La Brega: Stories of the Puerto Rican Experience is a seven part bilingual podcast produced in collaboration by WNYC Studios and Futuro Studios and hosted by Alana Casanova-Burgess. The show explores Puerto Rican culture and history and is created and produced by Puerto Ricans including the music and illustrations.
The podcast is hosted by Alana Casanova-Burgess and produced in collaboration by WNYC Studios and Futuro Studios. [1] The show debuted on February 24, 2021. [2] The show is a seven part series produced in both English and Spanish that explores Puerto Rican culture and history. [3] There are some notable differences between the English episodes and Spanish episodes such as cultural and historical references that are only made in the Spanish episodes. [4]
The phrase "la brega" means "the struggle", which is a common expression in Puerto Rico and describes the Puerto Rican mindset to struggle against adversity and injustice. [5] The first episode includes interviews with Puerto Ricans who explain what the phrase means to them. [6] The show discusses how potholes are a serious problem in Puerto Rico and how communities have addressed the problem. [7]
The show was renewed for a second season. [8] The second series debuted on January 26, 2023. [9]
The show's soundtrack includes songs by well known Pueto Rican musical artists such as Xenia Rubinos. [10] [11] The soundtrack was released as an EP on April 11, 2023. [12] The podcast's illustrations were also done by Puerto Rican artists. [13]
Puerto Rico, officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Caribbean island and unincorporated territory of the United States with official Commonwealth status. It is located in the northeast Caribbean Sea, approximately 1,000 miles (1,600 km) southeast of Miami, Florida, between the Dominican Republic and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and includes the eponymous main island and several smaller islands, such as Mona, Culebra, and Vieques. It has roughly 3.2 million residents, and its capital and most populous city is San Juan. Spanish and English are the official languages of the executive branch of government, though Spanish predominates.
Puerto Ricans are the people of Puerto Rico, the inhabitants, and citizens of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and their descendants.
WKAQ-TV is a television station in San Juan, Puerto Rico, serving as the U.S. territory's dual Telemundo and NBC outlet. It is owned and operated by the Telemundo Station Group subsidiary of NBCUniversal. WKAQ-TV's studios are located on Franklin Roosevelt Avenue in San Juan near Hiram Bithorn Stadium, and its transmitter is located on Cerro la Santa in Cayey near the Bosque Estatal de Carite mountain reserve.
WLII-DT, branded on-air as TeleOnce, is a television station licensed to Caguas, Puerto Rico, serving the U.S. territory as an affiliate of Univision and UniMás. Owned by Liberman Media Group, the station maintains studio facilities on Calle Carazo in Guaynabo, with additional studios at The Mall of San Juan. Its transmitter is located near the Bosque Estatal de Carite mountain reserve.
Julia de Burgos García was a Puerto Rican poet. As an advocate of Puerto Rican independence, she served as Secretary General of the Daughters of Freedom, the women's branch of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party. She was also a civil rights activist for women and African and Afro-Caribbean writers.
Ciales is a town and municipality of Puerto Rico, located on the Central Mountain Range, northwest of Orocovis; south of Florida and Manatí; east of Utuado and Jayuya; and west of Morovis. Ciales is spread over eight barrios and Ciales Pueblo. It is part of the San Juan-Caguas-Guaynabo Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Martha Ivelisse Pesante Rodríguez, known professionally as Ivy Queen, is a Puerto Rican singer, rapper, songwriter, and actress. She is considered one of the pioneers of the reggaeton genre, commonly referred to as the Queen of Reggaeton.
William Omar Landrón Rivera, known professionally as Don Omar, is a Puerto Rican rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. He is also known as the "King of Reggaeton" by music critics and fans alike. The artist was recognized by Billboard and Rolling Stone as one Reggaeton legend. He is often cited as an influence by other Hispanic urban performers.
Puerto Rican migration to Hawaii began when Puerto Rico's sugar industry was devastated by two hurricanes in 1899. The devastation caused a worldwide shortage in sugar and a huge demand for the product from Hawaii. Consequently, Hawaiian sugarcane plantation owners began to recruit the jobless, but experienced, laborers from Puerto Rico. In thirteen separate groups, 5883 Puerto Rican men, women and children traveled by ship, train then ship again to the islands of Hawaii to begin their new lives in the sugar plantations.
Radiolab is a radio program and podcast produced by WNYC, a public radio station based in New York City, and broadcast on more than 570 public radio stations in the United States. The show has earned many industry awards for its "imaginative use of radio" including a National Academies Communication Award and two Peabody Awards.
Awilda "Wiwi" Carbia was a Puerto Rican actress, comedian, and impersonator.
Lawrence La Fountain-Stokes is a gay Puerto Rican author, scholar, and performer. He is better known as Larry La Fountain. He has received several awards for his creative writing and scholarship as well as for his work with Latino and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students. He currently resides in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Nelson Antonio Denis is an American attorney, author, film director, and former representative to the New York State Assembly. From 1997 through 2000, Denis represented New York's 68th Assembly district, which includes the East Harlem and Spanish Harlem neighborhoods, both highly populated by Latinos.
The Puerto Rico statehood movement aims to make Puerto Rico a state of the United States. Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territorial possession of the United States acquired in 1898 following the Spanish–American War, making it "the oldest colony in the modern world". As of 2019, the population of Puerto Rico is 3.2 million, around half the average state population and higher than that of 20 U.S. states. Statehood is one of several competing options for the future political status of Puerto Rico, including: maintaining its current status, becoming fully independent, or becoming a freely associated state. Puerto Rico has held six referendums on the topic. These are non-binding, as the power to grant statehood lies with the US Congress. The most recent referendum was in November 2020, with a majority (52.52%) of those who voted opting for statehood.
Miguel Pou Becerra was a Puerto Rican oil canvas painter, draftsman, and art professor. Together with José Campeche and Francisco Oller, he has been called "one of Puerto Rico's greatest masters." He was an exponent of the impressionist movement. During his life he exhibited in 64 shows, of which 17 were solo, and won five gold medals.
WNYC Studios is a producer and distributor of podcasts and on-demand and broadcast audio. WNYC Studios is a subsidiary of New York Public Radio and is headquartered in New York City.
Edna Negron Rosario is an American educator who founded the first family resource center and school-based health clinic in the United States. She was inducted into the Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame in 1994.
The Miss Universe Puerto Rico is a national beauty pageant in Puerto Rico, held annually since 1952. Currently, the pageant is responsible for selecting the country’s delegates to Miss Universe. Since 2018, the organization is owned by Hemisphere Media Group, and the annual competition is broadcast on WAPA TV and WAPA América. After Hemisphere Media Group acquired the rights of the franchise, Denise Quiñones, was appointed as the director of the organization.
Wanda Emilia Vázquez Garced is a Puerto Rican politician and attorney who served as Governor of Puerto Rico from 2019 to 2021. Prior to her tenure as governor, she served as the 19th secretary of Justice, from 2017 to 2019. A member of the New Progressive Party and Republican Party of Puerto Rico, Vázquez is the second female governor in Puerto Rican history, after Sila María Calderón. She assumed the office following the resignation of Ricardo Roselló, and the judicial annulation of Pedro Pierluisi's short-lived government, in the aftermath of the Telegramgate Scandal. On August 16, 2020, she failed to secure the New Progressive Party nomination for Governor of Puerto Rico in the 2020 elections, losing to Pedro Pierluisi.
Neil Raymond Ricco, formerly known as Noel Rico, is a Spanish-Italian American poet and writer known for his works featured in publications by Nicolás Kanellos, Eileen Myles and Mike Marqusee. Ricco was an early member of the Nuyorican Poets Café and he appeared in the film Friend of the World.