Caribbean Currents: Caribbean Music from Rumba to Reggae

Music is the most popular and dynamic aspect of Caribbean expressive culture. From the well-known genres—salsa, merengue, reggae, calypso, and bachata—to more localized forms like chutney and kaseko, this wide-ranging book surveys Caribbean music's prodigious diversity and colorful history. Enhanced with numerous illustrations and musical examples, Caribbean Currents is an up-to-date overview of the region's music, covering Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Trinidad, Suriname, and smaller islands like Martinique and Guadeloupe. Engaging descriptions of musical forms and innovations, festivals and dance halls, as well as musicians and fans, are situated inThis revised and expanded version features: * Twenty-seven new illustrations * Recent developments in the region's music, such as the emergence of reggaet\u00f3n and timba * A new and extensive study of Jamaican dancehall

Table of Contents:
Preface 00 Map 00 The Caribbean at a Glance 00 1. Introduction: The Caribbean Crucible 1 The Indian Heritage 0 The African Heritage 0 Patterns of Musical Retention 0 The European Heritage 0 Creolization 0 2. Cuba 00 A Day in Havana, 1986 00 The Cuban Crucible 00 African-derived Musics 00 Rumba 00 A Music Festival in Santiago de Cuba 00 European-derived Musics 00 The Son and Modern Cuban Dance Music 00 "Socialism with Pachanga" 00 The 'Special Period" and its Special Music  00 Coda: Revisiting Havana-and Miami, 2004  00 3. Puerto Rico 00 Cuba and Puerto Rico: "The Two Wings of the Same Bird" 00 European-derived Musics 00 The Fiesta de Santiago Apóstol at Loíza Aldea 00 Plena and Bomba in the Dance Hall 00 Music and the Puerto Rican Diaspora 00 Puerto Rico Rocks and Raps 00 4. Salsa and Beyond 00 The Son Sires a Son 00 Ruben Blades: The Cutting Edge 00 Style and Structure 00 The Salsa Life 00 Salsa Lite? 00 Latin Rap and Reggaetón 00 Nueva Canción 000 5. The Dominican Republic 000 The Emergence of Merengue 000 The Merengue Típico of Cibao 000 The Merengue as National Symbol 000 The Modern Merengue 000 The Merengue Explosion 000 Merengue Style and Dance 000 Bachata: Songs of Bitterness, Songs of Love 000 Juan Luis Guerra 000 The Return of the Repressed 00 6. Haiti and the French Caribbean 000 Music in the Streets of Port-au-Prince 000 Haitian Cultural Crossroads 000 Creolization in Haiti: Language 000 Creolization in Haiti: Religion 000 Carnival and Rara 000 Misik Twoubadou 000 Haitian Dance Music 000 Politics and the Haitian Diaspora 000 Contemporary Haitian Popular Music  00 Misik Rasin, Rap, and Ragga 000 Music in the Lesser Antilles: Martinique, Guadeloupe, Dominica, and St. Lucia 000 7. Jamaica 000 Kumina Culture, 1976 000 Roots Music in the Mid-Twentieth Century 00 Music inna Downtown Style: Recording the Unrecorded 000 Roots and Culture: Downtown Triumphant 000 Rasta and Revolution 000 The End of an Era, and the Dawn of a New One: From Reggae to Ragga 000 Tellin' it like it is, from 'Consciousness' to 'Slackness'  00 Female Degradation or Liberation?  00 Love Music --  or Hate Music?  00 Sound Systems and Sound Clashes  00 Dancehall inna Foreign  00 8. Trinidad, Calypso, and Carnival 000 The Development of Calypso and Carnival 000 Calypso in Colonialism 000 Modern Calypso and Carnival 000 Woman Rising 000 The Carnival Context 000 Steel Band 000 Calypso and Carnival outside Trinidad 000 9. East Indian Music; and Big Sounds from the "Small Islands" East Indians in the West Indies 000 Small Island Traditions 000 10. Five Themes in the Study of Caribbean Music 000 Unity and Diversity in a Continent of Islands 000 Race and Ethnicity 000 Music, Sex, and Sexism    000 Caribbean Music International 000 Music and Politics 000 Glossary 000 Notes 000 Index 000

About the Author :
Peter Manuel is Professor of Music at John Jay College and the CUNY Graduate Center. He is the author of five books and many articles on musics of India, the Caribbean, Spain, and elsewhere. He also plays sitar, jazz piano, and flamenco guitar.Kenneth Bilby is Research Associate in the Department of Anthropology, Smithsonian Institution.Michael Largey is Associate Professor of Music at Michigan State University, East Lansing.

Review :
Outstanding Academic Books, Choice, 1996 Gordon K. Lewis Memorial Award for Caribbean Scholarship, Caribbean Studies Association, 1996 "The musical analyses and notation... are straightforward enough to interest careful listeners as well as casual fans, and the many helpful discographies throughout the book--not to mention the cool photographs!--contribute to making this an essential text on some of the world's most irrepressible rhythms." Booklist "This is an exciting text that offers an excellent survey of the popular musical styles of the Caribbean... The authors assert that Caribbean music has something to offer everyone, and this text is intended to cater for a very broad audience ranging from Caribbean music lovers, to students of Caribbean and/or pan-American society, to readers of Caribbean descent who wish to learn more about their unique and dynamic music-culture." The World of Music "There is very much to admire in this comprehensive and insightful work. Caribbean Currents blends musical and sociocultural analyis, draws significance from fascinating song lyrics, and traces the social history of many of the Caribbean's most important genres of music and dance. The result is a package perfectly suited to classroom settings that should serve for some time as the standard text on Caribbean music." The Yearbook of Traditional Music "The revised edition addresses the most important and significant new developments in the 21st century Caribbean, and will be welcomed by those who enjoyed the original due to the considerable additions and enhancements in the revised edition...undoubtedly a valuable resource." Ethnomusicology