Music in Cuba
Franco-Cuban novelist Carpentier (1904-80) was also a musician,  music critic, librettist, and radio show producer, well equipped  to handle the primary sources he gathered for his 1946 work. His  narrative skills are put to happy use in this first English  translation as he traces (and perhaps sometimes imagines) how  European, West Indian, and African musical influences shaped a  uniquely Cuban sound in religious, popular, dance, and art  music. A political thinker, Carpentier uncovered major figures  in Cuban music history whom other encyclopedias of the time  overlooked. Readers, however, should not rely on this book for  an up-to-date account of Cuban music lore but instead treat it  as a document of its times from a writer who exiled himself from  Cuba until after the Castro revolution. Brennan (cultural  studies, comparative literature, and English, Univ. of  Minnesota) provides useful annotations when needed as well as an  introductory critical essay. Recommended for larger  libraries. Bonnie Jo Dopp, Univ. of Maryland Libs., College ParkCopyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to theHardcoveredition.