rican Salsa it's due, and quit getting your terms mixed up.

Thanks.

Piero

Piero,

The history is a varied one. The PR vs. Cuba debate will ALWAYS be an ongoing thing. I think you took Jason's comments about the montuno being from the "monte" and therefore having some origins in the son tradition way too seriously. The podcast was a generic salsa rhythm intro, and not specific to son. Hell, in traditional son, there's no timbal or congas, which were part of the podcast.

Hi, everybody,

We're getting bombed with comment-spam... I'm going to have to freeze this comments page for a while, sorry y'all. Other episodes' pages are still open, but this one is paused until the spam-bombers seek out another target.

Thanks for listening, and I hope you enjoy the many other episodes:
http://www.pandora.com/show