Sounding Jewish in Berlin: klezmer music and the contemporary city

Abstract

craze that emerged in the mid-60s: Latin Bugalú: blending African-American Soul with Cuban dance music. Although popular among the younger Nuyorican musicians, older musicians were more motivated by the commercial success and resultant better pay they could get for Bugalú gigs. In Chapter 9, Miller moves forward to later developments. She focuses on another innovative Nuyorican musician, Ray Barretto and the flute players who worked with him. Here she notes the emergence of female musicians and includes their voices in her research. Miller concludes by arguing that in New York while cubanía thrived, a new, unique and urban performance aesthetic emerged driven by the Cuban and non-Cuban flautists. The city embraced the broader range of approaches to charanga performance with New York bands developing their own signature sounds. There are many ways in which the reader can approach this book. Musicians and Cuban music scholars can learn a great deal from the detailed transcriptions and analysis of which there are many. I thoroughly enjoyed studying these, stopping to play bits and flicking back and forth from one to the next making various comparisons. Miller’s careful, measured explanations directed the reader to notable features of the different players’ approaches to playing. There is a lot of knowledge here that warrants study and re-examination, not just by flute players hoping to embrace the style but all instrumentalists and vocalists who wish to expand their Cuban music vocabulary. It is interesting to see how Miller approaches the task of analysing the music in a way that will provide pertinent information to all readers. She provides a wealth of musical detail with insights into performance practice and techniques. I imagine some of it would be fairly heavy going for non-musicians but throughout there is clarity of thought and careful explanation. Miller weaves together a vast amount of information and detail, keeping the musicians’ voices in the foreground throughout. There is a lot to take in but the book is carefully crafted with reminders of salient points so that the reader does not lose their way. Improvising Sabor is a great example of how to approach a study of musical transformation and identity in a manner which engages both academics and practitioners. Miller has put aside commonly held opinions about performance aesthetic in New York and, from the perspective of the flute within the charanga tradition she has considered the wider world of Cuban music and transformation in New York.