Viento de Agua is a contemporary bomba and plena band, created in New York City in 1997. Bomba and plena are musical genres within the Afro-Puerto Rican tradition. Their first album, De Puerto Rico al Mundo, was selected among the Top 10 Latin albums of the year by The New York Times.
The band was created by Puerto Rican musicians Tito Matos (percussion, vocals, composer, arranger), Ricardo Pons (flute, saxs, arranger) and Alberto Toro (sax, arranger). It is a 13 member band that includes drums, bass and a powerful brass section. It has two published albums, one of them, Materia Prima (Raw Material) was produced by the Smithsonian Institution's music label Folkways Records. They have performed at Lincoln Center Out of Doors, Celebrate Brooklyn! and the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, and other venues.[citation needed]
The group's percussionists, led by Tito Matos, recorded Ricky Martin's single "Pégate", the singer's only plena recording.
The music of Puerto Rico has evolved as a heterogeneous and dynamic product of diverse cultural resources. The most conspicuous musical sources have been Spain and West Africa, although many aspects of Puerto Rican music reflect origins elsewhere in Europe and the Caribbean. Puerto Rican music culture today comprises a wide and rich variety of genres, ranging from essentially indigenous genres like bomba to recent hybrids like Latin trap and reggaeton. Broadly conceived, the realm of "Puerto Rican music" should naturally comprise the music culture of the millions of people of Puerto Rican descent who have lived in the United States, and especially in New York City. Their music, from salsa to the boleros of Rafael Hernández, cannot be separated from the music culture of Puerto Rico itself.
Plena is a genre of music and dance native to Puerto Rico.
Bomba is both a traditional dance and musical style of Puerto Rico. Its origins are rooted in the island's history of African slavery but today has evolved into a community expression of Puerto Rican culture. While Bomba can be used as the generic name for a number of rhythms, it is truly about a creative, interactive relationship between dancers, percussionists and singers. Today it's practiced as a communal activity in its centers of origin in Loíza, Santurce, Mayagüez and Ponce. Also, Puerto Rican migrants have brought the tradition to some parts of the U.S. mainland.
Rafael Antonio Cortijo was a Puerto Rican musician, orchestra leader, and composer.
Gilberto Monroig was a Puerto Rican guitarist, and singer of boleros.
Luis Palés Matos was a Puerto Rican poet who is credited with creating the poetry genre known as Afro-Antillano. He is also credited with writing the screenplay for the "Romance Tropical", the first Puerto Rican film with sound.
Mon Rivera is the common name given to two distinct Puerto Rican musicians, namely Monserrate Rivera Alers and his oldest son, Efraín Rivera Castillo, . This article refers mainly to Efraín Rivera Castillo, a popular band leader known in salsa, plena and Latin jazz circles.
Afro–Puerto Ricans are Puerto Ricans who are of predominant or partial African descent. The history of Puerto Ricans of African descent begins with free African men, known as libertos, who accompanied the Spanish Conquistadors in the invasion of the island. The Spaniards enslaved the Taínos, many of whom died as a result of new infectious diseases and the Spaniards' oppressive colonization efforts. Spain's royal government needed laborers and began to rely on African slavery to staff their mining and fort-building operations. The Crown authorized importing enslaved West Africans. As a result, the majority of the African peoples who entered Puerto Rico were the result of the Atlantic slave trade, and came from many different cultures and peoples of the African continent.
Rafael Cepeda Atiles, recognized as "The Patriarch of the Bomba and Plena", was the patriarch of the Cepeda family, known internationally as ambassadors of Afro-Puerto Rican folk music.
MTV Unplugged is the name of the first live album by Puerto Rican singer Ricky Martin. It was released to the market in CD and DVD formats by Sony BMG Norte on November 7, 2006. It has been certified platinum and gold worldwide.
Víctor Guillermo "Yomo" Toro was a Puerto Rican left-handed guitarist and cuatro player. Known internationally as "The King of the Cuatro," Toro recorded over 150 albums throughout a 60-year career and worked extensively with Cuban legends Arsenio Rodríguez and Alfonso "El Panameño" Joseph; salsa artists Willie Colón, Héctor Lavoe and Rubén Blades; and artists from other music genres including Frankie Cutlass, Harry Belafonte, Paul Simon, Linda Ronstadt and David Byrne.
El Concierto Acústico is the first live album by the Puerto Rican rock band Fiel a la Vega, and their second album overall. The album was recorded at the Performing Arts Center in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, during the concerts the band held on July 19–21, 1997. It was released later that year.
"Pégate" is the second single from Ricky Martin's first live album, MTV Unplugged (2006). It was released on December 19, 2006. The song was written by Martin, Roy Tavaré and Tommy Torres, and produced by Torres.
Alternative reggaeton is a subgenre of reggaeton that emerged from the hip hop movement as a reaction to its repetitive and monotone dembow rhythm, and the predominant stereotypical gangsta content that became predictable. The result was a complex sound derived from world sounds, mainly rooted in Latin American folk music such as Puerto Rican bomba y plena, salsa and tango and also other foreign influenced music such as rock en español. Mixed with thoughtful lyricism guided by an anti-colonialism discourse, Latin American sociopolitical content and racial pride, it gave listeners a smooth blend of danceable rhythms and intellectual dialogue.
Puya is a Puerto Rican progressive metal band. Formed in 1991, the band rose to prominence with their fusion of jazz, salsa and heavy metal.
Sol D' Menta is a rock en español band from Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. The band was formed in 1994 and became one of the most successful bands in the island. They became the first Puerto Rican band to be signed by a multinational label (Polygram) with whom they released their first eponymous album in 1996.
Plena Libre is a plena and bomba group. Their music follows traditional forms while also drawing on other styles of music. In a biographical summary of the group, Steve Huey of Allmusic observed that the group's blend of "contemporary dance arrangements... (and) the long-ignored Puerto Rican folklore-derived plena style... return(ed) the style to prominence." A popular live act over the course of a 20-year, 14-album career, the Puerto Rican ensemble are known for strong musicianship; for example, Chris Nickson of Allmusic, in noting the blending of jazz elements with plena on the Mas Libre CD, described the group's delivery of said as "highly accomplished".
Epifanio “Fano” Irizarry Jusino was a Puerto Rican oil canvas painter, draftsman, and art professor from Ponce, Puerto Rico. He exposed Costumbrismo practices of his native Puerto Rico, including bomba and plena dances, cockfighting and carnivals. During his professional lifetime, he exhibited in Puerto Rico, the United States as well as Europe, some of which were solo, and he was the winner of various prestigious awards.
Angel Rafael "Papo" Vázquez is an American trombonist, composer, arranger, and bandleader of Puerto Rican descent who performs and records jazz, Latin and Afro-Caribbean music. He is known as one of the pioneers of the bomba jazz style and is a National Endowment for the Arts NEA Master Artist and Grammy Award nominee.
Tito Matos was a Puerto Rican musician. He was one of the founders of Viento de Agua.
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