Agustin Lara: A Cultural Biography

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Acknowledgements
List of Illustrations
Prelude: Sell Your Love Dearly
Chapter One: Music and Mexican Modernity
Chapter Two: From Bordello Pianist to Tropical Troubadour: 1897-1930
Chapter Three: Musical Revue, Radio and Film: 1931-34
Chapter Four: Palm Trees and Pirate Nights: 1935-41
Chapter Five: Tales of Beauty and the Bohemian: 1942-47
Chapter Six: Postwar Cabareteras and Boleros: 1948-53
Chapter Seven: To Spain and Veracruz: 1954-70
Notes
References
Cast of Lara's friends and associates
Full Listing of Lara's Songs
Filmography
Index

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About

Few Mexican musicians in the twentieth century achieved as much notoriety or had such an international impact as the popular singer and songwriter Agustín Lara (1897-1970). Widely known as "el flaco de oro" ("the Golden Skinny"), this remarkably thin fellow was prolific across the genres of bolero, ballad, and folk. His most beloved "Granada", a song so enduring that it has been covered by the likes of Mario Lanza, Frank Sinatra, and Placido Domingo, is today a standard in the vocal repertory. However, there exists very little biographical literature on Lara in English. In Agustín Lara: A Cultural Biography, author Andrew Wood's informed and informative placement of Lara's work in a broader cultural context presents a rich and comprehensive reading of the life of this significant musical figure. Lara's career as a media celebrity as well as musician provides an excellent window on Mexican society in the mid-twentieth century and on popular culture in Latin America. Wood also delves into Lara's music itself, bringing to light how the composer's work unites a number of important currents in Latin music of his day, particularly the bolero. With close musicological focus and in-depth cultural analysis riding alongside the biographical narrative, Agustin Lara: A Cultural Biography is a welcome read to aficionados and performers of Latin American musics, as well as a valuable addition to the study of modern Mexican music and Latin American popular culture as a whole.

Reviews

The first virtue of the present volume, then, is that it fills an obvious void. The second virtue is that it is beautifully done: well assembled and very well researched. Wood argues convincingly, even to non-specialist readers, that Lara was more than an entertainer. Highly recommended

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