Arsenio Rodríguez
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Arsenio Rodríguez was a Cuban musician, composer and bandleader. He played the tres, as well as the tumbadora, and he specialized in son, rumba and other Afro-Cuban music styles. In the 1940s and 1950
Arsenio Rodríguez (center, standing) and his conjunto in the 1940s.
2-3 clave (top) with ponchando figure (bottom).
Salsa music
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Salsa is a style of dance music mainly influenced by Caribbean traditions and music from Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and other countries such as Colombia and Venezuela, where African cu
Arsenio Rodríguez
…the 1940s and 1950s Rodríguez established the conjunto format and contributed to the development of the son montuno, the basic template of modern-day salsa. He claimed to be the true creator of the mambo and was an important as well as a prolific composer who wrote nearly two hundred songs. Despite being…
Tumbadoras (conga drums), one of the basic instruments of salsa music
Graciela on claves and her brother Machito on maracas; Machito said that salsa was much like what he had been playing from the 1940s.
Bongos
Roger Dawson hosted a very popular Las Vegas radio show featuring salsa.