study guide lp21 2009

8/3/2019 Study Guide LP21 2009

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Los PLeneros de La 21:exp g P t r c C lt H t y Th gh M

PuerTo riCo Puerto Rico is an island archipelago at the end of thechain of the Greater An lles Islands in the Caribbean.Long before the Europeans arrived, Puerto Rico wasa homeland of the Tano Arawak . This indigenouspeople, originally from South America, began migra ngnorthward into the Caribbean as early as 500 BC. Theyestablished their main se lements on the islands today

known as the Bahamas, Hispaniola, Cuba, Jamaica andPuerto Rico. They called Puerto Rico Boriqun, orLand of the Great Lords. The Arawak were a peacefulpeople who lived by farming, hun ng and shing. Cornand cassava were their most important crops. Theylived in permanent villages called yucayeques , eachgoverned by a cacique or chief. The Arawaks worshipedvarious dei es and they used carved idols of stone,clay, wood or goldcalled cem (zeh-mee)to driveaway evil spirits and ensure a good harvest.

Christopher Columbus landed on Puerto Rico onNovember 19, 1493, during his second voyage. In1508, Juan Ponce de Len was sent from the Spanishcolony in nearby Santo Domingo to conquer Boriqun for Spain. The Spanish divided up the land among themand forced the Arawaks to work in gold mines and onfarms and ranches. A er three years, the Arawaksrevolted against this cruel treatment. But the rebellionwas crushed, and forced labor and disease greatlyreduced the Arawak popula on.

Those who remained intermarried with the Spanishse lers, producing a people of mixed Spanish-Arawakancestry or criollos . A few se lers owned large co eeand sugar planta ons. But most were landless laborers,sharecroppers, or farmers growing just enough foodfor their own families. These small farmers were called

jbaros .

As the Arawak popula on declined, the Puerto Ricanplanta on owners turned to African slavery. Slaves were

brought in to replace the Tano not in the gold minebut on the burgeoning planta on system that beganto develop throughout the colonies held by Spain.Africans from the Mandinga, Wolo , Igbo, Ashante,Yoruba, Bantu and Kongo na ons were brought toPuerto Rico. Like the Tano, they consistently revoltedand ran away to the hills, mangroves and swamps,most mes intermingling and establishing communi es

throughout the island. Those who remained on theplanta on as well as those who were free establisheda cultural foothold. Foods, expressions, religion as wellas the music of these many African cultures in uencedand enriched Puerto Rican culture. From their Arawak,Spanish and African heritage, Puerto Ricans forgeda strong iden ty as a Spanish-speaking Caribbeanpeople.

This helped to shape, to a large extent, the broad culturaldivisions created by two disparate pa erns of economy

and se lement. Small inland farms of Puerto Rico, forexample, were typically worked by Spanish se lerswhose virtual isola on allowed some musical formsand a passion for stringed instruments to be passedon from genera on to genera on into the present.By contrast, it was percussion-dominated music thattook root among descendants of the enslaved Africanswho labored on planta ons sca ered throughoutcoastal areas of the island. In Puerto Rico, as in manyother countries in the Americas where the ins tu onof slavery existed, a strong African cultural presenceendures in the realm of contemporary popular music,and is most evident in two older music and dancestyles, bomba and plena

Note to the reader : The following informa on is a compila on of various sources from wri en documenta on, as well as from life experiences of

individual ar sts of LP21 ensemble and other prac oners. We hope that you nd this useful, which we encourage you expand on.


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BoMBa and PLenaBomba and Plena are the genres standing at thecore of Afro-Puerto Rican musical expression. Eachhas its par cular historical trajectory and musicaldis nc veness. Bomba has been said to date back tothe 17 th Century, while plena is a product of the early20 th Century.

Bomba is an umbrella term for a mul plicity of regionalstyles, rhythmic pa erns and associated dance stylesthat were ini ally cul vated by Africans and theirdescendants in the context of planta on and counter-planta on life in early colonial Puerto Rico. Centurieslater, this music s ll gives voice to long-standingtradi ons and at the same me has remained anythingbut sta c. It is customarily sung in call and responsefashion and played on barrel-shaped drums (barriles),one of which engages in a rhythmic dialogue withdancers and lends bomba a par cularly par cipatoryquality. A dancer literally makes music through his orher movements since the lead drummer is transla ngthese movements into sound via the skin of the drum.Other instruments typically used include the maracaand the cu or fu (two s cks played against the woodof the barriles or another piece of wood).

Plena has its origin among urban workers of coastalareas, par cularly Ponce and Mayagez, shortly a erSpain lost poli cal control over Puerto Rico and, thus,

during the early period of U.S. colonialism in PuertoRico. Its dis nc ve percussion instruments are the panderetas , a set of hand drums of di erent sizes.Like bomba , its verses are also call and response, butwith a much more pronounced emphasis on lyricalnarra on of daily life and sa rical commentary oncurrents events. Many of the most famous tradi onal plenas like Mamita lleg el Obispo and Cortaron aElena are based on historical events of the early 20 th Century.

Each new genera on of pleneros produces a new bodyof work based on current events and inserted in theirspeci c historical context, so that through the course of its existence, plena has o ered and con nues to o era great many diverse lyrical and musical narra ves of Puerto Rican life both in the Island and the Diaspora.The same is truethough not as sharply pronouncedof bomberos and bomba .

(The following is a segment of the liner notes by Dr. Raquel Z. Rivera for

LP21s Para Todos Ustedes CD, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, 2005.)

Los PLeneros de La 21Los Pleneros de la 21 is true to that long-standingspirit of rmly rooted yet constantly evolving musicaltradi ons. Bomba and plena are the genres at the coreof Los Pleneros de la 21s body of work. Yet, msica

jbara , jazz and salsaeven rock and rap, as wellas various other genresare palpable in uences intheir repertoire. Los Pleneros de la 21 inhabit a vitaland dis nc ve space in the contemporary PuertoRican musical landscape, achieving an uncommonand magni cent balance between tradi on andinnova on, professional accolades and communityacclaim, formally-trained musicianship and vibrantstreet-based tradi ons. The present album evidencesthat, with ever-increasing success, they con nue tohone this skillful naviga on between forces frequentlyperceived as rivals.

The group was founded in The South Bronx twenty-fouryears ago by the late master plenero Marcial Reyes andhis mentee Juan Gu rrez, who in 1996 was awardedthe pres gious Na onal Heritage Fellow award bythe Na onal Endowment of the Arts. Dubbed byethnomusicologist Nick Spitzer as the premiere bombaand plena group in the United States, Los Pleneros dela 21 is also a solid and beloved East Harlem grassrootsins tu on with an educa onal mission and a strongcommunity following.

They have graced the stages of Carnegie Hall, LincolnCenter and Symphony Space, as well as countless otherhighly-esteemed venues throughout the con nentalUnited States, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Mxico,Canada, Australia and Russia.

Yet, they also regularly play and hold workshops at NewYork City public and private schools, universi es andcommunity events throughout the Tri-State Area andall over the US. Their educa onal work with childrenand teenagers through their Childrens Workshop is

unparalleled and widely commended.

Their events have become famed and eagerly awaitedEast Harlem yearly tradi ons: Las Fiestas de Cruz, AnEvening With the Masters, Fiesta Navidea (ChristmasParty) and The Childrens Workshop Gradua on. Theirrela onship with other grassroots organiza ons, mostnotably Rincn Criollo Cultural Center (La Casita deChema) in the South Bronx, is notable and of vitalimportance in keeping these musical tradi ons andeduca onal e orts grounded in community life.


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Word on the street is Los Pleneros de la 21 know howto make audiences dance to the point of absoluteexhaus on while s ll le ng plena and bomba shine,rather than going the more familiar commercial routeof mostly using them as avorings to spice up othermusic genres. (Not to say that the la er is not validor even necessary, but we do need some variety up inhere!)

Los Pleneros de la 21 disprove the myth that plena andbomba cannot make a party jump and inspire peopleto dance like salsa, merengue or reggaetn . Plenaand bomba may be tradi onal and folkloric, butthey are also popular and contemporary. Thesedeeply rooted genres are anything but frozen-in- meand quaint spectacles to watch while comfortablyseated. On the contrary. That is why hundredsmyself includedregularly pack their concerts and

community events. That is why we are always eagerlyawai ng their next performance. And that is why we,along with scores of new fans, will be celebra ng thelong and admirable trajectory of Los Pleneros de la21.

TradiTionaL insTruMenTs of PuerTo riCo

Re ec ng the remarkable blend of cultures that makeup Puerto Rico, its tradi onal musical Instrumentsare o en a response to those as adapta ons of olderindigenous, African, and European types.

P t The hand-held frame drum that epitomizesplena, is made of stretched animal skin over and aaround a wood, metal or hard plas c frame. Typically,plena groups use three or more panderetas, each istuned to a di erent pitch according to its par cular rolein the ensemble. While the lower pitch seguidorespanderos establish the basic rhythm, a second drumin the middle range complements and answers theseguidor, while the high pitch requinto adopts therole of a piano or guitar accompanying the singer andembellishing or feeling in between verses, and at mesit may improvise extensively.

B mb d m (B l B mb ) The exemplaryinstrument of la bomba, a classic cut of West African-derived drums, is at the core of the bomba celebra on(baile de bomba). Usually played by groups of twoor three drummers, bombas, like panderetas, playspeci c roles in the ensemble. A er the lead singercalls for a speci c song or style, the suppor ng lower-tuned bomba drums or buleadores, in addi on to thecu or fu (a pair of s cks struck on the side of thedrums or on a hard resonant surface) and the maracaprovide a steady fundamental rhythm that has beencalled for, the primo or subidorthe higher pitchedlead drumwill improvise drum beats and will answeras a response to any challenge imposed by a dancer ordancers in their own individual piquetes or dance stepsand body mo ons.

G - Believed to have originated with the Caribbeans

Taino Arawak indigenous people, the guiro consists of a grooved, tapered cylinder made of gourd, that theplayer scrapes with a s ck or wood handle topped with

ne steel spikes or pullero. Within the Caribbeanmusic tradi ons, guiro is an essen al instrument of the ensemble and its sound and rhythmic pa ers havereached a very high level of pro ciency and ar stry.

M c - A quintessen al part of La n music, themaraca is another contribu on of the Taino people,who called them Amaraca. Tradi onal maracas are

made out of the hollowed shell of the fruit of thecrescen a cujete evergreen tree. A piece of woodpierces through the shell as a handle and dried seedsor pebbles inside ra le when the musicians play theinstrument.

C t - Considered the signature instrument of Puerto Rico, the cuatro is a small 10-stringed stringedinstrument resembling a guitar. Tradi onally, it isusually carved from solid blocks of laurel wood. Veryli le is known about the speci c origin of the Cuatro.However, most experts believe that the Cuatro hasexisted on the island in one form or another for about400 years, probably origina ng from Renaissance-eraSpanish lutes or guitars. There are three main typesof Cuatro: the An guo of 4 strings, the SouthernCuatro of 4 pairs of orders of strings, and the CuatroModerno of 5 orders and 10 strings. Available indi erent sizes and voicings, they can also be combinedinto large orchestras involving many players.


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LP21: THe arTisTsJuan J. Juango Gu rrez . A er being reared in themusical street tradi ons of the San Juan neighborhoods,Juan studied the fundaments of music at Escuela Librede Msica, and then he went on to study classicalpercussion at the Conservatorio de Msica in Hato Rey,which provide him with the opportunity to becomea member of the Puerto Rican Symphony Orchestra.A er he migrated with his wife to New York in 1976,Juan became profoundly interested in his na vemusic as he became increasingly acquainted with theNew York Puerto Rican community, A er establishinghimself as a Broadway percussionist, he beganstudying with renowned Master Plena prac oner andar san Marcial Reyes Arvelo. In 1983, he co-formedLos Pleneros de la 21in associa on with his mentor.Juan received a Na onal Endowment for the ArtsNa onal Heritage Fellowship in 1996. He also holds

several music and academic degrees. Juango is themastermind behind the outstanding recording worksof Los Pleneros de la 21; including LP21s most recentthe Smithsonian Folkways release Para Todos Ustedes/ For All of You, nominated for the 48th Annual GrammyAwards for Best Tradi onal World Music Album.

n ll T c , lead vocalist and dancer and apercussionist, Ms. Tanco grew up in a musical family inPuerto Rico, where the tradi ons of bomba and plenawere ever present. Her father taught her to play the

pandereta at an early age. She has performed widelyas a singer and actress.

s m Ch l s mmy T c , lead vocalist. In the midsix es, Sammy was the co-founder of the pioneering Arts and Cra s Workshop at El Museo del Barrio, knowntoday as the Puerto Rican Workshop, a renownedPuerto Rican arts ins tu on lead by ar sts. He hasbeen an important collaborator and key gure of theplena movement in New York as well as in Puerto Ricoduring the past 40 years. He joined LP21 in 1984.

e g M , cuatro master, composer, andarranger. A self-taught cuatro player, Edgardotranscends musical styles and genres with his ampleexperience, and acute sensibility in the performanceprac ce of the instrument. Early in his career inPuerto Rico, he worked with the most popular bandsand hotels house bands and all over the island, mostnotably with the great Puerto Rican trumpet playerJuan Torres and the legendary percussionist Rafael

Cor jo. In the United States, he made a name withLa n legends Ismael Rivera and Tito Puente, whomhe recorded the Grammy winner La n Jazz hit OnBroadway. He has performed world-wide with jazz andtradi onal music groups, most recently with Grammywinner Cuban pianist Bebo Valdez. Edgardo has beencentral to LP21s musical development, since he joinedthe group in 1984.d l n ck , bassist. Donald is a consummatemusician and one of the most sought a er bassists inthe NYC music scene. He has recorded and performedin a wide array of musical genres all over the world.Donald joined LP21 in 1984.

Jos Rivera , lead vocalist and drummer. Jos has beeninstrumental in bringing tradi onal Puerto Rican musicto diverse audiences through his performing, teaching,

and instrument building demonstra ons in New YorkCity and abroad for more than 25 years. He joinedLP21 in 1987.

Hctor Tito Matos , lead vocals, percussionist.Considered one of the most skillfull requinto panderoplayers of his genera on, Tito started his professionalcareer starts with local plena groups, most notably thelegendary Los Pleneros de la 23 Abajo. A er moving toNY in 1994, he becomes a member of Los Pleneros de la21, whom he recorded and traveled all over the United

States, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Australia.In 1997, Tito lead his own group, Viento de Agua, andwas featured as a singer, percussionist, composerand arranger. He also recorded with Eddie Palmieri,David Sanchez, William Cepeda amd Ralph Irizarri. ALP ar st, Tito moved back to Puerto Rico where he isbusy as a band leader, clinician and a leading gure inthe reinvigorated popular plena movement PlenazosCallejeros, dedicated to promo ng awareness aboutthe performance of Puerto Rican plena. Most recentlyhe was featured in the latest recording and TV specialof world superstar Ricky Mar n.

Jos Lan gua Rubiera , pianist, arranger, and composer,has performed and arranged in a wide spectrum of La n styles with and for noted musical ar sts andorchestras. He joined LP21 in 1995.


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Julia Loza Gu rrez-Rivera , dancer . Ms. Gu rrez-Rivera was weaned on bomba and plena and thenreceived formal training at LP21s Bomba & PlenaChildrens Workshop. When not dancing, she is an artsadministrator. A charisma c dancer and performer,Julia has worked with the main tradi onal performinggroups in NYC and has lead the way of LP21s renovatedar s c energy.

C m l e t M l G t , at 17 years of agehe is rapidly becoming an excellent percussionist andoverall musician. At 10 he took third price in theThelonious Monk Interna onal Percussion and Afro-La n Jazz Compe on. He joined LP21s Bomba &Plena Childrens Workshop at 2 and as a professionalmusician he joined the LP21 ensemble at 10.

Obanil Ir Ayende Solana , percussionist and dancer.

Obanil has studied and performed widely. His talentshave earned him the respect of his musical elders. He joined LP21s Bomba & Plena Childrens Workshop at12, to later become part of the group at 22.

al x L s ll , singer, drummer. Tradi onal singer,percussionist, dancer, researcher and lecturer of theoral history of Afro An llean tradi ons. Mr. LaSalle isalso the ar s c director of Alma Moy, a tradi onalPuerto Rican bomba ensemble. He was the leadvocalist of two world premier plena composi ons by

Juan Gu errez at the plena concert events.

RECORDINGS BY LOS PLENEROS DE LA 21

Para Todos Ustedes, SmithsonianFolkways Recordings, 2005.Puerto Rico Tropical, Music of theWorld, 1997.Somos Boricuas: Bomba Y PlenaEn Nueva York, Henry Street,1996.Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico,Shanachie Records, 1990.

Contact Informa on:Juan J Gu rrez, DirectorLos Pleneros de la 211680 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10029Tel 212-427-5221Fax 212-427-5339 [email protected]

study guide lp21 2009

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