Dr. Andrés Espinoza Agurto, Ph.D.
Associate Professor | DAA Committee
Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts & Letters
Music
Boca Raton Campus | AL 349
About
Dr. Espinoza Agurto has been playing percussion since he was 8 years old. He studied Afro-Cuban percussion at the Escuela Nacional de Arte (ENA) in La Habana, Cuba, graduated summa cum laude from Berklee College of Music, receiving a degree in Jazz Composition, and holds an MA in Jazz studies and Ethnomusicology from the University of York (England). He received his Ph.D. in Musicology/Ethnomusicology from Boston University in 2014.
His upcoming book is titled Salsa Consciente: Poetics, Politics and Latinidad in the Meta-barrio, and analyzes the impact of Salsa music as a forging element of social and political identity within Latino and Latin American communities. He is also the composer, musical director, and percussionist of the Andres Espinoza World Jazz Ensemble, the Andres Espinoza Octet, and the Latin fusion sextet Los Songos Jalapeños. He is also a consecrated drummer in the lineage of Añá Ilu Kan and is currently conducting his research on the lineage, performance practice, and aesthetics of Afro- Cuban batá drummers and drumming.
Areas of Expertise
- Ethnomusicology
- Musicology
- Latin American/Caribbean Studies
- Hand Percussion
- Latin Music
- Afro-Centric Music
- Jazz Studies
- Composition and Arranging