Disease in the History of Modern Latin America: From Malaria to AIDS (review)
Waxer uses Cali's salsa culture to enter an important contemporary debate: Is "mass culture," especially globalized mass culture such as that represented by internationally distributed music recordings, inherently homogenizing and destructive of local cultures? Waxer emphasizes that Cali's salsa culture was founded on imported records (not always played at the intended speed!) but that Calenos eventually put their own stamp on that culture, forging distinctive musical and dance styles, and thus making salsa a cherished and profoundly organic aspect of their identity. In addition, Calenos created distinctive forms of salsa sociability, such as the viejotecas where people gather today to listen and dance to the old musica antillana that 'so transformed the city's social life decades ago. (Hence, "the city of musical memory," one of Cali's more recent salsa-related identities, along with the older "branch office of heaven.")