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From The Recent Plena Libre Concert at Creative Alliance

Last Friday we attended the Plena Libre concert at Creative Alliance. Needless to say we had a great time dancing to their positive music. Here are some images from our evening.

Vallejo Nocturno 2023 Copyright

What is Bomba

Vallejo Nocturno 2021- Bomba en Loiza

From a three year old article in the NYT on Bomba:

For generations of Afro-Boricua workers and families, bomba has remained central to community, with the drum acting as an instrument of political power, entertainment and spiritual release. Some may even call bomba the soundtrack of Puerto Rican resistance. At this year’s May Day march in San Juan, its lyrics and drumbeats echoed through the crowds airing their opposition to austerity measures, including school closures and university tuition hikes, before police fired pepper spray and tear gas to end the protest.

Bomba’s resilient spirit has become more pronounced in the face of the island’s economic crisis and the devastation caused by Hurricane Maria.

At La Terraza de Bonanza, any given bomba night is bound to be packed with young people. Some dance with exaggerated technique, their faces pinched tight with discipline. Traditionalists flick a fan or a skirt to mark their control over the physical space. Others are more avant-garde and incorporate acrobatic moves, or an arrhythmic dance known as flossing.

These nights began with just a few friends getting together to play drums, said Otura Mun, the frontman of the Afro-Caribbean electronic band ÌFÉ, and grew through social media and word of mouth. Attendance really swelled after Hurricane Maria in September 2017; because Bonanza had a generator still on hand from Hurricane Irma, the no-frills, open-air bar was one of few places in the neighborhood with power. It opened for business just two days after the storm.

The resurgence of bomba owes something to formal experimentation. La Tribu de Abrante, a high-energy, 12-piece fusion orchestra, has blended the sounds of bomba with reggaeton, reggae and hip-hop. The openness to new sounds has helped expand bomba’s audience locally, through live performance and radio, and globally, by associating it with popular genres.

“When I traveled to other countries, people would say reggaeton is the traditional music of Puerto Rico,” recalled Hiram Abrante, the band’s frontman, who is from Loíza. “I’d say, ‘What? It’s bomba.’”

His goal has always been to make bomba more accessible to listeners around the world while maintaining respect for its traditions and history. At the recent Festival del Apio in Barranquitas, Mr. Abrante acknowledged bomba’s heritage by closing La Tribu’s set with a salute to two of San Juan’s oldest bomba families: the Cepedas and the Ayalas.

“With evolution, there is responsibility,” said Victor Emmanuelli, 41, a member of the musical group Bomba Evolución and a historian of the genre. “It’s important for young people to have the fundamentals in order for the genre to evolve.” He started playing bomba at age 8 in Carolina, a town between San Juan and Loíza.

Jerry Ferrao, who played with the Cepedas for 20 years, has noticed that some younger players seem overly concerned with playing fast, favoring the rhythm of the dance over the poetry of the songs.

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From Sound Cloud, a good sensibility towards electronic music. Always needed.

planet uterus · irini - lost in dreams

Encuentro de Cantaoras de Bomba de Puerto Rico

From this weekend concert/gathering of the Cantors de Bomba de Puerto Rico in Loiza, here are some of the photos from this historic event. The music was transformational for my understanding of Puerto Rican music and that is with over 40 years of knowledge and experience coming to the island. A wondrous event!:

Vallejo Nocturno 2021-Encuentro de Cantaoras de Bomba de Puerto Rico en Loiza

 

Cafe Terra Storm Session

Last Monday night's Terra Session hosted by Clarence Ward III in Baltimore was hit with a hard storm that ended up changing the direction of the evening. In a good and magical ways.

The Evolution of a Salsa Pianist

A great interview with master salsa pianist Luis Marin on how he came to play salsa with some of the great salseros and learn about the idiom.

And here is a legendary piano duel he did with Papo Luca of the Sonora Poncena in 1998 which they refer to in the interview.

 

Somo Fotos from Huancayo in 2017

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Mndsgn & Sofie's tune from 2016

Yesterday I ran into this tune on a mix tape and it got stuck in my mind just like a good tune should. So here it goes. Apparently it was fairly popular back in 2016 but like good pop it still sounds good.

In Unison With Yourself

Vallejo Nocturno 2019 - Monasterio de Santa Catalina Arequipa, Peru

The crux was Aretha repeating her legendary scream over and over. Everyone was prancing by in different directions like in a sophisticated but misdirected musical. You realized then that the future was now in short supply as the native slaves came to serve you local delicacies. You emote a last desperate smile. And then when the sun descends and the parade begins. . .the film we all agree was bad. Realism is not what it used to be. Unfortunately, she said, these reality shows is what TV is all about. They permeate the horizon and your history will be to seduce those watching the puppet show how convincing you can dance and boogaloo (a modern dance to rock-and-roll music performed with swiveling and shuffling movements of the body, originally popular in the 1960s).

Balako Mix