Ned Sublette (born 1951 in

Lubbock, Texas Lubbock ( ) is the 10th-most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of government of Lubbock County. With a population of 260,993 in 2021, the city is also the 85th-most populous in the United States. The city is in the northw ...

) is an American

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

musician A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wri ...

, record producer,

musicologist Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some mu ...

, historian, and author. Sublette studied Spanish

Classical Guitar The classical guitar (also known as the nylon-string guitar or Spanish guitar) is a member of the guitar family used in classical music and other styles. An acoustic wooden string instrument with strings made of gut or nylon, it is a precursor o ...

with Hector Garcia at the

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; es, Universidad de Nuevo México) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Founded in 1889, it is the state's flagship academic institution and the largest by enrollment, with over 25,400 ...

and with

Emilio Pujol Emilio Pujol Vilarrubí (or ''Emili''; 10 September 1886 – 21 November 1980) was a Spanish composer, guitarist and a leading teacher of the classical guitar. Biography Emili Pujol was born in the little village of Granadella just outside Ll ...

in Spain. He studied

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography *Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include v ...

with

Kenneth Gaburo Kenneth Louis Gaburo (July 5, 1926 – January 26, 1993) was an American composer. Life Gaburo was born in Somerville, New Jersey. He served as a professor of music at the University of Illinois, the University of California, San Diego, and the Un ...

at the

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Insti ...

. He grew up in

Portales, New Mexico Portales is a city in and the county seat of Roosevelt County, New Mexico, United States. Its population was 12,280 at the 2010 census. Portales is located near the larger city of Clovis, and Cannon Air Force Base, a major contributor to the e ...

, moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in 1976, and has worked with

John Cage John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading fi ...

LaMonte Young La Monte Thornton Young (born October 14, 1935) is an American composer, musician, and performance artist recognized as one of the first American minimalist composers and a central figure in Fluxus and post-war avant-garde music. He is best kno ...

Glenn Branca Glenn may refer to: Name or surname * Glenn (name) * John Glenn, U.S. astronaut Cultivars * Glenn (mango) * a 6-row barley variety Places In the United States: * Glenn, California * Glenn County, California * Glenn, Georgia, a settlement ...

, and Peter Gordon.

Music performance

As a performer, Sublette is probably best known for fusing country-western and afro-Caribbean styles including

salsa Salsa most often refers to: * Salsa (Mexican cuisine), a variety of sauces used as condiments * Salsa music, a popular style of Latin American music * Salsa (dance), a Latin dance associated with Salsa music Salsa or SALSA may also refer to: ...

cumbia Cumbia refers to a number of musical rhythms and folk dance traditions of Latin America, generally involving musical and cultural elements from American Indigenous peoples, enslaved Africans during colonial times, and Europeans. Examples include: ...

and

rumba The term rumba may refer to a variety of unrelated music styles. Originally, "rumba" was used as a synonym for "party" in northern Cuba, and by the late 19th century it was used to denote the complex of secular music styles known as Cuban rumba ...

, as reflected on the 1999 album "Cowboy Rumba", as well as his 2012 second album ''Kiss You Down South''. He is also a leading scholar of

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

n music. His label Qbadisc releases Cuban music in the United States and he has released music by Latin musicians including Ritmo Oriental and

Issac Delgado Issac Delgado (born Isaac Felipe Delgado-Ramirez on April 11, 1962 in Marianao, Habana, Cuba) is one of the founders of the band NG La Banda and is a popular Salsa music, salsa and timba performer. Early life and family His father, Luis Delgad ...

and has co-produced Public Radio International's "Afropop Worldwide" show. During the 1980s, he led the Ned Sublette Band, which played country with Cuban stylings. His "Cowboy Rumba" reached number one on World Music Charts Europe during December, 1999. In 2006,

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American country musician. The critical success of the album ''Shotgun Willie'' (1973), combined with the critical and commercial success of ''Red Headed Stranger'' (1975) and '' Stardust'' (197 ...

released Sublette's song "

Cowboys Are Frequently, Secretly Fond of Each Other "Cowboys Are Frequently, Secretly Fond of Each Other" (1981) is a song by Latin music (genre), Latin country musician Ned Sublette, whose music, according to Howard Cohen, features a "Swung note, lilting West Texas waltz (3/4 time at about 60� ...

" in the wake of the success of ''

Brokeback Mountain ''Brokeback Mountain'' is a 2005 American neo-Western romantic drama film directed by Ang Lee and produced by Diana Ossana and James Schamus. Adapted from the 1997 short story of the same name by Annie Proulx, the screenplay was written by O ...

''. He also performed an experimental radio "mash-up" in 1984 for the "Art on the Beach" series.

Writing

His book on Cuban music, ''Cuba and Its Music: From the First Drums to the Mambo'' () was published in 2004. ''The World That Made New Orleans: From Spanish Silver to Congo Square,'' () was published in 2008 by Lawrence Hill Books. ''The Year Before the Flood: A Story of New Orleans'' () published in 2009 by Lawrence Hill Books continues the history of New Orleans cultures and music.

Awards

Sublette is a 2005

Guggenheim Fellow Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

. In 2012 he was a Knight-Luce Fellow for Reporting on Global Religion at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

. He did research in

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

, which resulted in a four-episode ''Hip Deep Angola'' radio series, produced for the public radio program ''Afropop Worldwide''.

Other works

Sublette starred in ''Vidas Perfectas'', a Spanish-language version of

Robert Ashley Robert Reynolds Ashley (March 28, 1930 – March 3, 2014) was an American composer, who was best known for his television operas and other theatrical works, many of which incorporate electronics and extended techniques. His works often involve ...

's 1983 "television opera" ''Perfect Lives'', which premiered on stage at Irondale Theater, Brooklyn in December 2011, and which was to be shot for television in 2012.About
, vidasperfectas.org. Accessed online 2 April 2012. In October 2015, Sublette and his wife Constance published ''The American Slave Coast: A History of the Slave-Breeding Industry'' (), a comprehensive history of slave trading in the southern colonies and states.

Discography

*''Ships at Sea, Sailors and Shoes'' (Excellent, 1993) *''Monsters from the Deep'' (Excellent, 1997) *''Cowboy Rumba'' (

Palm Pictures Palm Pictures is a US-based entertainment company owned and run by Chris Blackwell. Palm Pictures produces, acquires and distributes music and film projects with a particular focus on the DVD-Video format. Palm places an emphasis on such pro ...

, 1999) *''Kiss You Down South'' (Postmambo, 2012)

References

External links

* *
Interview with Ned Sublette on Cuban music

WNYC WNYC is the trademark and a set of call letters shared by WNYC (AM) and WNYC-FM, a pair of nonprofit, noncommercial, public radio stations located in New York City. WNYC is owned by New York Public Radio (NYPR), a nonprofit organization that di ...

, January 2009
Interview with Ned Sublette
by Prof. Joseph Roach of Yale University, 2005
Interview with Ned Sublette
by Prof. Vicki Mayer of Tulane University, 2005
Interview with Ned Sublette
by Garnette Cadogan in ''

Bomb A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the Exothermic process, exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-t ...

'', Summer 2009, on New Orleans music, Mardi Gras, and history
Ned Sublette performs songs at The Kitchen in New York City, June, 2006

Review of ''The Year Before the Flood'' by Ingrid Norton
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sublette, Ned 1951 births American country singer-songwriters People from Lubbock, Texas Living people People from Portales, New Mexico Singer-songwriters from Texas Songwriters from New Mexico American Book Award winners Country musicians from Texas