Cuban Music from A to Z (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780822332121)

Available in English for the first time, Cuban Music from A to Z is an encyclopedic guide to one of the world's richest and most influential musical cultures. It is the most extensive compendium of information about the singers, composers, bands, instruments, and dances of Cuba ever assembled. With more than 1,300 entries and 150 illustrations, this volume is an essential reference guide to the music of the island that brought the world the danz n, the son, the mambo, the conga, and the cha-cha-ch .

The life's work of Cuban historian and musician Helio Orovio, Cuban Music from A to Z presents the people, genres, and history of Cuban music. Arranged alphabetically and cross-referenced, the entries span from Abaku music and dance to Eddy Zervig n, a Cuban bandleader based in New York City. They reveal an extraordinary fusion of musical elements, evident in the unique blend of African and Spanish traditions of the son musical genre and in the integration of jazz and rumba in the timba style developed by bands like Afrocuba, Chucho Vald s's Irakeke, Jos Luis Cort s's ng La Banda, and the Buena Vista Social Club. Folk and classical music, little-known composers and international superstars, drums and string instruments, symphonies and theaters--it's all here.

Author: Helio Orovio
ISBN-10: 0822332124
ISBN-13: 9780822332121
Publisher: Duke University Press
Language: English
Published: 03/12/2004
Pages: 248
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.86lbs
Size: 9.24h x 6.06w x 0.60d

Review Citation(s):
Library Journal 03/01/2004 pg. 70
Choice 09/01/2004 pg. 62
Multicultural Review 12/01/2004 pg. 63
American Reference Bks Annual 01/01/2005 pg. 529

About the Author

Helio Orovio is a musicologist and historian with the Institute of Folklore and Ethnology of Cuba's Academy of Sciences. He is the author of El bolero latina and Música por el caribe and the host of the Cuban television show Arte y Folklore. He is also a musician who has played with many bands including Conjunto Jovenes del Cayo.