Product Description

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 C©sar Miguel Rond³n's celebrated El libro de la salsa.

Rond³n 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. Rond³n 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, Rond³n 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, Rond³n has added a new chapter to bring the story of salsa up to the present.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #661196 in Books
• Published on: 2008-03-10
• Released on: 2008-02-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780807858592
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
Venezuelan TV producer Rondón documented salsa music from the 1950s to the 1970s in this survey, first published in Spanish in 1980, but not available in English until now. With an added update to the present, the comprehensive chronicle traces salsa's evolution, beginning with the 1940s merger of jazz and Cuban rhythms by Machito and his Afro-Cubans. The popularity of that group, along with the bands of Tito Puente and Tito Rodríguez, led to the revitalization of New York's declining Palladium ballroom in 1947. Crossing continents, from New York City and Puerto Rico to Venezuela, Rondón examines salsa's working-class origins, conceived, nurtured and developed in the urban barrio as a type of music produced not for the luxurious ballroom but for hard life on the street, and he relates the difficulties of marginalized barrio life to the music's international appeal. Along with insightful analyses of styles, music, movements. performances, production and marketing, the book offers detailed coverage of such highly influential talents as Willie Colón, Eddie Palmieri and Ray Barretto. The concluding Basic Discography serves as a great collecting guide. (Mar. 10)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review
"[A] wonderful chronicle of . . . Latin urban music. . . . [A] gem. . . . One of the best single comprehensive chronicles of this music and its industry, the musicians and their performances, styles, movements and productions."
— Latin Beat

Along with insightful analyses of styles, music, movements, performances, production and marketing, [The Book of Salsa] offers detailed coverage of such highly influential talents as Willie Colƒ³n, Eddie Palmieri and Ray Barretto. The concluding 'Basic Discography' serves as a great collecting guide.

—Publishers Weekly

"[A] gem. . . . One of the best single comprehensive chronicles of this music and its industry, the musicians and their performances, styles, movements and productions."
— Latin Beat

"[The] bible for salsa lovers."
— Hispanic

[A] wonderful chronicle of the Latin urban music that ruled from the Caribbean to New York City from the mid-sixties to the late-seventies. . . . This book is one of the best single comprehensive chronicles of this music and its industry, the musicians and their performances, styles, movements and productions.
—Latin Beat

About the Author
César Miguel Rondón is a journalist, author, and radio and television producer with Corporación Televen in Caracas, Venezuela.

Frances R. Aparicio is professor of Latin American and Latino studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Jackie White is assistant professor of English at Lewis University.

Customer Reviews

A Good Historical Overview with some fun stories....
I read this book in it's original Spanish version, so I can't comment on the translated English version now available. The Spanish version was an entertaining read with a "Sociological Perspective" about the rise of Salsa in the 60's and 70's mostly focused on the artists on the Fania label - which is considered the "Golden Age" of Salsa Music. If you're a fan of that era, it's definitely worth a read. It'll bring back lots of memories. I only gave it 4 stars because the author, as has been pointed out by other reviewers, was a little loose with the facts and sometimes gets some of the details wrong. Although overall he gets the gist and spirit of the music and the times right. The other thing is that the author refers to Venezuela quite a bit, his home country, when this story is really more about Puerto Ricans in Puerto Rico and New York who were the real stars of this music (besides Celia Cruz of course). But, cut the dude some slack, he's proud of his home country like everyone in the Caribbean is... (Que viva Colombia !Carajo!) Highly Recommended to fans of Old School Salsa.

DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK!
I would ordinarily not review a book I didn't finish, but Rondón made two errors in the first 28 pages so grievous that I put the book down for good. First, about the debut album from Eddie Palmieri's band La Perfecta, he claims: "Eddie's older brother, Charlie, was the pianist and in charge of composing and arranging most of their repertoire." If he owned this album--one of the most important in the history of salsa--he could plainly see that Charlie wrote the liner notes and did nothing else on it.

Then, a few pages later, he attributes the song "Micaela" to Pete "El Conde" Rodriguez. Now this is an error so common that Fania records itself has made it on at least one of their compilations, but Rondón should know better. There were two different artists named Pete Rodriguez on the Fania label--Pete "El Conde" Rodriguez, the salsa singer who did "Catalina La O," among other classics, and Pete Rodriguez (and his Orchestra), who was dubbed "The King of Boogaloo." It was the latter who did "Micaela."

It's bad enough that Rondón, a Venezuelan, tries desperately to maintain that Venezuela was as important to the history of Salsa as Puerto Rico, but these huge factual errors (as well as minor ones--the original Perfecta included a flautist and was heavily influenced by charanga, though Rondón seems not to know this) indicate a stunning lack of knowledge about his subject and a failure to get anyone to fact check his work.