The Guajeo

Since my office mate Light Bright is still gone, I can listen to whatever I want. Today it’s the flamenco station on Pandora so I can get my fix of Phrygian mode music, but they sometimes switch from flamenco to salsa. I don’t know what to do in that case, since I love salsa, but I have a whole other station devoted to salsa. Do I "dislike" the song to get it off my flamenco station or "like" it and risk turning this station into Salsa II?Anyway, that made me wonder what mode salsa music is typically in; I would guess Aeolian (the usual “minor key” we are familiar with), but I am not having any luck finding this information. However, I did find this interesting tidbit on Wikipedia: you know the piano line in salsa? It’s usually arpeggiated chords in syncopated patterns, according to Wikipedia, and is also “one of the most recognizable elements in salsa music.” There’s a name for that – it’s called the guajeo. I never knew that, even as long as I’ve been into salsa music. The problem is that I have never played it.

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