New York City has long been a generative nexus for the transnational
Latin music scene. Currently, there is no other place in the Americas
where such large numbers of people from throughout the Caribbean come
together to make music. In this book, Benjamin Lapidus seeks to
recognize all of those musicians under one mighty musical sound,
especially those who have historically gone unnoticed.
Based on archival research, oral histories, interviews, and
musicological analysis, Lapidus examines how interethnic collaboration
among musicians, composers, dancers, instrument builders, and music
teachers in New York City set a standard for the study, creation,
performance, and innovation of Latin music. Musicians specializing in
Spanish Caribbean music in New York cultivated a sound that was grounded
in tradition, including classical, jazz, and Spanish Caribbean folkloric
music. For the first time, Lapidus studies this sound in detail and in
its context. He offers a fresh understanding of how musicians made and
formally transmitted Spanish Caribbean popular music in New York City
from 1940 to 1990.
Without diminishing the historical facts of segregation and racism the
musicians experienced, Lapidus treats music as a unifying force. By
giving recognition to those musicians who helped bridge the gap between
cultural and musical backgrounds, he recognizes the impact of entire
ethnic groups who helped change music in New York. The study of these
individual musicians through interviews and musical transcriptions helps
to characterize the specific and identifiable New York City Latin music
aesthetic that has come to be emulated internationally.
