Baila! A Bibliographic Guide to Afro-Latin Dance Musics from Mambo to Salsa (2013) by John Gray is part of the Black Music Reference Series. See description below:

Description: This groundbreaking work, a companion to the author’s recent ADP title, Afro-Cuban-Music, picks up where that volume leaves off, focusing on the influence of Cuban popular music in the United States and the circum-Caribbean region as well as on a host of new hybrid and local styles from Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela and Latin New York. The fruit of almost two decades of research it offers the first comprehensive survey to-date of the rich literature on commercial Latin dance musics and their associated dances.

A treasure trove of information, its 5300 entries document the history and evolution of numerous lesser-known regional styles such as Colombian champeta, Puerto Rican bomba y plena and Dominican bachata along with their better-known transnational counterparts, mambo, salsa and merengue. Of particular note is Baila!’s in-depth coverage of U.S.-based Latin music scenes in New York, Miami, Los Angeles and San Francisco, as well as those based in Australia, Canada, the UK, France and Germany. Valuable information may also be found on the various types of instruments used in Latin music ensembles, along with the many instructional works available on their history and performance practice.

These historical materials are complemented by a major biographical section chronicling the lives and careers of more than 1100 individual artists, dancers and others whose work has helped shape the trajectory of the music from Cubop of the 1940s to mambo and cha-cha-cha in the 1950s, pachanga and boogaloo/Latin soul in the 1960s, salsa and charanga in the 1970s, and merengue and Latin jazz of the 1980s and beyond. Citations range in date from 1930 to 2011 and encompass materials in all major European languages, with an emphasis on English, Spanish and French.

The work concludes with an extensive reference section offering lists of sources consulted, a guide to relevant libraries and archives, two appendices listing artists and individuals by idiom/occupation and country, and separate Author and Subject indexes.

Students, scholars and librarians will find Baila! to be an essential resource on Afro-Latin expressive culture—its music and dance, language, literature, aesthetics, and more—from North and South America to Europe, Africa and Japan.

John Gray is a veteran bibliographer whose previous publications include Blacks in Classical Music; African Music, Fire Music, From Vodou to Zouk: a bibliographic guide to music of the French-speaking Caribbean and its diaspora; Jamaican Popular Music, from Mento to Dancehall Reggae: a bibliographic guide; and Afro-Cuban Music: A Bibliographic Guide.

To order please visit the ADP website: www.african-diaspora-press.com