Arsenio Rodrâiguez and the transnational flows of Latin popular music

Arsenio Rodriguez, composer and musical innovator, made an indelible impact on a broad range of musical styles from the Caribbean and Latin America to West and Central Africa.

The son montuno style that he created and his innovative conjunto ensemble inspired other Cuban musicians and played a key role in the development of salsa, yet Arsenio achieved only intermittent commercial success.

Drawing on the testimony of family, musicians, dancers, and other contemporaries, David Garcia traces Arsenio's early career in Cuba, his influence on Cuban and Latin popular music in the 1940s, his struggle for recognition at the height of mambo-mania in the 1950s, and his importance to Puerto Rican and Cuban communities in New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles.

Garcia shows how matters of race, class, and identity as well as the transnational Latin music industry shaped Arsenio's music and career.