Home > Culture and Folklore >   Merengue: Dominican Music and Dominican Identity (Paperback)
	Our Price: $35.84 Author: Paul Austerlitz Language: English Pages: 224 Stock Status: In Stock Availability: Usually Ships in 24 to 48 Hours Product Code: 978-1566394840 Qty:

Description   Merengue—the quintessential Dominican dance music—has a long and complex history, both on the island and in the large immigrant community in New York City. In this ambitious work, Paul Austerlitz unravels the African and Iberian roots of merengue and traces its growth under dictator Rafael Trujillo and its renewed popularity as an international music. Using extensive interviews as well as written commentaries, Austerlitz examines the historical and contemporary contexts in which merengue is performed and danced, its symbolic significance, its social functions, and its musical and choreographic structures. He tells the tale of merengue's political functions, and of its class and racial significance. He not only explores the various ethnic origins of this Ibero-African art form, but points out how some Dominicans have tried to deny its African roots. In today's global society, mass culture often marks ethnic identity. Found throughout Dominican society, both at home and abroad, merengue is the prime marker of Dominican identity. By telling the story of this dance music, the author captures the meaning of mass and folk expression in contemporary ethnicity as well as the relationship between regional, national, and migrant culture and between rural/regional and urban/mass culture. Austerlitz also traces the impact of migration and global culture on the native music, itself already a vibrant intermixture of home-grown merengue forms. From rural folk idiom to transnational mass music, merengue has had a long and colorful career. Its well-deserved popularity will make this book a must read for anyone interested in contemporary music; its complex history will make the book equally indispensable to anyone interested in cultural studies.   Other Related Products... Indios: Apuntes Historicos y Leyendas Reseña Historica del Folklore Dominicano El Tiguere Dominicano Tesoros de Barahona: Educacion, Religion y Deporte Our Price: $16.95 Add Our Price: $38.86 Add Our Price: $17.90 Add Our Price: $24.00 Add Cuentos, Narraciones y Estampas Campesinas Horas de Buen Humor: Los Cuentos de Seño Ambrosio Tributos a Moca Imagenes del Ayer Our Price: $15.95 Add Our Price: $19.72 Add Our Price: $23.98 Add Our Price: $66.12 Add

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