They are not usually the most sought-after piece in the bookstore, but there are always new works that explain music and our favorite heroes. Mythical rappers, legendary producers, imaginary musicians, and even songs from space: these are the music books to buy this Sant Jordi.
Aretha Franklin. Apology and Martyrology of the Queen of Soul, by David Ritz (Libros del Kultrum)
A biography of Aretha Franklin is good enough news to drop everything you have in your hands and run to the nearest bookstore. And if it's also as wonderful as this one, they will report you for dereliction of duty if you don't have it in your hands right now. To the singer ofRespect, Atlantic icon, myth, legend and source of inspiration for thousands of soul lovers around the world, did not quite like this biography by David Ritz.The reason? It penetrates insistently into Aretha's life without overlooking any of her dramas and torments, nor in marital failures, problems with alcohol addiction, or lack of money at certain stages of her life. Family and childhood, religion, path to success, famous flirtations... it's all here. And it's not little, it's a lot, it's Aretha Franklin.
Self-portrait with Russian piano, by Wolf Wondratschek (Anagrama)
Although it is common to say that music saves your life, it is not always a cliché. There is some truth in that statement.Self-portrait with Russian Piano, by Wolf Wondratschek, does not tell the life of any real musician, but possibly speaks a little of each of them. It is a novel conceived as a conversation between the writer and an elderly musician, Suvorin, who reviews his personal, professional, and sentimental history now that he is retired and after being a regular on the European circuit, from Vienna to Moscow.
A story about the undeniable power of music, but where echoes of freedom and the bohemian life of the musician who travels the world pressing keys and reproducing wonderful pieces resonate. A novel with so many mirrors in reality that it is difficult to differentiate it from its true nature (fiction) and which has the added bonus of Wondratschek's excellent prose. Consuming it is an experience that flows like the sway of music.
Chamber Music. On the Wu-Tang Clan (in 36 Chambers), by Will Ashon (Temas de Hoy and Libros del Kultrum)
To understand the cultural hegemony of urban music, we must visit its roots: the golden nineties of hip-hop in the United States and the formation of the various rap schools of the time. From thegangstafrom the West Coast (the Death Row and No Limit environment), to the protest (Public Enemy), or the committed (Native Tongues collective). And among all of them, shining with their own light, a concatenation of talent never repeated, neither before nor after:Wu Tang Clan. Chamber Music is an exhaustive photograph written by Will Ashon of the precise moment everything explodes, thanks to the release of Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), first album by the Staten Island crew.
The 36 samurai chambers of RZA, Method Man, ODB, Raekwon and company that changed the rules of the game. This essay, divided into 36 chapters, shows you the reason for its vital importance: a rigorous and essential gem to understand why Wu Tang Clan ain't nuthing ta f wit is the great war cry of New York.
The Blues of Black Holes. And Other Melodies from Outer Space, by Janna Levin (Capitán Swing)
A sonic record of the history of the universe. This is how one of the most original music books ever written and the most unconventional work in the genre defines itself. The Blues of Black Holes. And Other Melodies from Outer Space, by Janna Levin (Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Barnard College, Columbia University), is the soundtrack of a place where nothing has ever sounded, or at least so we thought.
In this essay, published in 2015 and now arriving in Spanish thanks to Capitán Swing, the history of gravitational wave astronomy is explained, a fascinating topic for experts in the field, but clearly complicated for the uninitiated. And here lies its great achievement: knowing how to bring popular science closer to the general public in a careful and accessible way. The hits that play here are not on the charts, but the sonic resonance of spacetime surpasses any major chord.
Javier Krahe. Neither ugly nor Catholic nor sentimental, by Federico de Haro del Rio ( Reservoir Books)
Javier Krahe was one of the few who never bent.Following in the wake of other incorruptible musicians, like the Valencian Ovidi Montllor, the ill-fated Madrid singer-songwriter was a scourge for the powers that be, who always mistrusted his acidity. Because of his positions, he was never an assimilable type, as when Jesús de Polanco, owner of the Prisa group, declared him persona non grata in his communicative empire.
Polyhedral, passionate and committed, Javier Krahe's life well deserved this biography by Federico de Haro, which reconstructs the ins and outs of the life of who was the first Spanish singer censored on television: his Cuervo ingenuo, very critical of the socialist government's stance regarding Spain's entry into NATO, was never broadcast. A spiritual student of Jacques Brassens, it is worth delving into this biography: it has a multitude of sources and anecdotes, to show why Krahe is one of the essential figures in our music and critical thought.
Q. The Autobiography of Quincy Jones, by Quincy Delight Jones, Jr (Libros del Kultrum)
Praise be to Quincy Jones and praise be to Libros del Kultrum, along with Contra, the best publisher of music books in the country. Their clinical eye is always exceptional, and this autobiography is a good example of it. Let's go by parts, Quincy Jones is among the ten most important people in 20th-century pop music. And all this without being in front of the cameras, but behind them, composing, producing and playing with Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, Sarah Vaughan, Count Basie or Michael Jackson, which is perhaps his most universal work. Growing up in the slums of Chicago, he was lucky enough to be a musician and not a gangster (and he almost was).From here he learned to be a great bebop trumpet player, touring the world alongside the best. And from there to his entry into popular music, where he has managed the business with mastery and genius. Quincy Jones is god, and this is his bible.
Making flu$, by El Bloque (Plaza y Janés)
The collective El Bloque was one of the biggest appearances in recent years in the music press. If music had changed, so should journalism.And in this, its members remain stubborn, having just published the book, Making flu$, where they review the vicissitudes of the great explosion of urban music.For this, they not only have their many attributes, but also the testimony of some of the protagonists of the story, those who have lived firsthand the growth of a movement that comfortably dominates the charts. A good time to stop and review how everything has gone. And in this case, and in this scene, only they could do this.
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