Critical Review #9

Pacini Hernandez, Deborah. 1998. “Dancing with the Enemy: Cuban Popular Music, Race, Authenticity, and the World-Music Landscape.” Latin American Perspectives 25(3):110-125.

In her article “Dancing with the Enemy,” Deborah Pacini Hernandez writes about the history of Cuban music’s introduction into the western music and recording scene. Hernandez focuses a majority of her article on outlining Cuban music’s incorporation into the world-music genre.

Following the revolution, the Cuban government condemned racial prejudice and encouraged the cultivation of a unified Cuban identify rooted in African and Caribbean culture. The government provided financial support and elevated Afro-Cuban music and dance, particularly the rumba, to the status of national symbols (115). Other forms Caribbean music, such as salsa, emphasized Spanish roots. Because of Cuban’s music emphasis on its African roots, it was not originally produced on Latin music labels. Hernandez argues that this racial aspect “positioned Cuban music to enjoy easy acceptance within world-music networks” (116), whose primarily listeners were westerners attracted to the clear connections to traditional, in this case African/black, roots.

Question: Though the world-music label provided an outlet of Cuban and other musics to spread, does the phrase “world-music” have a harmful effect as well? Even if music becomes known because of these labels, is it right to use them?