African groups in Cuba, which Sublette traces to four distinct regions on the dark continent, kept a lot of their culture and traditions intact through the formation of cabildos, something like 'town ...

The Mambo Kings of Orquesta Akokan. Pepito Gomez and Jacob Plasse are second and third from left, back row. Credit: Photo by Adrien H. Tillmann/Courtesy of JP Cutler Media If you ever want a test of ...

Listening to this recording is similar to having a knowledgeable friend spin some tunes that fit together in many likely though not necessarily expected ways. It is a “mix tape” of sorts that features ...

Latin music is one of music’s most diverse, influential, and exciting genres. Its roots come from traditional African music that, along with its people, made its way to Havana, New Orleans, and ...

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Jacob Plasse remembers vividly the first time he heard mambo music. To hear him describe it, it was nothing short of a spiritual awakening. Now, as one of the lead collaborators in ...

Ry Cooder’s 1997 collaboration with a group of septuagenarian Cuban musicians, Buena Vista Social Club, sold 8 million copies and earned a Grammy for Best Tropical Latin Performance. It also earned ...

Victor Parra was a Chicago-area radio host, musician and bandleader who championed Afro-Cuban jazz music as the host of his weekly radio show, “Mambo Express,” on both WBEZ-FM and WDCB-FM. Parra was ...

I started to seriously listen to music around 1972, when I became an active rather than passive listener, constantly searching for songs I'd never heard before. It was a great time to do it, because ...

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SARAH WILLIS first visited Havana in February 2017. She was working in Miami with the New World Symphony Orchestra and figured she may as well take the hour-long flight across the Strait of Florida, ...

As the cofounder of the important Cuban music label Qbadisc and coproducer of public radio's Afropop Worldwide, Sublette is a well-known figure among elite mambo aficionados. Still, the sheer size and ...