The basic success of the conga came from ...that basic principle of African music and dance: everybody participates. The conga eradicated the distinction between performer and audience, broke down the wall of the proscenium... — Ned Sublette Copy Share Image
Music is so essential to the Cuban character that you can't disentangle it from the history of the nation. the history of Cuban music… — Ned Sublette Copy Share Image
One often reads that the 1950s was the golden age of Cuban music, but it was really one long phase, from 1937 to 1958,… — Ned Sublette Copy Share Image
Black musicians rhythmicized the contredanse, creating musical styles which evolved into the habanera (also known as the tango) and, later, ragtime, as well as… — Ned Sublette Copy Share Image
A laborer might last ten years or so before expiring. But individual workers in the death camp of sugar were survived by their culture, which was constantly re-Africanized by fresh arrivals. To that plantation culture, the music of our hemisphere owes no small debt. — Ned Sublette Copy Share
In 1942 Cachao wrote a tune for Arcao, 'Rareza de Melitn,' with a memorable catchy tumbao. In 1957 Arcao recorded a reworking of it under the name 'Chanchullo'; and in 1962 Tito Puente reworked that into 'Oye como va,' still with that same groove. In this form, audibly the same, it powered Carlos Santana's multiplatinum 1970 cover version, close to… — Ned Sublette Copy Share
The general disinclination of Spain to accept slaves from Islamicized regions of Africa during the formative years of Hispano-American society had enormous consequences for the development of music in the New World. — Ned Sublette Copy Share
New Orleans is of such key importance to American music because historical factors combined to make it the strongest center of African musical practice… — Ned Sublette Copy Share Image
Miguelito, liberated from having to sing with Cugat, sounds like he just got out of jail and is letting it rip. — Ned Sublette Copy Share Image
A second line is in effect a civil rights demonstration. Literally, demonstrating the civil right of the community to assemble in the street for… — Ned Sublette Copy Share Image
The two biggest hits (by Machito)... were about that enduring Cuban song topic-food: 'Sopa de pichn' [pigeon soup] and 'Paella'. If you think that… — Ned Sublette Copy Share Image
Every farm with slaves was a slave-breeding farm. Raising slaves was mostly a cottage industry... — Ned Sublette Copy Share Image
Up through and including Lincoln, American politicians nursed a fantasy of repatriating blacks to Africa. — Ned Sublette Copy Share Image
![“The two biggest hits (by Machito)... were about that enduring Cuban song topic-food: 'Sopa de pichn' [pigeon soup] and 'Paella'. If you think that all songs about food are double entendres for sex... Well, maybe all songs about food can be double entendres, but in many periods of Cuban history…” quote by Ned Sublette](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/a14/ned-sublette-30951_cuban_the-two-biggest-hits-by-machito-were-abo_1583675.jpg)
