Alejandro García Caturla (1906-1940) was a prominent figure in the development of Cuban national music in the first half of the 20th century. His short, colorful life was tragically cut short by an assassin's bullet in his hometown of Remedios. His highly personal musical style combined traditional Afro-Cuban rhythms and dance forms with influences from European and North American modernism absorbed after Caturla had studied in Paris with Nadia Boulanger. A close friend of writers and musicians such as Alejo Carpentier and Henry Cowell, Caturla combined a career as musician and composer with that of a municipal judge.

This first biography in English includes interviews with living members of Caturla's family, photographs and maps of Cuba from Caturla's time, an up-to-date bibliography and list of works, and a CD of music by Caturla never before heard outside Cuba. It will be required reading for anyone studying the music of Cuba and will be of interest to musicians and non-musicians concerned with the history and culture of Latin America and the Caribbean.