Agustin Lara: A Cultural Biography

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.


Author: Andrew Grant Wood
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 07/11/2014
Pages: 320
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.19lbs
Size: 9.30h x 6.10w x 1.10d
ISBN: 9780199892457

Review Citation(s):
Chronicle of Higher Education 07/18/2014 pg. 18
Choice 07/01/2015

About the Author

Andrew Grant Wood is Stanley Rutland Associate Professor of American History at the University of Tulsa.

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