Rites of Rhythm : The Music of Cuba

Rating:
Summary: Journalistic skimming of the surface
Review: A quick and easy read, but a little flip and trying to be too hip. This book will ring hollow to most who have visited the island. I was pretty disappointed at encounters that pumped up to be more meaningful than they seem on paper. Comes off as journalistic tourism.

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic
Review: Beautifully written and superbly insightful. A must read for anyone interested in Cuban music or culture.

Rating:
Summary: Journalistic skimming of the surface
Review: In Rites of Rhythm, Jory Farr captures the relationship between Cuba's music and its reality--from the spiritual to the socio-economic and the political. His book is highly readable and informative. He openly shares his journey through the Cuban music world (both inside Cuba and beyond its borders), interviewing Cuban musicians about their art, their lives and their spiritual roots in Afrocuban music. He expresses the ecstatic side of the music in print, the suffering of the Cuban people, and the psychological effects of living in Cuba since the revolution. For anyone planning to travel to Cuba or wanting to understand its music, I highly recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: A Cuban Musical Tour from a Human Perspective
Review: In Rites of Rhythm, Jory Farr captures the relationship between Cuba's music and its reality--from the spiritual to the socio-economic and the political. His book is highly readable and informative. He openly shares his journey through the Cuban music world (both inside Cuba and beyond its borders), interviewing Cuban musicians about their art, their lives and their spiritual roots in Afrocuban music. He expresses the ecstatic side of the music in print, the suffering of the Cuban people, and the psychological effects of living in Cuba since the revolution. For anyone planning to travel to Cuba or wanting to understand its music, I highly recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining and erudite!
Review: Jorry Farr writes with panache and shares his deep knowledge about Cuban culture and music in this entertaining book. Anyone interested in understanding the evolution and synthesis of the various Cuban musical genres will find this to be an valuable addition to their library. The appendix also contains a comprehensive discography, including some rare works.

Rating:
Summary: Truth in Advertising
Review: This is a personal memoir and does not come close to being the "comprehensive exploration of Cuba's rich musical and mythological heritage," as claimed on the inside sleeve of the book's cover. If you like travel journals and interviews with selected artists, this has some value, but Farr's reluctance or disinterest in fully contextualizing the artists being interviewed is puzzling. (Or downright sloppy as with the Valera Miranda family of Santiago, whose name is repeatedly misspelled) If you are truly looking for a "comprehensive" text , I would suggest Ned Sublette's master work, Cuban Music: From the First Drums to Mambo.