In Cuban Fire, the prize-winning author Isabelle Leymarie tells the thrilling story of popular music of Cuban origin and its major artists from the 1920s to today.

Afro-Cuban music derives its richness from the fusion of many cultures. On the island of tobacco, rum and coffee, nicknamed 'The Green Caiman' because of its long and curvy shape, the wedding of sacred and secular African musical genres with Spanish and French melodies give rise to numerous genres that have gained international fame: the son, rhumba, guaracha, conga, mambo, cha-cha-cha, pachanga and nueva timba.

The history of Cuban music also unfolds in the United States, where large Cuban, Puerto Rican, Dominican and other Hispanic communities have established themselves over the years. It was in New York, indeed, that the boogaloo, salsa and Latin jazz, created by such musicians as Machito, Mario Bauzá, Dizzy Gillespie and Chano Pozo, emerged out of contact with the Puerto Ricans and African-Americans of that city. This major reference book also deals with the incandescent rhythms of Puerto Rico and - to a lesser degree - Santo Domingo, which have been integrated into salsa and Latin jazz.

ISABELLE LEYMARIE, a pianist and musicologist, has been involved with jazz and Latin music for many years. She has taught at Yale, Boricua College and The New School for Social Research. She co-directed and wrote the documentaries Machito: A Latin Jazz Legacy and Latin Jazz in New York and has produced radio shows on Latin music and jazz in Europe and Canada. Among her books are Music of South America, Cuba: the Music of the Gods and Cuba and Its Music, which was awarded the French 'Prix des Muses'.

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