"An engaging, timely, and thoroughly researched work that explores the accomplishments and legacy of one of Cuba's most important musicians and bandleaders, Arsenio Rodríguez Scull. García's book fills a voice on Cuban and Latin American popular music scholarship, painstakingly outlining the details of Arsenio's strong African playing style, and how his musical creations were deeply tied to race, class, and cubanidad. No other book so skillfully combines biography with a convincing cultural analysis of how music both emerges from and contests specific ideologies of race, class, and national identity. This book promises to be the definitive biography of Arsenio in the English language—comprehensive and unstinting in its attention to detail."
—Katherine Hagedorn, Associate Professor of Music at Pomona College, and author of Divine Utterances: The Performance of Afro-Cuban Santería
