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What happened to all the Salsa Clubs In Puerto Rico?... I keep hearing all these terrible rumors about Puerto Rican Salsa Clubs... When I went to the Salsa Congress in 1997, the clubs played Salsa, but I've been receiving emails now from all over the world with complaints of the lack of Salsa Clubs on the island.. What's going on here? "Dear Edie, This past Christmas I went back home. One of my goals was to find good "Dear Edie, Many of us leave to try and find a better life style. To pursue the American dream. Let me tell you a story about a family I know very well. This will be more about a young man who was able to find his culture, roots, music, what he is about and who he really is. He came to the U.S. about 13 years ago. His mother brought him along with his younger sister. When they left Puerto Rico it was devastating. They had to leave family, friends, culture and music behind. They were heading out for a new frontier and new surroundings. They did not even know if they would be able to get in touch with other Puerto Ricans. It was a very sad moment. When they arrived in the mainland. They were greeted by his stepfather, who came to the mainland before them to find a home. Try to imagine yourself in a country in which you don't speak the language. How would you feel? You must accustom yourself to the new style of life. It usually doesn't start right away. Many of the Puerto Rican that come to the U.S. find themselves out of place. They don't look like any particular race. We blend in with everyone. We can look Latin, Caucasian, African-American, Italian, Arabic or who ever. They only way you can distinguish us is by either the music or the way we speak. If we don't have Puerto Rican friends we try to hang out with who ever takes us in their group. These groups have their own style of music. For a person to fit in and be cool. We do as they do. We party with them, hang out, listen to their music. In reality, in the back of our minds, we miss our own music. We miss our little island. We miss our culture. So he decided to go along with the flow. Within a couple of years he switched from crowd to crowd until he finally ended up with the hip-hop crew. This lasted for the entire time he was in high school. The summer after high school he decided to take a trip to Puerto Rico. He said to himself this is going to be my pilgrimage. My time to search for who I really am. My time for a little soul searching. He was more mature and was able to make decisions for himself. Once he got to the island. All he heard on the radio was Salsa, Salsa and more Salsa. That is when it started to hit him how much he really missed his homeland. How much he missed his music. From that time on he was hooked. He bought music to take back to the mainland with him. As soon as he arrived on the mainland he started to seek out stores that sold Salsa. He started finding information on Salsa clubs. This guy was hooked. He was now, officially, a Salsa-holic. Many of us take a lot of things for granted. Many of us don't know what we have until it's gone. We go through life and don't take the time to appreciate all the beautiful gifts we are given. When you live on the island. You are overwhelmed and surrounded by the music day and night. It is basically part of life. A person can easily overlook and under appreciate the music we have. The energy it brings into our soul. The joys and smiles Salsa can wipe your face with. Since we already have it we don't pay much attention to it. Let's go back to the question at hand. Here is my explanation. We Puerto Ricans come to the U.S. We try to have a good life and we sometimes do. After a while you start to miss the wonderful times you had. You start to miss the food, spirit, "parandas", family, beach parties, "patronales" and specially the music. To get in touch with Borinquen you start to listen to Salsa. This brings back memories of when you were living there. You are so into the music that you let it into your soul. You let it take over your body. It makes you feel good again. All of a sudden you find yourself a "Salsa Maniaco" or a "Salsa Freak" Dear Edie, I went the Planetarium on Wed. eve and they had a sign that said it was Latin night, but they were closed that night. So instead we hung out at the club in the lobby of the El San Juan. They had a decent live band, but they played more Merengue. On Thursday, we went to Egypto. They were playing a lot of Salsa when we got there, but that was a tape that the DJ put on so he could take a break. When he returned, he switched to club music. We went to the San Juan Chateu (formally Dos Anos 2000). This looks like a good place to hang out, but as luck would have it, they had 3 live Merengue bands performing that night. Other than missing out on a lot of Salsa dancing, I had a great time in PR. But thanks for your help. Dear Edie, Anyway, I was reading the statement about salsa clubs and Puerto Rico and I must agree with the statement that Merengue, and rock are much more important among the young Puerto Ricans than Salsa. I attended the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras (near San Juan) for a semester, and before I left I expected Salsa and Salsa dancing to be really big there. (BTW, I live in Washington DC) Boy was I surprised when I got there. Most of the people I encountered at the University had very little interest in Salsa, much less dancing Salsa. In Puerto Rico, the people who are very into Salsa music are called Cocolos, which historically was one of the somewhat derisive terms used to refer to people of African descent. In general most of the Cocolos in Puerto Rico are non-white Puerto Ricans from the barrios. Most of the upper class "whiter" Puerto Ricans are rockeros and listen a lot of rock en Espanol and American music. In other words, what all this means is that in Puerto Rico generally speaking Salsa is something that is mostly enjoyed by the lower class Puerto Ricans...it is not as glamorous and widely accepted among the different social classes as it is in NYC or LA. The best Salsa clubs that I went to in Puerto Rico that had THE BEST dancers and music were Coabey and Tropico on Friday nights. They are right around the corner from each other and they are free most Fridays. They are not in the safest neighborhoods, and people come dressed in everything from overalls and tennis shoes to party dresses. You can really tell that the people there are real cocolos... not a whole lot a tricks or real flashy dancing, just people who have come together to dance with all their hearts to the music we love. People also bring their own guiros, chekeres, and maracas and play along with the music. Edie, you would love this club... they only play about 4 (at the most) Merengue songs the entire night ;) If you ever get the chance to go back to PR you should check these clubs out. Dear Edie, Dear Edie, |
