Secular Devotion: Afro-Latin Music and Imperial Jazz

Description

Popular music in the Americas, from jazz, Cuban Latin and salsa to disco and rap, is overwhelmingly neo-African. Created in the midst of war and military invasion, and filtered through a largely European outlook, these musical forms are completely modern in their sensibilities: they are in fact the very sounds of modern life. But the African religious philosophy at their core involved a longing for earlier, eras — ones that pre-dated the technological discipline of labor forced on captive populations by the European occupiers. In this groundbreaking new book, Timothy Brennan shows how the popular music of the Americas — the music of entertainment, nightlife, and leisure — is an act of devotion to an African religious worldview that survived the ravages of slavery and found its way into the rituals of everyday listening. In doing so he explores the challenge posed by Afro-Latin music to a world music system dominated by a few wealthy countries and the processes by which Afro-Latin music has been absorbed into the imperial imagination. Secular Devotion Contents List of Illustrations 1.1 Images on Putumayo CD covers 1.2 Flying Down to Rio (1933), dir. Thornton Freeland 1.3 Written on the Wind (1956), dir. Douglas Sirk 1.4 Gigi (Ejigayehu Shibabaw) 1.5 Koffi Olomide 2.1 The cinquillo rhythmic phrase 2.2 The rhythm for the cinquillo, the tresillo and the clave and pulse 2.3 The notation of the habanera rhythm in the contradanza 5.1 National Geographic cover picture 5.2 Image from Pedro Coll, El Tiempo Detenido 5.3 Image from Rene Burri, Cuba y Cuba 6.1 The Masonic “Egyptian Rite” 6.2 “The elements of Western metaphysics as represented by Masonic symbols” 6.3 “Veves (images) of Haitian Voodoo” 6.4 “St. James, the Warrior Spirit (Ogu)” 6.5 Image from Ishmael Reed, Mumbo Jumbo 6.6 A Dionysian celebrant depicted on a Greek vase 6.7 Image from Vachel Lindsay, Collected Poems 7.1 Painting by Kdir (Kadir Lopez) 7.2 “Lt. Europe Stirring Up the Band” 7.3 “Regimental band, 13th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, Manila, P.I.” Acknowledgments Introduction 1 World Music Does Not Exist 2 Surrealism and the Son 3 Face Down in the Mainstream 4 Rap and American Business 5 Global Youth and Local Pleasure 6 The War of Writing on Music: Mumbo Jumbo 7 Imperial Jazz Plates 1 “Son,” Argeliers Leon 2 “Danzon,” Argeliers Leon 3 “Solace: A Mexican Serenade,” Scott Joplin 4 “La Celosa,” Ignacio Cervantes Notes Illustration Credits Index