Nationalizing Blackness: Afrocubanismo and Artistic Revolution in Havana, 1920–1940 (Pitt Latin American Series)

"An examination of Cuban society through the music of the 1920s-30s when it began to embrace Afro-Cuban culture. Traces how the African element of Cuban society became associated with national identity. Among topics examined are carnival bands, son music, cabaret rumba, and blackface theater shows. The highly documented volume is enhanced by the inclusion of relevant legislation concerning music, and a listing of sextets in Havana between 1920-45 by barrio"--Handbook of Latin American Studies, v. 58. Robin Moore is assistant professor of music history at the. Esther Boyer College of Music, Temple University. Multiple travel grants from the MacArthur Foundation Peace and Security Program facilitated his research in Havana, Cuba. Former assistant editor of the Latin American Music Review, he has written articles for that publication as well as Caribbean Studies Journal and the International Review of the Aesthetics and Soc iology of Music. The 1920s saw the birth of the tango, the'jazz craze,'bohemian Paris, the Harlem Renaissance, and the primitivists. It was a time of fundamental change in the music of nearly all Western countries, including Cuba. Significant concessions to blue-collar and non-Western aesthetics began on a massive scale, making artistic expression more democratic.In Cuba, from about 1927 through the late thirties, an Afrocubanophile frenzy seized the public. Strong nationalist sentiments arose at this time, and the country embraced afrocubanismo as a means of expressing such feelings. Black street culture became associated with cubanidad (Cubanness) and a movement to merge once distinct systems of language, religion, and artistic expression into a collective of national identity.Nationalizing Blackness uses the music of the 1920s and 1930s to examine Cuban society as it begins to embrace Afrocuban culture. Moore examines the public debate over'degenerate Africanisms'associated with comparas or carnival bands; similar controversies associated with son music; the history of blackface theater shows; the rise of afrocubanismo in the context of anti-imperialist nationalism and revolution against Gerardo Machado; the history of cabaret rumba; an overview of poetry, painting, and music inspired by Afrocuban street culture; and reactions of the black Cuban middle classes to afrocubanismo. He has collected numerous illustrations of early twentieth-century performers in Havana, many included in this book.Nationalizing Blackness represents one of the first politicized studies of twentieth-century culture in Cuba. It demonstrates how music can function as the center of racial and cultural conflict during the formation of a national identity.

Nationalizing Blackness uses the music of the 1920s and 1930s to examine Cuban society as it begins to embrace Afrocuban culture. Moore examines the public debate over "degenerate Africanisms" associated with comparas or carnival bands; similar controversies associated with son music; the history of blackface theater shows; the rise of afrocubanismo in the context of anti-imperialist nationalism and revolution against Gerardo Machado; the history of cabaret rumba; an overview of poetry, painting, and music inspired by Afrocuban street culture; and reactions of the black Cuban middle classes to afrocubanismo. He has collected numerous illustrations of early twentieth-century performers in Havana, many included in this book.

Nationalizing Blackness represents one of the first politicized studies of twentieth-century culture in Cuba. It demonstrates how music can function as the center of racial and cultural conflict during the formation of a national identity.

Annotation "Nationalizing Blackness" uses the music of the 1920s and 1930s to examine Cuban society as it begins to embrace Afrocuban culture. Moore examines the public debate over "degenerate Africanisms" associated with "comparas" or carnival bands; similar controversies associated with "son" music; the history of blackface theater shows; the rise of afrocubanismo in the context of anti-imperialist nationalism and revolution against Gerardo Machado; the history of cabaret rumba; an overview of poetry, painting, and music inspired by Afrocuban street culture; and reactions of the black Cuban middle classes to "afrocubanismo," He has collected numerous illustrations of early twentieth-century performers in Havana, many included in this book. "Nationalizing Blackness" represents one of the first politicized studies of twentieth-century culture in Cuba. It demonstrates how music can function as the center of racial and cultural conflict during the formation of a national identity Cover Title Page Copyright Contents Preface Introduction 1 Afrocubans and National Culture 2 Minstrelsy in Havana: Music and Dance of the Teatro Vernáculo 3 Comparsas and Carnival in the New Republic: Four Decades of Cultural Controversy 4 Echale Salsita: Sones and Musical Revolution 5 Nationalizing Blackness: The Vogue of Afrocubanismo 6 The Rumba Craze: Afrocuban Arts as International Popular Culture 7 The Minorista Vanguard: Modernism and Afrocubanismo Conclusion Appendixes Notes Glossary References Index Library of Congress Data