An insightful and well theorized contribution to existing literature, Rebecca Bodenheimer's book is the first on Cuban music to explore the topic of regionalism in detail, discursively and musically, as well as its intersections with hybridity and racial conflict. A fascinating study.--Robin Moore, professor of ethnomusicology, the University of Texas at Austin
By avoiding a Havana-centric approach, Bodenheimer examines the presence of significant cultural and musical distance between eastern and western Cuba as well as the different meanings of 'blackness' in various parts of the island. She lays bare the contradiction that eastern Cuba, widely regarded in Havana as the 'blackest' region of the island, is simultaneously celebrated as the cradle of the 'mestizo' Son genre. Bodenheimer documents in impressive detail the rise in the last forty years of two new rumba styles, the batarumba and the guarapachangueo. This is a truly refreshing book about Cuban music and culture which, by connecting notions of race and place, explores the way in which musical practices define regional identities in the island.--Raul Fernandez, author of From Afro-Cuban Rhythms to Latin Jazz
An important contribution to understanding the contemporary music scene of the country.--Cary Peñate, University of Texas at Austin "Latin American Music Review"