Almost a year ago, I wrote a blog sharing my fears and trepidations on the impact of a Salsa Congress on the continent of Africa. And while Africa is a vast continent comprised of several unique countries and nationalities which make broad generalizations inappropriate, my recent trip to Ghana and to its salsa clubs was more disturbing than usual. It was a further testiment to how little WE know about ourselves and what is OURS and to how much we continue to strive to resemble and replicate everything that springs forth from those who did not (and perhaps still do not) recognize and acknowledge our humanity.

Being my sixth trip to Ghana (I make the sojourn home every other year), I was shocked by how "westernized" we had become relative to dress and appearance. For those who KNOW what I'm talking about, short and tight fitting skirts were everywhere in the City; the majority of women had long, straightened hair and advertisements for skin bleaching products bombarded the television sets and street billboards. Except for the elders, very few men and women in the city (Accra) were wearing traditional clothing. Man, the influence of the West and the MAN are far-reaching and are wreaking havoc on the culture.

Though, this may seem disconnected from what is occuring in salsa, believe me.....one thing is an extension of the other. When a people become disconnected from who they are and their inner essence, they begin to assimilate those things (values, mores, worldview, etc. ) from the dominant culture into their own existence and accept them as being their own, while at the same time, disavowing those things that truly belong to them and that define who they are and their relationship with everything in the cosmos around them.

Unfortunately, many of our brethren in Ghana (especially in the cities) are exhibiting an increasing level of self-hate (whether conscious or not) by changing the way that they look and dress to more resemble those that enslaved and colonized them.

In the salsa clubs (or at least, the two spots that I checked out), the majority of dancers have also given up their relationship with the indigenous African spirit that lies at the root of salsa or have not been taught (or not being taught) to embrace it as their own because, in fact, it is their own. Anyway, to my shock and amazement, the instructors - who were Ghanaians - were teaching L. A. Style-Salsa to classes of 40 - 55 club participants eager to learn about the dance. How absurd......in the bossom, in the birthplace of the spirit that drives the ebb and flow, the give and take of the dance and dance movements that weres taken from the continent by slaves to the Caribbean and other parts of the world.... that they were being taught L.A. performance-style salsa!!!!

When I asked the instructors after their classes why they weren't teaching their students about the unique and special relationship that THEY, as Africans, have with the music and the spirit that drives it and how this spirit manefests itself in everything that they do and in their natural movements, I was told that the students couldn't "own" or feel the spirit because most of the songs were in Spanish. How completely ABSURD; give me a break!

Again, and maybe its just me, the true spirit of the music is not in the spoken word (words that merely emulate the sounds of the instruments), but in the melodies, harmonies, interchange, etc., resulting from the vibrations of the congas, drums, bells, horns, etc. THAT is the true spirit that drives the music and allows people like me to claim and own it. The vibrations of the congas, drums, bells, horns, etc., are what speaks to me and to my spirit......that makes my feet, knees, shoulders, and head move, naturaly, spontaneously, insync with all of the spirits that are around me; this is not rehearsed, it is a reaction or a response to a call. It is "whatever happens next".

In too many instances, L.A. Style Salsa appears to be all about "style and flare" and not about "substance and relationships"; it is about executing a pattern "on top of" or "in spite of the the rhythm", as opposed to "with or in response to" the rhythm and its underlying spirit. While Ghana is only one spot on the vast continent of Africa, and generalizations are inappropriate, it appears that the effort to disassociate ourselves from anything that is African (our essence, appearances, dress, worldview), also extends into the world of dance, of salsa, where we are being taught to disassociate ourselves from the spirit which drives the music and the dance.

Tony, Muneco, Maria, Albert, Benjamin (bless his spirit)........we need all of you -more than ever- to keep the spirit that drives "true" salsa alive before it is completely forgotten and replaced by "what we see weekly on our television sets". In the words of Marcus Garvey, "rise up you mighty race and claim what is rightfully yours".