The Book of Salsa

A Chronicle of Urban Music from the Caribbean to New York City

César Miguel Rondón, Frances R. Aparicio, Jackie White, Frances R. Aparicio, Jackie White

• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
• Year: 2008
• Print ISBN: 9780807886380, 9780807831298
• eBook ISBN: 9780807886397
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Latin American & Caribbean History

Salsa is one of the most popular types of music listened to and danced to in the United States. Until now, the single comprehensive history of the music — and the industry that grew up around it, including musicians, performances, styles, movements, and production — was available only in Spanish. This lively translation provides for English-reading and music-loving fans the chance to enjoy César Miguel Rondón’s celebrated El libro de la salsa.

Rondón tells the engaging story of salsa’s roots in Puerto Rico, Cuba, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, and Venezuela, and of its emergence and development in the 1960s as a distinct musical movement in New York. Rondón presents salsa as a truly pan-Caribbean phenomenon, emerging in the migrations and interactions, the celebrations and conflicts that marked the region. Although salsa is rooted in urban culture, Rondón explains, it is also a commercial product produced and shaped by professional musicians, record producers, and the music industry. For this first English-language edition, Rondón has added a new chapter to bring the story of salsa up to the present.

Index

• “Abandonada fue,” 82
• “Abeja al panal,” 287
• “Abran paso,” 57, 82, 108
• Abran paso, 203
• Acevedo, Memo, 298
• Acevedo, Plácido, 216, 246
• “Adelante,” 153
• Adelante gigante, 141
• “Adiós,” 35
• Los Adolescentes, 289
• “Adoración,” 76
• Afecto y cariño, 90
• Africa, in Salsa (film), 93–94, 95
• Afro-Cuban All Stars, 293
• Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra, 301
• Afro-Cubans (Machito’s orchestra), 1–5, 12, 19, 32, 46, 301
• Agosto, Ernie, 89–91, 240, 248, 303
• Aguabella, Francisco, 301
• “Aguanile,” 71
• “Agüemimó,” 244, 246
• Aguinaldos (traditional music), 49–50, 65
• “Ah Ah Oh No,” 71
• “Ahora que estoy sabroso,” 106, 263
• “Ahora sí,” 77, 105
• “Ahora vengo yo,” 57
• “Ahora yo me río,” 183
• Ahran paso, 82–83
• Ajoporro and his Legumbres, 235
• “Alafia,” 31
• Alafia, 143, 144
• Alberto, José “El Canario,” 158, 300
• Alberty, Luis, 265
• Alegre All Stars, 41, 42, 141
• Alegre label, 15, 31, 32, 38, 40, 57, 139, 277–78
• Alemany, Jesús, 293
• Alers, Ramón Rivera, 275
• Alfaro, Omar, 296
• Alfonso, Raúl, 192, 193
• Alfredo and His Stars, 236
• Allen, Tito, 80, 156–57, 158, 295
• “Alma mía,” 153
• Almario, Justo, 123, 125, 298
• Almendra, Johnny, 300
• Alomar, Héctor “Tempo,” 248
• Al pasito, 297
• Alvarez, Adalberto, 293
• Alvarez, Domingo, 245, 252, 253, 258
• Alvarez, Heny, 85, 241, 242, 243, 245, 297
• Alvarez, Mario Cora, 169
• “Amalia Batista,” 155
• “La ambulancia,” 152–53
• “A meu lugar voltar,” 244, 246
• Amigos Invisibles, 288
• “Amor pa’ qué,” 162
• Anabacoa. See Conjunto Anabacoa
• “Anabacoa,” 238, 242
• “Anacaona,” 57, 128, 202
• Anacaona all-female orchestra, 2
• “Angelitos Negros,” 275
• “Ansia loca,” 131
• Anthony, Marc, 294, 300
• Antomatei, Augie, 256
• “A papá,” 137
• “A papá y a mamá” (“To Mom and Dad”), 243
• “A pedir su mano,” 287
• Apollo Sound, 163, 166, 170, 173–75,...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• The Book of Salsa
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Translator’s Note
• One : Salsa Zero: The 1950s
• Two : The 1960s
• Three : Salsa’s the Thing
• Four : The New York Sound
• Five : Our (Latin) Thing
• Six : The Thing in Montuno
• Seven : The Boom
• Eight : Another Thing
• Nine : All of the Salsas
• Basic Discography
• Index