Ever since 1875 when Emperor Franz Josef shook his royal britches to the tune of the Afro-Cuban habanera, the world has imported a remarkably large part of its popular music from Cuba. But only in recent years has this import business mushroomed into a sizable industry. Captain of that industry today is a black-haired, rather chinless band leader, Xavier Cugat (rhymes with glue pot), who gets an annual gross of $500,000 purveying the Cuban rumba and other Latin-American rhythms to the U.S. public. Last week Importer Cugat was at the peak of his...
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