Latin Music Gift Ideas ...prices reduced through December 12th!

Tue Nov 20 08:51:36 EST 2007

The Descarga Review • November 20, 2007
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Latin Music Gift Ideas

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Section I: Books

LISE WAXER
Situating Salsa - Global Markets And Local Meaning In Latin Popular  
Music
Routledge Press
Originally released: 2002
Category: BOOKS; BOOKS: OTHER
EditorsPick: A very insightful compendium of essays and interviews  
about the cultural impact of salsa, and the marketing of its virtues.  
"With contributions from a dozen leading scholars, experts, and  
musicians, including a piece by revered salsa composer Tite Curet  
Alonso, this book traces the myriad ways in which salsa music has  
moved beyond its Afro-Cuban and Puerto Rican roots to become an  
international musical commodity." From the liners.
Highly Recommended. (BP)
Original Price: $30.95
Now: $27.86
This collection represents the first comprehensive consideration of  
salsa music and its social impact from a transnational perspective.  
Consisting of 13 essays, this volume explores the diffusion of this  
popular sound from its Hispanic Caribbean origins to audiences around  
the world. With contributions from a dozen leading scholars, experts,  
and musicians, including a piece by revered salsa composer Tite Curet  
Alonso, this book traces the myriad ways in which salsa music has  
moved beyond its Afro-Cuban and Puerto Rican roots to become an  
international musical commodity. SITUATING SALSA will prove to be the  
definitive guide for students, scholars, and anyone who would  
understand salsa's global impact.
Contributors: Catalino "Tite" Curet Alonso, Frances R. Aparacio,  
Medardo Arias Satizabal, Marisol Berrios-Miranda, Juan Flores, Shuhei  
Hosakawa, Steven Loza, Robin Moore, Patria Romain-Velazquez, Wilson  
A. Valentin Escobar, Christopher Washburne, Lise Waxer.
The late Lise Waxer was Assistant Professor of Music at Trinity  
College in Hartford, Connecticut. She has wrote extensively on salsa  
music, its roots, and its international diffusion. She also wrote  
'The City of Musical Memory', a social history of salsa in Cali,  
Colombia.
335 pages. Softcover.
• Place Order

DAVID F. GARCIA
Arsenio Rodriguez And The Transnational Flows Of Latin Popular Music
Temple University Press
Originally released: 2006
Category: BOOKS; BOOKS: OTHER
EditorsPick: Perhaps the most detailed text about one of the most  
influential composer and bandleaders in Latin music.
Highly Recommended.

Notes from the book's jacket: Arsenio Rodriguez was responsible for  
crucial developments in Latin music's important musical genres, SON  
MONTUNO, MAMBO and SALSA, but his accomplishments have never received  
the attention they deserve. This fascinating book explores Arsenio's  
place in the trajectory of Cuban music from pre-revolutionary Cuba to  
New York, Los Angeles and beyond, giving Arsenio his due not only as  
an extraordinarily creative musician but as a life-long participant  
in anti-racist struggles. It is a model of interdisciplinary  
scholarship, giving equal attention to the historical context and  
musicological structures that gave Arsenio's music its power and meaning
- Deborah Pacini, Director of American and Latino Studies Programs  
and Associate Professor of Anthropology, Tufts University.
Softcover, 210 pages. (DR)
Original Price: $24.95
Now: $22.46
• Place Order

IRV GREENBAUM
In One Ear, And In The Other: Memories Of 48 Years In Recording
Greenbaum
Originally released: 2000
Category: BOOKS; BOOKS: OTHER
EditorsPick: Legendary recording engineer Irv Greenbaum has published  
his memoirs about his half-century of working with the giants of  
salsa like Ruben Baldes, Willie Colon, and Celia Cruz (Greenbaum was  
the head engineer for Fania records), as well as James Brown, Nina  
Simone and many others. Filled with may humorous anecdotes and photos  
of the performers. With a forward by Oscar Hijuelos.
269 pages, softcover.
Recommended. (BP)
Original Price: $12.95
Now: $11.66
"Over time, I became acquainted with the wide range of his  
experience. You name the musician or personality, and it seems that  
Irv Greenbaum has worked with him: luminaries like Thelonius Monk and  
Art Blakey, Ray Barretto and Tito Puente, to name a few. Here is a  
man who has modulated the balances of Nina Simone, Betty Carter,  
and... Boris Karloff! My own heart was touched particularly by his  
stories about the kindness and gentility of certain musicians, and of  
his contacts with some of the more idiosyncratic musicians he'd  
encountered. His stories- indeed the arc of his career in the music  
business- seemed to me eminently worthy of a book, an, thank the  
stars, Irv Greenbaum has written it. - From the forward written by  
Oscar Hijuelos
• Place Order

THOMAS ALTMANN
Cantos Lucumí A Los Orishas
Oché (original import)
Originally released: 1998
Category: FOLKLORIC; RUMBA and/or SANTERIA/LUCUMI; CUBA
EditorsPick: This fine, large and heavy, import from Germany is an  
immense scholarly work and is, by far, the finest collection of  
transcriptions of the complete (275 songs) Cantos Lucumí, the  
religious songs of Santeria that we have seen. 306 pages. In English.  
Highly recommended. (BP)
Original Price: $59.95
Now: $53.96
Cantos Lucumí - a Santeria Songbook (in English), presents 275 Afro- 
Cuban chants ot ancient Yoruba origin that are traditionally  
performed in a ceremonial context with percussion only (güiro, bembé,  
batá), along with dance. The vocal part is shared between a soloist  
(akpwón) and a responding chorus. The songs are transcribed and  
notated in combined systems that show the proper relation of the  
melodic phrase to the clave-pattern.
I hope that this book will be a useful working aid for musicians,  
especially drummers and singers in the ceremonial folklore scene, and  
that the included material will be treated with respect for the  
religion of the Orichá and human sprituality.
-- Thomas Altmann

SONG TITLES:
1. Cantos a Eleggia (30 songs) 2. Cantos a Ogún (16 songs) 3. Cantos  
a Ochosi (7 songs) 4. Canto a Obaloke (Oke) 5. Cantos a Oricha Oko (3  
songs) 6. Cantos a Inle (5 songs) 7. Cantos a Babalú Ayé (11 songs)  
8. Cantos a Osain (11 songs) 9. Cantos a Obatalá (22 songs) 10. Canto  
a Dada 11. Canto a Oggué 12. Cantos a Aggayú (7 songs) 13. Cantos a  
Ibeyí (3 songs) 14. Cantos a Changó (36 songs) 15. Cantos a Obba (5  
songs) 16. Cantos a Yeguá (5 songs) 17. Cantos a Oyá (28 songs) 18.  
Cantos a Yemayá (30 songs) 19. Cantos a Ochún (39 songs) 20. Cantos a  
Orunmila (Orunla) (6 songs) 21. Cantos a Eleggua / Echú - cierre - (6  
songs) 22. Canto a Olokun del cierre
• Place Order

FABIO BETANCUR ALVAREZ
Sin Clave Y Bongó No Hay Son: Música Afrocubana Y Confluencias  
Musicales De Colombia Y Cuba, 2a. Edición
Editorial Universidad De Antioquia (original import)
Originally released: 1999
Category: BOOKS; BOOKS: OTHER; CUBA
EditorsPick: Fabio Bentancur Álvarez does an exemplary job  
articulating the history of Cuban popular music in this beautifully  
designed and printed book imported from the Universidad de Antioquia,  
Medellín, Colombia. The history of the son and its influences, as  
well as its developments and connection to the chachachá, mambo,  
bolero, danzón and rumba are discussed in detail. Some beautiful  
photos are included in this rare find. We have a limited number of  
these books, so put your order in now. 259 pages, in Spanish.
Very Highly Recommended. (BP)
Original Price: $44.95
Now: $40.46
Desde la musica ritual negra hasta el jazz afrocubano de Machito,  
desde el son del Trio Matamoros, los sextetos y conjuntos, hasta las  
bandas - como la de Benny Moré, - hay una historia de contrapunto, de  
clave y de bongó; una historia de confluencias musicales entre Cuba y  
las demás regiones del Caribe, entre ellas Colombia. Sin clave y  
bongó no hay son explica porqué Cuba llegó a tener una identidad  
nacional en la música y a crear géneros como el bolero, el danzón, el  
son y la rumba, la guajira y la guaracha, el mambo y el cha cha cha.  
Además, mediante la hipótesis de un Caribe central y otro periférico,  
este libro - del cual presentamos la segunda edición - diferencia la  
música cubana de la música del Caribe colombiano, no obstante los  
punto de encuentro dados pro transculturaciones afines y por los  
antecedentes hispánico y africano comunes, que han dejado sus huellas  
en géneros como la cumbia, la gaita y el bullerengue. Sin clave y  
bongó...es, pues, un completo estudio de la tradición musical cubana  
y de la cultura musical del Caribe, tratadas en forma comparada en lo  
que se refiere a sus confluencias y raices musicales.
• Place Order

CELIA CRUZ
Celia - My Life, An Autobiography
Harper Collins
Originally released: 2004
Category: BOOKS; BOOKS: OTHER; CUBA
EditorsPick: The authorized, posthumous autobiography of the Queen of  
Salsa's extraordinary---and, until now, largely private life. For  
most Latinos under seventy, there has never been a time without Celia  
Cruz. After her recent death, nearly half a million people stood in  
line for hours, filed past her casket, and paid their respects to the  
legendary and beloved woman in both Miami and New York. Only an  
adored queen has this kind of power---to summon the masses on such a  
grand scale.
 From her modest childhood in Cuba to her exile years in Mexico to  
her remarkable career and life in America, Celia was a woman of  
contrasts. Her flamboyant costumes juxtaposed her simple and  
straightforward demeanor. She was open and accessible to her fans but  
staunchly private in her personal life. She was uninhibited without  
decadence; honest without offense; confident but not arrogant; and  
generous without fault. But above all, Celia was authentic and it was  
this authenticity that resonated so deeply with her public.
Based on more than 500 hours of taped video interviews recorded just  
months before her death, "Celia" includes never-before-published  
personal pictures and anecdotes, letting fans celebrate a life filled  
with heartbreaking setbacks as well as glorious triumphs.
-- from the book jacket
Written with Ana Cristina Reymundo, with a forward by Maya Angelou.
304 Pages, hardcover. In English.
Finally, Celia's life as told by the Queen herself. A very  
interesting and entertaining read, filled with back-story details  
about the salsa industry that only Celia would know.
Highly Recommended. (BP)
Original Price: $24.98
Now: $22.48
• Place Order

D.J. GARY DOMINGUEZ
El Cuaderno Latino De La Salsa
DJGD (original import)
Originally released: 2005
Category: BOOKS; BOOKS: OTHER
EditorsPick: Back in stock! Here is great big oversized fan-book of  
Salsa and all of its main and significant practitioners. El Cuaderno  
Latino De La Salsa is more of a huge reference manual or study guide  
than a literary or academic thesis. There's is even space at the end  
of each section where you can write in your own notes, schoolbook  
style. That's fine... and it make perfect sense: D.J. Gary Dominguez  
is as big a salsa fan as they get, and here he fills the pages with  
not only factual and discographic data of about 100 or so important  
individuals and bands, but with his personal observations as well.  
Kind of like a big public diary of the World of Salsa According to  
Gary - it's a lot of fun, too. Here is a small selection of some of  
the artists covered here: Lalo Rodriguez, Lebron Brothers, Marvin  
Santiago, Ray Barretto, Roberto Roena, Ruben Blades, Arsenio  
Rodriguez, Hector Lavoe, Fania All Stars, Eddie and Charlie Palmieri,  
Willie Rosario and many, many others. 587 pages. In Spanish.
Recommended. (BP)
Original Price: $49.98
Now: $44.98
• Place Order

JORY FARR
Rites Of Rhythm: The Music Of Cuba
Regan Books/Harper Collins
Originally released: 2003
Category: BOOKS; BOOKS: OTHER; CUBA
EditorsPick: Part listener's guide, part memoir, Rites of Rhythm is a  
musical journey through Cuba and its cultural outposts in the United  
States. The Buena Vista Social Club phenomenon gave many listeners  
their first taste of Cuban music, but Farr takes us further,  
initiating the reader into the deeper mysteries of the music by  
interviewing the masters of Cuban music, from Chucho Valdés and  
Eliades Ochoa to Los Muñequitos de Matanzas and Papi Oviedo. Along  
the way, he profiles such legends as Benny Moré and Arsenio Rodriguez.
This is the first comprehensive exploration of Cuba's rich musical  
and mythological heritage and the extraordinary impact it has had on  
American popular culture. Jory Farr's travels to Cuba's Old Havana,  
Santiago, the Sierra Maestra mountains, and the Cuban music scenes in  
New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles will give music aficionados  
everywhere the key to understanding the music they love.
-- From the book jacket 
Highly Recommended. (BP)
Original Price: $25.95
Now: $23.36
261 pages, hardcover
• Place Order

TITO PUENTE & JIM PAYNE
Tito Puente: King Of Latin Music Book & DVD Package
Hudson Music
Originally released: 2006
Category: BOOKS; BOOKS: OTHER
EditorsPick: Terrific little book which includes an in-depth DVD  
interview with Tito Puente. Actually, the book is a highly edited  
version of the acclaimed Tito Puente's Drumming With The Mambo King,  
turning it into a more concise handbook about Puente's life and  
achievements. The book's also a wonderful guide to Cuban musical  
styles, with a section that defines rumba, son, danzón etc. Has a  
complete Puente discography too.
Highly Recommended. (BP)
Original Price: $22.95
Now: $20.66
This is the story of the renowned musician known internationally as  
the King of Latin Music, an instrumental force in the rise of la  
musica latina and its spread throughout the world. Here are first- 
person stories that trace Tito's life, starting with the early years,  
the emergence of the Palladium nightclub as a center of Latin music  
and his development as an arranger and bandleader. Tito provides  
humor, history and insights into the music and its masters, and  
discusses the foundation of Latin jazz and the evolution of Mambo,  
Rumba and Danzón.
Includes a special Bonus DVD that features never-before-seen footage  
of Tito discussing his incredible 50-year career as a band leader.
"This book contains a great deal of information about my life, my  
music and my style of playing, as well as a short history of the  
music which has been my life's work. My work has denied me. I've  
spent lonesome holidays away from my family and lost many hours of  
sunshine. But I do not regret it because an artist must do what he  
feels...It was something I felt I had to do. If my music has brought  
joy to one person, then I have been successful." - Tito Puente, 1998
• Place Order

JOHN STORM ROBERTS
Black Music Of Two Worlds
Original Music
Category: BOOKS; BOOKS: OTHER
Original Price: $28.95
Now: $26.06
This book offers a layman's introduction to black music on both sides  
of the Atlantic, principally in the Americas. It covers the whole  
musical spectrum, from the Yoruba-language cult music still surviving  
in Brazil and many areas of the Caribbean, to Latin bands, the  
calypso and rocksteady of the West Indies, such soul singers as  
Aretha Franklin, and the exciting new musical styles of Africa itself.
• Place Order

MAX SALAZAR
Mambo Kingdom: Latin Music In New York
Schirmer
Originally released: 2003
Category: BOOKS; BOOKS: OTHER
EditorsPick: We are pleased to include this new book by musicologist  
Max Salazar. This is a series of essays about, and dialogues with,  
many important Latin musicians who made New York the center of  
popular Latin dance music for over a half a century.
309 pages. Hard-cover.
Highly Recommended.
Contents include:
Forward
Preface
The Development of Latin Music in New York City
Rafael Hernández, Gabriel Oller, Conjunto Caney
Alberto Iznaga, Miguelito Valdés, Alberto Socarrás
Anselmo Sacassas, Marcelino "Rapindey" Guerra
Noro Morales, Joe Loco, Frederico Pagani
The Palladium, José Curbelo, Monchito Muñoz
John "Big Daddy" Rodriguez
Tito Rodriguez, Tito Puente, Jimmy Frisaura
Frankie Colón, Vicentico Valdés, Vitín Aviles,
Gilberto Monroig, Santitos Colón, Tony Molina
Orlando Marín, La Lupe, Two Centuries of Charanga
José Fajardo, Charlie Palmieri, Joe Quijano
Eddy Zervigón, Hector Rivera, Tony Pabón
Joe Cuba, Willie Torres, Cheo Feliciano
Joe Bataan, Salsa Origins
Jerry Masucci, The Corso, Willie Rosario,
Héctor Lavoe, Willie Rodriguez
Index (BP)
Original Price: $29.95
Now: $26.96
Born in Spanish Harlem in 1932, Max Salazar became fascinated with  
Afro-Cuban music as a child, but it wasn't until 1968, while taking  
an English literature course at the City University of New York, that  
he began to write about the music. From 1973 to 1976, his articles on  
Latin music appeared monthly in 'Latin New York' magazine; in 1990 he  
began writing for 'Latin Beat,' where he is now senior editor. He has  
also contributed to 'Melody Maker,' 'Clave,' 'Mira,' 'Latin Times,'  
'Impacto,' 'Musician,' and the 'Village Voice.'
• Place Order

SUE STEWARD
¡Música! The Rhythm Of Latin America: Salsa, Rumba, Merengue And More!
Chronicle Books
Originally released: 1999
Category: BOOKS; BOOKS: OTHER
EditorsPick: This is one of the clearest, most concise celebrations  
and explanations of Afro-Latin tropical musical forms. If you are  
looking for a good starting point to make sense of the infectious  
rhythms of the Caribbean, look no further. Ms. Steward, one of the  
UK's most knowledgeable salsiologists, guides us on a colorful tour  
that outlines the history and lineage of salsa, in both time and  
geography, in a manner that is fun to read and informative. Perfect  
for your reference library. Makes a wonderful gift as well.
Highly Recommended.
Original Price: $22.95
Now: $20.66
Salsa, the sexy dance music of the Spanish-speaking world, is making  
its way into the lives of millions around the globe. But the term  
"salsa" actually describes a multitude of different Latin music  
styles, including son, guaracha, mambo, rumba, merengue, and Latin  
jazz. ¡Musica! tells the fascinating story of salsa's origins and  
charts its journey from Cuba to New York's barrio, Miami Beach, and  
beyond.
In more than fifty biographies and portraits, ¡Musica! celebrates  
such Latin music legends as Tito Puente and Celia Cruz, the king and  
queen of salsa; Ruben Blades, one of the music's great poets; and  
Gloria Estefan, who brought the Latin sound of Miami into the  
international pop mainstream. A discography guides you to the hottest  
recordings by these and other artists. Illustrated with vintage and  
contemporary photographs, ¡Musica! captures the irresistible appeal  
of salsa music and the passion of those who create it.
176 Pages with black and white and color photographs
• Place Order

NED SUBLETTE
Cuba And Its Music: From The First Drums To The Mambo (softcover)
Chicago Review Press
Originally released: 2004
Category: BOOKS; BOOKS: OTHER; CUBA
EditorsPick: Now available in paperback! A groundbreaking account of  
the history, influence, and importance of Cuban music "Ned Sublette  
is widely regarded as one of Cuban music's most knowledgeable and  
passionate experts. As enthralling as it is comprehensive, his book  
breathes life and fire into the whole history of Cuban music." - 
Bonnie Raitt
This entertaining history of Cuba and its music begins with the  
collision of Spain and Africa and continues through the era of  
Miguelito Valdés, Arsenio Rodríguez, Benny Moré, and Pérez Prado. It  
offers a behind-the-scenes examination of music from a Cuban point of  
view, unearthing surprising, provocative connections and making a  
case for Cuba as fundamental to the evolution of music in the New  
World. Revealed are how the music of black slaves transformed 16th- 
century Europe, how the claves appeared, and how Cuban music  
influenced ragtime, jazz, and rhythm and blues. Music lovers will  
follow this journey from Andalucía, the Congo, the Calabar, Dahomey,  
and Yorubaland via Cuba to Mexico, Puerto Rico, Saint-Domingue, New  
Orleans, New York, and Miami. The music is placed in a historical  
context that considers the complexities of the slave trade; Cuba's  
relationship to the United States; its revolutionary political  
traditions; the music of Santería, Palo, Abakuá, Vodú, and much more.
Ned Sublette is the cofounder of the Qbadisc record label. He has  
coproduced the public radio program Afropop Worldwide for seven years  
and traveled frequently to Cuba since 1990.
Pages: 672
Book Type: Paperback
Size: 6 x 9
B&W Photos: 60 (DR)
Original Price: $19.95
Now: $17.96
• Place Order

JAIME TORRES TORRES
Cada Cabeza Es Un Mundo: Relatos E Historias De Héctor Lavoe
Editorial El Yunke (original import)
Originally released: 2003
Category: BOOKS; BOOKS: OTHER
EditorsPick: Back in stock! In-depth book on the life and work of  
legendary salsa singer Héctor Lavoe. With some amazing early photos  
as well. In Spanish, 298 pages. Softcover.
Highly Recommended. (BP)
Original Price: $24.98
Now: $22.48
Jaime Torres Torres en un joven periodista puertorriqueño con mas de  
veinte años en el practica de su profesion. Al momento de la  
publicacion de la presente obra, se desempeña como reportero del  
periodico El Nuevo Dia, en el cual escribe desde 1986,  
especializandose en temas tales como como cultura popular,  
espectaculos,interes humano y otros.
Graduado con honores de la Escuela de Communicacion Publica de la  
Universidad de Puerto Rico, Torres Torres ha incursionado con exito  
en la radio, como procutor y conductor de espacios como  
"Tropicalisimo" y "Leyenda de nuestra musica", transimitidos por  
Radio Universidad, "Swing Tropical" por Sensacion 99 y "La Hora del  
Amor" y "De frente con la Verdad" por WKVM.
Su trabajo de excelencia en los medios ha sido reconocido por el  
Overseas Press Club, Morality in Media, el Instituto Teleradial de  
Etica de Puerto Rico, los Premios Paoli, Encuentro, Communidad Inc.,  
Quiujote, Club Civico de Damas de Caguas y la Comision Puertorriqueña  
de la Juventud, entre otros. Su carrera como escritor apenas  
comienza, con "Cada Cabeza es un Mundo" y en su agenda tiene obras  
sobre sus experiencias como seguidor de Cristo asi como otros sobre  
la Trompeta Nacional de Puerto Rico, Juancito Torres, la historia de  
la salsa y una novela de un argumento nunca enfocado en la literatura  
hispanoamericana.
• Place Order

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