The 1980's have been a continuum of the 70s. As such there
has been nothing new or strikingly different. Traditional salsa suffered a
decline in popularity given many salseros were not that interested in dancing
to salsa, at least not as much as in previous years. By the 1980s Dominican
Merangue became the craze. 'Salsa romantica' emerged emphasizing romantic
lyrics with an upbeat salsa tune. This style remained popular especially among
females who many times purchase more music than their male counterparts. We
also saw at this time the emergence of the handsome young lead singers that
took advantage of the female interest and helped sales. At times the quality
of the music suffered in order to accommodate greater sales. Artists such
as Eddie Santiago became popular singing in the new style. The 80s also saw
a comeback for some of the top bands like Tito Puente.
By the 1990s those tired of romantic salsa tried to bring back more traditional
salsa. The 90s have been a time when Salsa has enjoyed an incredibly increased
popularity around the world. Salsa continued to grow out of the Latino domain
and even into Europe. A large number of people from different cultures have
now embraced Salsa. This is evident in the success of an all-Japanese combo,
Orquesta de la Luz that helped to pave the way for others. In addition, former
hip hop singers Marc Anthony and La India returned to Latin music and started
a new period of salsa with influence from new Cuban sounds as well as rock
and rap. During this period the fusion of many genres continued resulted in
new salsa sounds such as those sounds of DLG, which mixes Cuban salsa, funk,
reggae and hip hop. Many agree the music has however, become diluted. However,
toward the end of the decade a trend seems to be developing leading back toward
the style of the classics. In addition, remakes of classic tunes do much to
revive interest in the more pure style.
