Sinposis

Many in the United States believe Latin American musicians make "Latin music"_which carries with it a whole host of assumptions, definitions, and contradictions. In their own countries, these expatriate musicians might generate immense national pride or trigger suspicions of "national betrayals." The making, sounding, and hearing of "Latin music" brings into being the complex array of concepts that constitute "Latin Americanism"_its fissures and paradoxes, but also its universal aspirations. Taking as its center musicians from or with declared roots in Latin America, Jairo Moreno presents us with an innovative analysis of how and why music emerges as a necessary but insufficient shorthand for defining and understanding Latin American, Latinx, and American experiences of modernity.