| Contents |
Before Cuba. The highest-priced slaves ; Drums of war ; "We have always had the drum" ; Zarabanda's mambo -- Colonial Cuba. The Areito and the romance ; By post from the Indies ; The shipyard ; The fertile crescent ; The Atlantis of the Caribbean ; Buying whites and selling blacks: a contradanza ; La nuit des tropiques -- Afro-Cuba. The western and central Sudanic blues ; The Congo that was Cuba ; A secret language, for men only ; Hiding in plain sight -- Insurgent Cuba. The romance of revolution ; Rumba ; Fire -- The Plattist republic. Marti's monster ; Guitar and piano ; If he bathes, he splashes you ; The tango age ; Tres and bongo ; The dance of the millions ; The son boom ; The mulata love triangles ; The peanut vendor ; The fall -- Batista in power. The revolution of 1933 ; The liberation of the drum ; Nague, nague, nague, nague ; Mano a mano -- The auténtico years. Diablo! ; Life is a dream ; Mambo number five ; Television. |
| Abstract |
This entertaining history of Cuba and its music begins with the collision of Spain and Africa and continues through the era of Miguelito Valdes, Arsenio Rodriguez, Benny More, and Perez Prado. It offers a behind-the-scenes examination of music from a Cuban point of view, unearthing surprising, provocative connections and making the case that Cuba was fundamental to the evolution of music in the New World. The ways in which the music of black slaves transformed 16th-century Europe, how the "claves" appeared, and how Cuban music influenced ragtime, jazz, and rhythm and blues are revealed. Music lovers will follow this journey from Andalucia, the Congo, the Calabar, Dahomey, and Yorubaland via Cuba to Mexico, Puerto Rico, Saint-Domingue, New Orleans, New York, and Miami. The music is placed in a historical context that considers the complexities of the slave trade; Cuba's relationship to the United States; its revolutionary political traditions; the music of Santeria, Palo, Abakua, and Vodu; and much more. |
