Anacaona: The Amazing Adventures of Cuba's First All-girl Dance Band

by Ingrid Kummels' 'Alicia Castro, Ingrid Kummels Alicia Castro

Book by Ingrid Kummels' 'Alicia Castro

Genres: Music, Biography, Nonfiction

Hardcover

Published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautifully designed book, full of photos and images of personal mementos that the author and her sisters gathered over the years from their travels with their band. The author's voice comes across as a strong, distinct personality (probably with the help of her niece, who's listed as a coauthor), which enhances the pleasure of reading. The details of life in Cuba before and after Castro are fascinating, as are the glimpses of the American, Latin American, and European music scenes of the 30s through 50s.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun book. It was easy to read, interesting, and entertaining. Reading it was like sitting in my grandma's kitchen and listening to my great aunts talk about what life was like when they were young. Despite being a translation, Alicia Castro's voice really seems to come through. In sharing her family's story, she allows the reader to see the world through a different set of eyes. The book is full of pictures, which I loved. The only thing missing was the music. Once you read the book, you are definitely going to want to find a cd like Anacaona: the Buena Vista Sister's Club.

[Gina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really fun, with some good history of Cuba and its similarities to the US as a melting pot plagued by racism, but much more on the development of music over several decades, and what it's like being in a band with your sisters. The 400 pages contains a lot of photos that paint glorious pictures of an earlier age.

[Isabelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember learning about this particular musical group in a college ethnomusicology class but I never realized that it was mostly comprised of a family of sisters. The book was narrated by one of the sisters so I appreciated the first-hand account into her family life, what life was like in Havana, their travels and the many well-known musicians they encountered during their career. The only annoying aspects of the book was when the narrator would veer off her story on a small tangent and there could have been smoother transitions between events. Overall, I'd recommend the book.