In Memoriam: Leonardo Acosta (19332016)

Latin American Music Review, Volume 37, Number 2, Fall/Winter 2016, pp.
v-vi (Article)

Published by University of Texas Press

For additional information about this article

https://muse.jhu.edu/article/638596

Access provided by UFBA-Universidade Federal da Bahia (9 Oct 2017 22:59 GMT)

 In Memoriam: Leonardo Acosta
(19332016)

Leonardo Acosta passed away on

September 23, 2016, at 83 years of
age in Havana, Cuba, the city of
his birth. Known for his achieve-
ments as a musician, ethnomusi-
cologist, literary critic, journalist,
and narrator, Acosta received the
Cuban National Prize for Liter-
ature in 2006 and for Music in
2014, both for lifetime achieve-
ment. He played saxophone with
jazz orchestras lead by musicians
such as Benny Mor and Rey Daz
Calvet and helped found the Club
Cubano de Jazz in 1958 follow-
ing a trip to New York City. In the
1970s, he was one of the found-
ers of the Grupo de Experiment-
acin Sonora del ICAIC, writing film music under the direction of Leo
Brouwer. In addition to his musicological writings, he wrote for the news-
paper La Prensa Latina, the magazine Revolucin y Cultura, and acted as a
musical advisor for Cuban television. Acosta will be remembered as one
of the most original thinkers in Cuba who has written on music and as
one who was not afraid to challenge conventional wisdom. His work on
jazz is especially important, representing the most thorough treatment of
the topic to date. His major publications on music include Msica y pica
en la novela de Alejo Carpentier (1976), Msica y descolonizacin (1982),
Del tambor al sintetizador (1983), Elige t que canto yo (1992), Cubano be,
Cubano bop: One Hundred Years of Jazz in Cuba (2003). Acostas influence
as a scholar reached far beyond the impact of his own writing. Beginning
in the late 1980s and continuing with increasing intensity in the two and
a half decades that followed, he became an important mentor and guide
for scholars from North America as well as Europe who traveled to Cuba
to write about the islands many musical traditions. His legacy lives on in
their work and he will be missed.
Leonardo Acosta is survived by his wife, Margarita Michi Gonzlez,
and his son, David, who currently lives in Mexico.

En Memoria: Leonardo Acosta

(19332016)

El 23 de septiembre 2016 falleci Leonardo Acosta a los 83 aos de edad

en la Habana, Cuba, su ciudad natal. Conocido como msico, etnomusi-
clogo, crtico, periodista, y narrador, Acosta recibi el Premio Nacional
de Cuba de Literatura en 2006, y el de Msica en 2014, ambos por el tra-
bajo de toda su vida. Tocaba el saxofn con orquestas de jazz dirigido por
msicos como Benny Mor y Rey Daz Calvet y ayud con la fundacin del
Club Cubano de Jazz en 1958, despes de un viaje a la ciudad de Nueva
York. Durante los aos 70, fue uno de los fundadores del Grupo de Experi-
mentacin Sonora del ICAIC, escribiendo msica para el cine bajo la ase-
sora de Leo Brouwer. Adems de sus trabajos musicales, escribi para el
peridico Prensa Latina, la revista Revolucin y Cultura, y sirvi como con-
sejero musical de la televisin cubana. Acosta ser recordado como uno
de los pensadores ms originales en Cuba y como escritor sobre la m-
sica: uno que no tema desafiar la sabidura convencional. Su trabajo en
jazz es especialmente importante, representando el tratamiento ms pro-
fundo del tema vigente hasta hoy en da. Sus publicaciones mayores sobre
msica incluyen Msica y pica en la novela de Alejo Carpentier (1976), M-
sica y descolonizacin (1982), Del tambor al sintetizador (1983), Elige t que
canto yo (1992), Cubano be, Cubano bop: One Hundred Years of Jazz in Cuba
(2003). La influencia de Acosta como acadmico lleg mucho ms all del
impacto de su propia escritura. Empezando a finales de los 1980s y conti-
nuando con creciente intensidad durante las dos dcadas y media que si-
guieron, se convirti en un importante mentor y gua para los estudiosos
de Norte Amrica y Europa, quienes viajaron a Cuba a escribir sobre las
muchas tradiciones musicales de la isla. Su legado contina viviendo en el
trabajo de estos acadmicos y su persona ser recordada y extraada.
A Leonardo Acosta le sobreviven su esposa, Margarita Michi Gonzlez,
y su hijo, David, quien vive en Mxico.