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<i>San Juan-New York: Discografía de la música puertorriqueña 1900–1942</i> (review)

2010; University of Texas Press; Volume: 31; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/lat.2010.0022

1536-0199

Robin Moore,

Latin American and Latino Studies

Reviewed by: San Juan-New York: Discografía de la música puertorriqueña 1900–1942 Robin Moore Cristóbal Díaz Ayala . San Juan-New York: Discografía de la música puertorriqueña 1900–1942. Cayey, Puerto Rico: Publicaciones Gaviota 2009. 327 pp. ISBN 13: 978-1-61505-000-0. Prologue by Ángel Quintero . Bibliography, discography. $19.99. Cristóbal Díaz Ayala’s most recent book represents a specialized volume, primarily intended for graduate students, professional music researchers, or for collectors of early Puerto Rican Music. The title of the volume underscores the fact that a majority of popular Puerto Rican music was recorded in New York rather than on the island, and that a close relationship continues to exist between the two cities in various senses. The author emphasizes that Puerto Rico has had more music released from within the United States than any Latin American country with the exception of Mexico despite its relatively small size and population. San Juan-New York consists of two primary sections: first, about 100 pages of introductory essay, and then about 200 pages of annotated discography. The preface and first chapter describe how the author became interested in early Puerto Rican repertoire and in discographies generally as the result of collaborations on earlier projects, primarily with Richard Spottswood. Díaz Ayala notes the considerable work that remains to be done on related bibliographic topics. Chapter 2, a recording pre-history of sorts, describes the little that is known about the very first recordings of Puerto Rican music, many of which have been lost. The author describes the first recording sessions of Puerto Ricans, organized in New York, and also the first teams sent to the island some years later. Chapter 3 discusses the early recording companies that made incursions into Latin America and their growing interest in Puerto Rico. The first recordings made tended to be of classical artists and repertoire; only later did executives realize the economic value of recording traditional and popular music as well. This chapter also distinguishes between three main categories of Puerto Rican music discussed later in the volume: (1) Puerto Rican music recorded by Puerto Ricans themselves; (2) Puerto Rican music recorded by non-Puerto Rican interpreters; and (3) recordings by Puerto [End Page 273] Rican artists of music written in other countries, primarily the United States and other parts of Latin America. Díaz Ayala also discusses the difficulty and limitations of early discographic research, describing the many errors, gaps, and inconsistencies found in the first decades of labeling and documentation. Chapter 4 provides additional information on trips undertaken by U.S.-based record companies to Puerto Rico, beginning with Columbia Records and continuing with the Victor and Brunswick labels. Díaz Ayala draws on information from company archives to determine exactly which technicians recorded and where, as well as mentioning which recordings can still be heard and which have been lost. Chapter 5—one of the longest—describes the lives of early performers recorded on 78 records, the many groups they performed with simultaneously in order to make ends meet, as well as their “day jobs.” The author documents early 20th-century disdain for Afro-Puerto Rican music, emphasizing the fact that virtually no plenas or bombas were recorded during the period under consideration. Instead, danza, the bolero, and other romantic music predominated. The author notes a gradual diversification and inter-nationalization of Puerto Rican repertoire through the 1940s as artists began recording not only music of their own, but that of other Latin American countries as a means of diversifying their sales base. He mentions several “crossover” artists who performed both in Spanish and English, largely for the same reason, and who began to play in U.S. jazz groups in the 1920s and 1930s. The chapter ends with an overview of Puerto Rican patriotic song and politically engaged music, noting that the earliest recorded pieces of this nature come from New York rather than San Juan. Chapter 6 provides a useful overview of gradual changes in recording preferences among Puerto Rican performers and their record companies which seem to suggest changing preferences on the part of listeners as well...