Arsenio Rodriguez, composer and musical innovator, made an indelible impact on a broad range of musical styles from the Caribbean and Latin America to West and Central Africa. The son montuno style that he created and his innovative conjunto ensemble inspired other Cuban musicians and played a key role in the development of salsa, yet Arsenio achieved only intermittent commercial success. Drawing on the testimony of family, musicians, dancers, and other contemporaries, David Garcia traces Arsenio's early career in Cuba, his influence on Cuban and Latin popular music in the 1940s, his struggle...

In Listening for Africa David F. Garcia explores how a diverse group of musicians, dancers, academics, and activists engaged with the idea of black music and dance's African origins between the 1930s and 1950s. Garcia examines the work of figures ranging from Melville J. Herskovits, Katherine Dunham, and Asadata Dafora to Duke Ellington, Damaso Perez Prado, and others who believed that linking black music and dance with Africa and nature would help realize modernity's promises of freedom in the face of fascism and racism in Europe and the Americas, colonialism in Africa, and the...

In Listening for Africa David F. Garcia explores how a diverse group of musicians, dancers, academics, and activists engaged with the idea of black music and dance's African origins between the 1930s and 1950s. Garcia examines the work of figures ranging from Melville J. Herskovits, Katherine Dunham, and Asadata Dafora to Duke Ellington, Damaso Perez Prado, and others who believed that linking black music and dance with Africa and nature would help realize modernity's promises of freedom in the face of fascism and racism in Europe and the Americas, colonialism in Africa, and the...