The Latin Beat: The Rhythms and Roots of Latin Music, from Bossa Nova to Salsa and Beyond [Paperback]

Ed Morales (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 21, 2003

The Latin explosion of Marc Anthony, Ricky Martin, and the Buena Vista Social Club may look like it came out of nowhere, but the incredible variety of Latin music has been transforming the United States since the turn of the century, when Caribbean beats turned New Orleans music into jazz. In fact, we wouldn't have any of our popular music without it: Imagine pop sans the mambos of Perez Prado and Tito Puente, the garage rock of Richie Valens, or even the glitzy croon of Julio Iglesias, not to mention the psychedelia of Santana and Los Lobos and the underground cult grooves of newcomers like Bebel Gilberto. The Latin Beat outlines the musical styles of each country, then traces each form as it migrates north. Morales travels from the Latin ballad to bossa nova to Latin jazz, chronicles the development of the samba in Brazil and salsa in New York, explores the connection between the mambo craze of the 1950's with the Cuban craze of today, and uncovers the hidden history of Latinos in rock and hip hop. The Latin Beat is the only book that explores where the music has come from and celebrates all of the directions it is going.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

New York-based music and cultural critic Morales (Living in Spanglish) has written one of the best short histories of Latin American music since the 1979 classic The Latin Tinge by John Storm Roberts. Displaying an incredible depth of historical and musical knowledge and insight, this book will be a joy to read both for those already steeped in the Latin musical tradition as well as for those recently introduced to the music of, for instance, Tito Puente. Morales not only illuminates how the roots of Latin music grew from a hybrid of European and African influences, but definitively explains how various forms of the music mutated again once they became part of the American pop scene. Chapters on "The Evolution of Cuban Music into Salsa" and "The Story of Nuyorican Salsa" capture the excitement of Afro-Cuban innovators from the Lopez Brothers in the 1940s to the "renaissance salsero" Gilberto Santa Rosa in the '90s. Other chapters deftly explore the intricacies of the musical traditions of Brazil, the Latin ballad from the bolero to the "New Latin Pop" of singers like Ricky Martin, Latin jazz and contemporary Cuban music, including an illuminating section on the popular "Buena Vista Social Club" CD. Morales also focuses on other African-influenced music from the Dominican Republic, Colombia and Mexico, exploring various and fascinating current multicultural musical developments, such as the way that the "psychedelic, art-rock pose" of Caifanes differs from "dark, rhythm-driven" sound of the group Maldita Vecindad, making them "the Rolling Stones, to Caifanes's Beatles."
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

"Trying to define Latin music is like trying to define Latinos in the United States," says Village Voice scribe Morales. He believes it's helpful to consider which genres have become popular across national boundaries and which have crossed over to both English and Spanish-speakers in the U. S. Detailing the music of each Latin country and mapping out their influence on popular music, he examines the birth of salsa and contemporary Cuban music and the effect of Latin ballads on current pop, and he dedicates a generous section to Latin jazz. Also notable is a chapter concerning the impact of music from Brazil that will have music fans scrambling for the stores--he touches not only on the samba and bossa nova but also on tropicalia and the Brazilian psychedelic movement of the 60s. A brief section on Latin hip-hop and the new techno sounds coming out of Mexico City is a welcome addition. Exhaustively researched, well written, and up to date, this is an excellent addition to most music collections. Carlos Orellana
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press; First Edition edition (October 21, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0306810182
• ISBN-13: 978-0306810183
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #854,956 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Gross historical/musical inaccuaracies, February 20, 2005

By 

H. Gonzalez (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Latin Beat: The Rhythms and Roots of Latin Music, from Bossa Nova to Salsa and Beyond (Paperback)

First, I am basing my poor review mainly on the sections on Brazilian music, which are a significant part of this book.

Contrary to the Editorial review stating Mr. Morales' "incredible depth of historical and musical knowledge" I found the author's lack of knowledge of some of the more basic elements of Brazilian history and music culture downright ingnorant.

As an example of some of the minute details that may seem insignificant, the famous pre-lenten Carnaval celebrations are not "winter" celebrations since the entire southern hemishphere has opposite seasons from North America. In other more significant areas, the migration of laborers from the north was not due to the "failure of northern coffee plantations" as the coffee regions were all part of southern Brazil. A basic reading of any decent history of Brazil, such as Skidmore's "Five Centuries of Change" would have taken care of such innaccuracies.

Erroneous uses of traditional instrument names and the reference of samba as "a call to wild, mass movement, an (...) of percussion, not the structured rhythmic base for improvisation that came from the fusions of African rhythms and courtly European dances in Cuba...samba is more like 'chaos in tempo'" reek of the typical non-Latin view from insensitive writers who knew little about Latin American culture. It is surprising that a latino, especially in 2003, would be subscribing to the exoticism that permeated the work of scholars (and non-cholars) from the early 20th century.

The author uses no citations, although he does include a rather short bibliography of sources. Perhaps the auhtor should have focused on the music and history of the parts of Latin America that he is more familiar with, rather than attempt to be all-emcompassing at the risk of demonstrating such utter lack of basic historical and musical knowledge of Brazil.

5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Broad Overview, June 8, 2006

By 

M. Wahl (Rochester, New York United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Latin Beat: The Rhythms and Roots of Latin Music, from Bossa Nova to Salsa and Beyond (Paperback)

This is a good, basic overview of Latin music, heavy on the Cuban/Puerto Rican scenes past and present. It is unfortunately marred by naive, right-wing political comments that fit pretty well into the George Bush I and II's view of Latino realities. But for those 'cumbancheros' who look beyond the politics there is lots of info here. For Cuban music, however, one might be better served by the bargain 'Cuban Music' by Phil Sweeney or by the erudite works by Fernando Ortiz.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Worse book on Latin music EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, June 9, 2007

By 

Tribilin Cantore "Tribi" (Denver) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Latin Beat: The Rhythms and Roots of Latin Music, from Bossa Nova to Salsa and Beyond (Paperback)

This book is so badly written and full of errors and misconceptions that it should be banned, this should be used on how NOT to write a book. One star is way too high a rating...............