ABSTRACT
For me, the loss of Jan is above all personal, and it reaches back and forward into many parts of my life. One snapshot: in Cuba for the first time in 2008, partly due to Jan’s long-standing involvement, much of what I saw and heard was shaped by what I’d learned from her over the years. Surrounded by performances on many levels, I turned to the Rough Guide essay on Cuban music, only to discover on the last page, to my chagrin, that it was by Jan – one of many such guides and introductions she had written over the years, and typically as imaginative as it was informative. Establishing Cuba’s unique contribution to the world’s music in just two paragraphs, she provides a succinct survey of its many genres, from the era of slavery, through the popular dance crazes of the early twentieth century and the impact of the Revolution, up to the latest hip-hop mutations.
