Music and Identity in Latin America (Jane L. Florine, Cuarteto Music and Dancing from Argentina: In Search of the Tunga-Tunga in Cordoba; Dale A. Olsen, Music of El Dorado: The Ethnomusicology of Ancient South American Cultures; And Peter Wade, Music, Race, And Nation: Musica Tropical in Colombia) (Book Review‪)‬

The meaning of music in the lives of human beings and how music not only reflects but also shapes and constructs our social and political identities has been a fascinating preoccupation of ethnomusicological investigation over the past couple of decades. These three books continue that preoccupation from three very distinctive and original perspectives. That they do so by bringing to light three relatively neglected musical cultures of Latin America makes them a particularly interesting trio for review. Wade's study of musica tropical from the north Atlantic coast of Colombia and Florine's examination of cuarteto music in Cordoba, Argentina, seem, on first perusal, to have the most in common. Both are concerned with contemporary popular musics and the changes and issues (musical and social) that have occurred in the movement of these musics from a condition of marginalization to one of major popularization. Further, both books rely on ethnographic and sociohistorical documentation, and both raise questions about the future stylistic directions of these musics and the future prospects of the respective societies that embrace them.