Table of Contents

Preface 00
Map 00
The Caribbean at a Glance 00

1. Introduction: The Caribbean Crucible 1
The Indian Heritage 0
The African Heritage 0
Patterns of Musical Retention 0
The European Heritage 0
Creolization 0

2. Cuba 00
A Day in Havana, 1986 00
The Cuban Crucible 00
African-derived Musics 00
Rumba 00
A Music Festival in Santiago de Cuba 00
European-derived Musics 00
The Son and Modern Cuban Dance Music 00
"Socialism with Pachanga" 00
The 'Special Period" and its Special Music  00
Coda: Revisiting Havana-and Miami, 2004  00


3. Puerto Rico 00
Cuba and Puerto Rico: "The Two Wings of the Same Bird" 00
European-derived Musics 00
The Fiesta de Santiago Apóstol at Loíza Aldea 00
Plena and Bomba in the Dance Hall 00
Music and the Puerto Rican Diaspora 00
Puerto Rico Rocks and Raps 00

4. Salsa and Beyond 00
The Son Sires a Son 00
Ruben Blades: The Cutting Edge 00
Style and Structure 00
The Salsa Life 00
Salsa Lite? 00
Latin Rap and Reggaetón 00
Nueva Canción 000

5. The Dominican Republic 000
The Emergence of Merengue 000
The Merengue Típico of Cibao 000
The Merengue as National Symbol 000
The Modern Merengue 000
The Merengue Explosion 000
Merengue Style and Dance 000
Bachata: Songs of Bitterness, Songs of Love 000
Juan Luis Guerra 000
The Return of the Repressed 00

6. Haiti and the French Caribbean 000
Music in the Streets of Port-au-Prince 000
Haitian Cultural Crossroads 000
Creolization in Haiti: Language 000
Creolization in Haiti: Religion 000
Carnival and Rara 000
Misik Twoubadou 000
Haitian Dance Music 000
Politics and the Haitian Diaspora 000
Contemporary Haitian Popular Music  00
Misik Rasin, Rap, and Ragga 000
Music in the Lesser Antilles: Martinique, Guadeloupe, Dominica, and St. Lucia 000

7. Jamaica 000
Kumina Culture, 1976 000
Roots Music in the Mid-Twentieth Century 00
Music inna Downtown Style: Recording the Unrecorded 000
Roots and Culture: Downtown Triumphant 000
Rasta and Revolution 000
The End of an Era, and the Dawn of a New One: From Reggae to Ragga 000
Tellin' it like it is, from 'Consciousness' to 'Slackness'  00
Female Degradation or Liberation?  00
Love Music --  or Hate Music?  00
Sound Systems and Sound Clashes  00
Dancehall inna Foreign  00

8. Trinidad, Calypso, and Carnival 000
The Development of Calypso and Carnival 000
Calypso in Colonialism 000
Modern Calypso and Carnival 000
Woman Rising 000
The Carnival Context 000
Steel Band 000
Calypso and Carnival outside Trinidad 000

9. East Indian Music; and Big Sounds from the "Small Islands"
East Indians in the West Indies 000
Small Island Traditions 000

10. Five Themes in the Study of Caribbean Music 000
Unity and Diversity in a Continent of Islands 000
Race and Ethnicity 000
Music, Sex, and Sexism    000
Caribbean Music International 000
Music and Politics 000

Glossary 000
Notes 000
Index 000

Promotional Information

Covers recent developments in the region's music and includes twenty-seven new illustrations. Written in a style that is readable, entertaining, and scholarly, it is an ideal resource for students, musicians, and general readers

About the Author

Peter Manuel is Professor of Music at John Jay College and the CUNY Graduate Center. He is the author of five books and many articles on musics of India, the Caribbean, Spain, and elsewhere. He also plays sitar, jazz piano, and flamenco guitar.Kenneth Bilby is Research Associate in the Department of Anthropology, Smithsonian Institution.Michael Largey is Associate Professor of Music at Michigan State University, East Lansing.

Reviews

Outstanding Academic Books, Choice, 1996 Gordon K. Lewis Memorial Award for Caribbean Scholarship, Caribbean Studies Association, 1996 "The musical analyses and notation... are straightforward enough to interest careful listeners as well as casual fans, and the many helpful discographies throughout the book--not to mention the cool photographs!--contribute to making this an essential text on some of the world's most irrepressible rhythms." Booklist "This is an exciting text that offers an excellent survey of the popular musical styles of the Caribbean... The authors assert that Caribbean music has something to offer everyone, and this text is intended to cater for a very broad audience ranging from Caribbean music lovers, to students of Caribbean and/or pan-American society, to readers of Caribbean descent who wish to learn more about their unique and dynamic music-culture." The World of Music "There is very much to admire in this comprehensive and insightful work. Caribbean Currents blends musical and sociocultural analyis, draws significance from fascinating song lyrics, and traces the social history of many of the Caribbean's most important genres of music and dance. The result is a package perfectly suited to classroom settings that should serve for some time as the standard text on Caribbean music." The Yearbook of Traditional Music "The revised edition addresses the most important and significant new developments in the 21st century Caribbean, and will be welcomed by those who enjoyed the original due to the considerable additions and enhancements in the revised edition...undoubtedly a valuable resource." Ethnomusicology