Customer Reviews

Arsenio Rodriguez and the Transnational Flows of Latin Popular Music (Studies In Latin America & Car)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

What a treasure to have an English-language resource that shines light on this important figure, a man who was, and is, simultaneously revered and neglected. The source of many of salsa's most enduring innovations, Arsenio Rodriguez' contributions spanned the mambo era and found resonance when this music re-emerged later as "salsa." Garcia does a fine job of illuminating this for the reader. It should not surprise Americans, as Garcia points out, that these innovations were inspired by Arsenio's profound understanding of Cuba's African traditions. Most refreshing, however, is finding an author who also understands the importance of Arsenio's music as "music for dance." Garcia engages his reader on this point and drives home the critical relationship between Arsenio's music and the dancers, and the importance of this rapport in energizing and sustaining his innovations. Arsenio emerges in this biography as a critical voice in dispelling an entrenched notion that music for dancing cannot be serious music (I am reminded of Ned Sublette's "dancing is an intense listening state," from Cuba and its Music. And Garcia makes this statement forcefully.

I also applaud Garcia's dissection of this musician/dancer connection--one that is enlivened by interviews with musicians and dancers. He missteps, however, in his definition of the son montuno "basic step." What he describes as the "basic step" is more likely a variation--one that reflects the inventive styling and footwork of dancers responding to the push and pull of Arsenio's clave feel. Son montuno was indeed danced using timing that Cubans call "contratiempo." The timing presented in Garcia's analysis, however, is simply too idiosyncratic for partnered dancing and runs contrary to knowledgeable Cuban sources who specialize in popular dance styles.

Overall, this book is substantive. It presents English-language readers with another important resource in moving the discussion of Afro-Cuban music and dance (including salsa), and its West African roots, forward.

The book all of us Arsenio-ologists have been waiting for, the discography and sidemen info are worth the double its sale price alone....