The Latin Beat: The Rhythms and Roots of Latin Music, from Bossa Nova to Salsa and Beyond

by Ed Morales

The Latin explosion of Marc Anthony, Ricky Martin, and the Buena Vista Social Club may look like it came out of nowhere, but the incredible variety of Latin music has been transforming the United States since the turn of the century, when Caribbean beats turned New Orleans music into jazz. In fact, we wouldn't have any of our popular music without Imagine pop sans the mambos of Perez Prado and Tito Puente, the garage rock of Richie Valens, or even the glitzy croon of Julio Iglesias, not to mention the psychedelia of Santana and Los Lobos and the underground cult grooves of newcomers like Bebel Gilberto. The Latin Beat outlines the musical styles of each country, then traces each form as it migrates north. Morales travels from the Latin ballad to bossa nova to Latin jazz, chronicles the development of the samba in Brazil and salsa in New York, explores the connection between the mambo craze of the 1950's with the Cuban craze of today, and uncovers the hidden history of Latinos in rock and hip hop. The Latin Beat is the only book that explores where the music has come from and celebrates all of the directions it is going.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction

384 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2003

About the author

Ed Morales is an author, journalist, filmmaker, and poet who teaches at Columbia University. He is the author of The Latin Beat and Living in Spanglish. He has written for the Village Voice, Nation, New York Times, Rolling Stone, and other publications and is a regular commentator on NPR. His film Whose Barrio? premiered at the New York Latino International Film Festival. He lives in New York City.

Reviews

[John Gurney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very wide-ranging survey of Latin music. Necessarily, there are only a few sentences on many major acts. The historic sweep, showing how African rhythm merged with Continental European influences and, later, American jazz, to bring us modern Latin music such as merengue, salsa, bachata, and more. Samba and other Brazilian music is covered.

A weakness is the recurring editorializing from Ed Morales, who has the snobbery of a music critic toward much of the more commercially successful Latin music.

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having seen two more or less legendary figures in Latin music in one week (Johnny Pacheco and Joe Cuba), I also noticed this book getting footnoted in every wikipedia article on the subject and decided not to sleep on it - I can recommend it to anyone who is interested in anything, particularly music. My only problem with music books of this sort is I typically emerge with a list of 50-100 CDs I feel I must hear - this was no exception.