Salsa samples span conga and bongo percussion loops, timbale fills, claves patterns, upright bass lines, stabbing brass horn arrangements, and piano montuno riffs rooted in the Afro-Cuban tradition. The genre originated in New York City during the 1960s and 70s as Puerto Rican and Cuban immigrants fused the harmonic sophistication of jazz with the rhythmic intensity of Cuban son, mambo, and guaracha. Figures like Celia Cruz, Willie Colón, and the Fania All Stars shaped salsa as a defining sound of the Latin diaspora experience worldwide.
