“With a Cuban song in the heart is a book about mambo and rumba and all the elements of salsa. And yet, it is not a book specifically about music. It is a book about life (Cuban) and the pursuit of freedom (human) and happiness (Cuban-American). But it is not a book about politics. It is a book about diversity and religious syncretism, about folklore and Cuban history told through droll narrative, inspired lyrics and classic album covers. It is a book about losing and gaining freedom, about preserving culture and family. A book in which recent political events figure and many of the lives that changed in the process. A book about love: love for a nation that does not allow itself to be destroyed; love for traditions that cannot be lost; love for music so universal that no one can silence it.” (Ileana Fuentes)
Printed simultaneously in English and Spanish, With a Cuban Song in the Heart/Con una Canción Cubana en el Corazón is the culmination of the Cuban-American playwright and filmmaker Iván Acosta’s devotion to the music of the country of his birth. The double album and accompanying book released by Un-Gyve Press features 280 album covers from Iván Acosta's collection of over 5,000 long-playing discs interspersed among stories from his life. The result is a work of love and nostalgia, an exploration of what it means to carry your culture with you even in exile.
- Title: With a Cuban Song in the Heart/ Con una Canción Cubana en el Corazón
- Author: Iván Acosta
- Introduction: Marc Myers
- Language: English and Spanish
- Publisher: Un-Gyve Press
- Place: Boston
- Year: 2016
- First Edition
- Paperback
- Dimensions: 12.5” x 12.5”
- Length: 162 pages
- 2 vinyl LPs included
- ISBN: 978-0-982919880
- LCCN: 2016958911