This project is an intersection between music, sociology and digital humanities. Salsa is not only a musical genre but also a movement with cultural and social weight, and the digital humanities in this project are perceived as the format of delivering this project.

The objectives for this project are several, but one of the main ones is to raise awareness about the syncretism and influence of African culture in this musical genre — especially for a Western demographic that may not be aware of the roots of Salsa music and its origins that reflect a strong history touched by power, resilience, resistance, as well as joy and celebration.

Salsa is an example of syncretism; it is typically the combination of Latin culture with African and Occidental characteristics. The project will highlight this through a dedicated section called “Origins and Influence,” which will include analysis of words like Aguanile, Quimbara and Ché Ché Colé, as well as a deep dive into the lyrics of salsa songs and their sociological meaning.

The project will also take a data analysis approach with the sentiment analysis of 100 salsa lyrics taken from Spotify’s Salsa Classics playlist. The analysis will focus on word frequencies, common themes, and emotional sentiment, and will be visualized with charts and graphs.

The site will include the following sections:

  • Important Figures
  • Timeline
  • Glossary

Each section aims to give context to salsa as a movement, not just a genre. The timeline will feature images, video, and audio. The glossary will explain common terms in the salsa lexicon. And the Important Figures section will present key artists such as Héctor Lavoe, Celia Cruz, Rubén Blades, Willie Colón, Ismael Rivera, and Frankie Ruiz — each representing a unique voice and impact on the movement.

The project is built with Jekyll and hosted on GitHub Pages. A prototype is already in development.