Multi-Grammy-winning producer and New York Times bestselling author Kabir Sehgal examines the relationship between the US and Mexico, accompanied by music from Grammy-winning musician Arturo O'Farrill and special guests, an extended foreword from historian Douglas Brinkley, and afterword by Ambassador Andrew Young.
The US-Mexican relationship has involved periods of great friendship with robust trade and loose immigration policies. But its history has also been beset by wars, drug trade, and human trafficking. With the latest xenophobic turn toward Mexico, this book contextualizes the latest swing in the up-and-down, two-hundred-year history of these two countries.
In a lyrical narrative reflecting on Fandango Fronterizo, an annual musical celebration held on both sides of the border wall, Sehgal addresses how the broken US-Mexico relationship has been repaired in the past and continues to adapt today. FANDANGO AT THE WALL provides clarity to the current debate regarding construction of the wall and America's posture toward immigration. Sehgal and his artistic collaborators brought over thirty musicians from various traditions to the San Diego-Tijuana border to record a musical repertoire composed of son jarocho songs from Veracruz, Mexico and Latin jazz. With these tunes accompanying a call-to-action narrative, FANDANGO AT THE WALL demonstrates how music can heal and provide a soundtrack for the US, Mexico, and beyond.
Kabir Sehgal is a vice president in emerging market equities at J. P. Morgan in New York. He serves as an officer in the United States Navy Reserve, served as a speechwriter on a presidential campaign, and is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
He is the New York Times bestselling author of books including Coined, Walk in My Shoes (with Andrew Young), A Bucket of Blessings, and Jazzocracy.
A Grammy-winning producer who has performed with Grammy-winning musicians as a jazz bassist, he co-founded an arts organization which merged with the Afro Latin Jazz Alliance.
Sehgal is a graduate of Dartmouth College and the London School of Economics. He is a diehard Atlanta Braves fan.
To learn more about the author, visit CoinedBook.com.
An appropriate book for the times. It points out that the battles between Texas and the USA have been going on pretty much for a couple of hundred years. This is just the latest event. It's an interesting book and clearly the issue is complex and the consequences significant, not the least for the American economy, but also for the ecology. It's a good primer to understand elements in play beyond POTUS.