pdf (690 pages/ 4 MB), with thanks to the original sharer
Cuba
and its Music has already been acknowledged worldwide
as a classic, easily the best book on the subject in English. The subject
itself is a field nearly as wide as, say-- jazz, for despite the small size of
the island, Cuba has produced some of the most influential music and musicians
in the hemisphere. Cuba and its Music,
the first of two volumes (the second yet to be published will pick up the story
in the late 1940's) really does begin with the first drums heard in Spain--
Almoravides war drums which arrived in Spain with an invading African army in
1086. Sublette follows the story from traveling troubadours of the middle ages
(the first singer-songwriters), through the Inquisition, the discovery of the
New World, the music of slaves, the diaspora that followed the slave uprising
in Santa Domingo (now Haiti) through the various forms of music that developed
around the island of Cuba from the earliest Spanish inhabitants to the mafia
sponsored Havana of the mid-20th century, when the town was jumping. It's a
mind boggling piece of research, but if my description makes it sound dry or
academic, this book is anything but, it's a real page turner and Sublette's
passion for the subject (and his sense of humor) shine through on every page.
Sublette's thesis is that Cuban music is the lost link, one that has been
suppressed since the earliest days of the embargo (1959), in the chain that
makes up American popular music, he calls it "The Other Great
Tradition". He also explains the music and its rhythms and beats in way
that even a non-musician can easily understand. For myself, it's nice to
finally know what the clave is, and how it differs from what we call swing. – The Hound
