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When rock and roll was transforming American culture in the 1950s and ’60s, East Harlem pulsed with the sounds of mambo and merengue. Instead of Elvis and the Beatles, Marta Moreno Vega grew up worshipping Celia Cruz, Mario Bauza, and Arsenio Rodriguez. Their music could be heard on every radio in El Barrio and from the main stage at the legendary Palladium, where every weekend working-class kids dressed in their sharpest suits and highest heels and became mambo kings and queens. Spanish Harlem was a vibrant and dynamic world, but it was also a place of constant change, where the traditions of Puerto Rican parents clashed with their children’s American ideals.
A precocious little girl with wildly curly hair, Marta was the baby of the family and the favorite of her elderly abuela, who lived in the apartment down the hall. Abuela Luisa was the spiritual center of the family, an espiritista who smoked cigars and honored the Afro-Caribbean deities who had always protected their family. But it was Marta’s brother, Chachito, who taught her the latest dance steps and called her from the pay phone at the Palladium at night so she could listen, huddled beneath the bedcovers, to the seductive rhythms of Tito Puente and his orchestra.
In this luminous and lively memoir, Marta Moreno Vega calls forth the spirit of Puerto Rican New York and the music, mysticism, and traditions of a remarkable and quintessentially American childhood.
“Viva Marta Moreno Vega! With honesty, humor, and love, she relives her coming-of-age in Spanish Harlem—the highs and the lows—eloquently documenting how deeply rooted West African cultural traditions are in her rich Puerto Rican heritage. Marta Vega’s memoir makes me want to mambo.” —Susan Taylor, editorial director of Essence and author of Lessons in Living
- Sales Rank: #1157885 in Books
- Brand: Brand: Three Rivers Press
- Published on: 2004-11-16
- Released on: 2004-11-16
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 7.96" h x .65" w x 5.25" l,
- Binding: Paperback
- 288 pages
- Used Book in Good Condition
From Publishers Weekly
In this vivid work, which shares its title with a 2002 documentary Vega produced, two tales flawlessly merge: one recalls an Afro–Puerto Rican girl's upbringing in 1950s Spanish Harlem; the other explains the background for the author's eventual status as a priestess of the Santeria/Lucumi religion. What could have been a familiar coming-of-age story is made fresh with Vega's painterly detail and use of background music (Celia Cruz, Machito and Tito Puente's sounds are present throughout). The sorrows of early school ("the classroom was a joyless cell") give way to double-dutch jumping, puberty, Vega's first crush and her emerging interest in preserving her family's traditions. "Music," her grandmother Abuela, an espiritista (a sort of spiritual psychic), tells her, "is the food of the soul, and the right music calls the spirits." At Abuela's apartment, Vega learns of the orishas (gods and goddesses) and observes Abuela's b�veda (altar); together, they visit the bot�nica for healing oils. Lovelorn at 14, Vega confides in Abuela, who summons a spirit named Juango to command her body. "Trying to understand Juango was difficult enough, but talking about sex with a spirit possessing my grandmother's body was startling." And thus the author's future path begins. The spiritual and musical journey Vega takes readers on is informative and inspiring, even for the uninitiated.
Copyright � Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From School Library Journal
Adult/High School–"Cotito" was the favorite of her grandmother, a high priestess of the Yoruba religion, whom she helped tend her altar. She accompanied Abuela to the botanica in East Harlem and witnessed the occasional possession by spirits. As she grew older, Vega found that these traditions could suffocate as well as nurture. Her parents' acceptance of machismo led to a double standard in the treatment of brother Chachito and his sisters. Mami, a trained nurse, was not to work outside the home because such women "get ideas" and cheat on their husbands. When she disobeyed, Papi's anger and violence were said to be the result of his love. Cotito silently decided that she didn't want such a love, just as she refused to lie to cover for her brother's philandering. Racism was found in the outside world (school, police) and at home: the children were expected to marry lighter-skinned Latinos, and Chachito jokingly called Cotito a "real African." Smart and perceptive, she became a strong young woman, and worked steadily toward her goal of becoming a teacher. At the mostly white arts high school, she and an African-American friend demanded that music from their cultures be included in music appreciation class. While rejecting the negative, she embraced the many positive aspects of her heritage and the love of her family. Cotito is as frank about her own shortcomings as she is about those of others. A vibrant, honest coming-of-age memoir that celebrates culture and community.–Sandy Freund, Richard Byrd Library, Fairfax County, VA
Copyright � Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
As fluidly as a Latin dance band shifts from a swaying ballad into a hip-twitching mambo, so Vega's passionate memoir of growing up in 1950s Spanish Harlem expresses both the burdens and joys of her Puerto Rican heritage. Although despising the machismo that keeps her mother prim and servile, forces girls to contain their sexuality, and ultimately condemns her sister to a loveless marriage, Vega is energized by the tropical rhythms heating up Harlem's legendary dance halls and comforted by her grandmother's mystical connection to Afro-Caribbean spirits. Coming-of-age stories chronicling the struggles of first-generation Latinas are not in short supply, and some clunky phrasings ("Memories are the musical notes that form the composition of our souls") suggest that Vega's training in writing has been secondary to her work as a scholar and priestess of Santeria. Still, readers who enjoyed Sandra Cisneros' The House on Mango Street (1984) and Esmerelda Santiago's When I Was Puerto Rican (1993) will find the experiences limned here affecting; her recollections will also be of interest to researchers in gender and Latin American and Caribbean studies. Jennifer Mattson
Copyright � American Library Association. All rights reserved
Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
Marta Moreno Vega Breaks It Down!!!
By Yansa Mira Toussaint
"When the Spirits Dance Mambo: Growing Up Nuyorican in El Barrio" is an excellent read in my opinion. As a student of African spirituality I gathered so much information from reading this book and from the words of wisdom Ms.Vega so lovingly remembers from her Abuela. I got a notebook and a pen and diligently took notes on such things as how to spiritually cleanse a house and what incense to use to keep unwanted spirits away. Like a previous reader I cried at the end of the book especially since Ms.Vega is the only one in her nuclear family left; all of her immediate family is now in the spirit world and in the case of her older sister,Socorro there is no date or details of her untimely death. Ms.Vega skillfully depicts in her memoir the co-existence of both the spirit and the human worlds and shows us that even though loved ones have passed on they are still here to protect us. This book really shows the importance of the human spirit in our family and communities which seemed so prevalent in the 1950's and 1960's when Ms.Vega grew up in El Barrio but is sadly lacking in families and communties today destroyed by drugs and violence. I especially liked Ms.Vega's descriptions of how spirit guides and the spirits themselves possess a "medium" of which abuela is one and how the Puerto Rican families in El Barrio really relied on the wisdom and guidance of these spirit guides. This book also shows how music and spirit are entertwined whether used in worshipping the African dieties are on the stages of major concert halls like the Palladium and Apollo Theaters. This memoir is one that is unique amongst most family memoirs because this one focuses on ancestral and familial spiritual ties that make us who we are. Very well done Ms.Moreno.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful.
a fantastic, unique memoir...
By Alyssa M.
Kudos to Marta Moreno Vega for this beautifully written, heartfelt memoir. When the Spirits Dance Mambo brings to life the hopes and dreams of Puerto Ricans living in East Harlem in the 50s and 60s. The book opens with young Marta and her sister Chachita huddled under the bed covers with a telephone. Their brother is on the line, and he's at the Palladium club, listening to live mambo music by some of the worlds best musicians. He holds up the receiver of the pay phone so his sisters can experience the music. In Marta's world, the mambo, and the other songs and rhythms of the Carribean, is everything. Her elderly grandmother--the most extraordinary character in this book--tells her that music is the connection between people and the spirits who guide and protect them. Her parents--a hard-working immigrant couple--are transformed into an elegant lady and gentleman when they dance together in the family's living room.
This memoir is an excellent coming-of-age story that reminded me a little of Esmeralda Santiago's When I was Puerto Rican, but the emphasis on music, and on the mystic Santeria religion, makes it a much more rewarding read. You come to know and love the Morenos and especially Marta's abuela. It's an amazing portrait of one author's past told through words and music. I highly recommend this book.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
excellent real-life story
By Elizabeth Hernandez
I actually cried at the end of this book. I bought it the day it went on sale and read it pretty much into the night. Marta Vega's story is both unique and universal. This book tells the story of her growing up in Spanish Harlem (El Barrio) and portrays the loving, close-knit working class who raised her. Her mama and abuela come across as very strong, resilient women, particularly her grandmother, who was an amazing soul. The book's title takes its name from the Latin/Island music that played everywhere in their neighborhood and home, and the orishas--spirit guardians--who Marta learned about from her grandmother. This is a very memorable, moving book. READ IT!
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