Introduction. Defining the Caribbean ; Music and race in the Caribbean ; Creolization and diaspora -- Music and Spanish colonization. A brief history of colonization ; Spanish-derived music ; Puerto Rican Seis ; Cuban Punto ; Folk Catholicism and the Dominican Salve -- Cultural legacies of the slave trade. History of the slave trade ; Afro-Cuban Toques de Güiros ; Afro-Dominican Salves ; Puerto Rican Bomba -- Creolized dance music. Dominican Merengue ; Cuban Son ; Puerto Rican Plena ; New York Salsa -- Transnational Caribbean musics. The colonial Contradanza ; Bolero and Bachata ; Reggaeton -- Political song. The rise of Nueva Canción ; Struggles for independence in the Hispanic Caribbean ; Puerto Rican protest song ; Nueva Canción in the Dominican Republic ; Cuban Nueva Trova ; Cuban Rap Consciente -- Dialogues with blackness. Early representations of blackness ; Creole heritage and classical music ; Latin jazz ; Conclusion.