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 Cesar Miguel Rondon's celebrated
El libro de la
salsa.
Rondon 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. Rondon 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, Rondon 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, Rondon has added a new chapter to bring
the story of salsa up to the present.