Big Blog 2: Puerto Rican Bomba y Plena Music and Culture

 Overview of Puerto Rican Music and Culture:

The music of Puerto Rico is the heart of its culture, and is a product of many diverse cultural backgrounds. The musical sources that influenced the music of Puerto Rico are European, Indigenous, and African influences. Puerto Rican music also has origins in the Caribbean. Today, Puerto Rican music culture is comprised of many different genres, such as bomba, danza, guaracha, reggaeton, plena, and more recently, latin trap. 

Early Puerto Rican Music Culture:

Unfortunately, music culture in Puerto Rico was poorly documented in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. However, we do know that it included Spanish church music, military band music, and diverse genres of dance music from the jíbaros and enslaved Africans. These two groups of people never made up more than 11% of the population, but they did greatly contribute to Puerto Rico's musical culture. Soon, in the 19th century, more on Puerto Rican music emerged into history. One of the instruments the African people of the island used were drums made of carved hardwood. These drums were covered with untreated rawhide on one side (usually made from goatskin). A popular word used to describe this type of drum was shukbwa. 

Bomba Music of Puerto Rico:

Bomba music dates all the way back to the early European colonial period in Puerto Rico. It was a product of the musical traditions brought by enslaved African Americans and reflects the African heritage of the island. At the time, bomba music was a form of political and spiritual expression. Overtime, the music evolved through the contact between other slave populations throughout the Caribbean. As a result, bomba music had 16 new rhythms. These rhythms mark the pace of the singing and dancing.

Three instruments are used by the musicians of this style of music: maracas, the bomba barrel, and cuá (two wooden sticks played against the side of the drums). The bomba barrel is a very large drum that is played with your hands. Here is an image of one below:

In this style of music, there is an active interaction between the singer, percussionists, and the dancer. The performance is often described as a dialogue between the dancers and musicians. In the performance, there are two types of bomba barrel drums used. One, the Primo barrel, marks the rhythm that the dancer is stepping to. The second drum, the Buleador drum, follows said rhythm. In the performance, the dancer performs piquetes. These are improvised bomba steps. The dancer, if female, will use her body and skirt to perform these steps which challenge the Primo barrel drummer to keep up. If the dancer is male, he will just use his body. The singer dictates the length of the song and plays the maracas. In addition, bomba features call-and-response between the lead singer and the rest of the group. Here is a video that explains more of the history, dance, and culture of bomba music:

And here is a video of some live Bomba music:

Another video, but this time of 5 different bomba rhythms:

Plena Music of Puerto Rico: 

Plena is another Puerto Rican genre of music that originated with African, Spanish, and Caribbean influences. The wide variety of traditional instruments used to play plena music are: panderos (hand drums of different sizes), guitar, cuatro (a small guitar), accordion, and brass instruments. Here are pictures of a Cuatro and panderos:

For many years, plena was considered folk music, and oftentimes was called the "sung newspaper" in rural communities. This was because the songs would tell about gossip and recent news. This style nearly died out in the mid-twentieth century. However, it was fortunately kept going by folk music groups who would perform plena during holidays. 

Many contemporary Latin music artists have recorded plena songs, and there are even some modern plena bands that play at festivals and gatherings. In contrast to bomba music, plena lyrics are narrative. Some of the ideas and common themes in plena music are important events, topical themes, political protests, and sometimes they even offer a satirical effect. Plena has only 1 rhythm, as opposed to bomba's 16 rhythms. In plena music, one defining element is the pandereta (the round hand drums of different sizes). The smallest of these hand drums is the requinto. This smaller hand drum improvises over the rhythm of the other drums. The melodies and harmonies of plena music have European influences. 

There are not many good videos of plena music on YouTube, but here are a few. The first is an older mini documentary of plena's working-class roots. The second is a video of a live plena performance, and the third is a video of the plena rhythm played on Congas.

Both bomba and plena are defining musical sounds and are integral to the Afro-Puerto Rican population. These two styles, while embracing modern sounds, have still adhered to their traditional styles and helped maintain pride in Puerto Rican music and cultural heritage.

Works Cited:

Folkways. “Puerto Rican Bomba and Plena.” Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, https://folkways.si.edu/puerto-rican-bomba-plena-shared-traditions-distinct-rhythms/latin-world/music/article/smithsonian#:~:text=Bomba%20and%20plena%20are%20percussion,rhythm%2C%20instrumentation%2C%20and%20lyrics.

“A Guide to Music in Puerto Rico.” Discover Puerto Rico, https://www.discoverpuertorico.com/article/guide-to-music-puerto-rico.

Libretexts. “8.7: Jibaro, Bomba, and Plena Music of Puerto Rico.” Humanities LibreTexts, Libretexts, 1 Sept. 2022, https://human.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Music/Book%3A_Music_-_Its_Language_History_and_Culture_(Cohen)/08%3A_World_Music/8.07%3A_Jibaro_Bomba_and_Plena_Music_of_Puerto_Rico.

“Music of Puerto Rico.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 2 Dec. 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Puerto_Rico.