Books by Benjamin Lapidus

New York City has long been a generative nexus for the transnational Latin music scene. Currently, there is no other place in the Americas where such large numbers of people from throughout the Caribbean come together to make music. In this book, Benjamin Lapidus seeks to recognize all of those musicians under one mighty musical sound.

Origins of Cuban Music and Dance: Changui is the first in-depth study of changui, a style of music and dance in Guantanamo, Cuba. Changui is analogous to blues in the United States and is a crucible of Cuban Creole culture. Benjamin Lapidus describes changui and its relationship to the roots of son, Cuba's national genre and the style of music that contributed to the development of salsa, in Eastern Cuba. He also highlights the connections between Afro-Haitian music and Cuban popular music through changui, connections with the Caribbean that have been largely overlooked in the past.After an initial historical discussion about the region of Guantanamo and the inter-connectedness of its various musical styles with a focus on changui, Lapidus discusses the technical aspects of the genre as practiced within the region and beyond. He considers the socio-historical importance of its lyrics, presenting numerous musical transcriptions that explain how the music is structured, as well as providing background stories to songs. In a chapter unique to this book and a first in Cuban musicology and ethnography, Lapidus describes years of festivals and musical competitions to show how local musical identity takes shape, particularly when encountering national narratives of music history. The volume concludes with a comparison between changui and son, as well as a bibliography, discography, and videography.