| Plena | |
|---|---|
 Dancing bomba and plena | |
| Stylistic origins | Caribbean |
| Cultural origins | Puerto Rico |
| Other topics | |
| Music of Puerto Rico | |
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| Music of Puerto Rico | ||
| General topics | ||
|---|---|---|
| Related articles | ||
| Genres | ||
| Nationalistic and patriotic songs | ||
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| Regional music | ||
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Plena is a genre of music and dance native to Puerto Rico. [1] [2]
The plena genre originated in Barrio San Antón, Ponce, Puerto Rico, [3] [4] around 1900. [5] It was influenced by the bomba style of music.[ citation needed ] Originally, sung texts were not associated with the plena, which was rendered by guitar, accordion and pandero, but eventually, in 1907,[ citation needed ] singing was added. Plena was often called the periodico cantado[ citation needed ] or "sung newspaper" for the lower classes because it spread messages among people, similar to the corridos in Mexico.
The plena was a result of the mixing of the culturally diverse popular class, where their workplace, neighborhood, and life experiences met to create an expressive, satirical style of music. [6] It became a way for the working class to gain empowerment through parody. Due to originating in the lower social class, it was regarded by the upper class as "a menace to public order and private property" and was for many years associated with people of la vida alegre (the merry life), referring to prostitutes, dancers, alcoholics, and moral degenerates. Singing and dancing of the plena often happened in cafetines, bars that frequently doubled as brothels and where interracial socializing and sexual encounters were free to take place. [7]
According to singers discussing the use of the plena, they stated it was song with lyrics that related to a current event. For example, if someone drowned or was killed, a plena would be written about it. [8] Tintorera del Mar, [9] Mataron a Elena, El Obispo de Ponce, and Matan a Bumbum [10] were some plenas which became wildly popular. [11]
The eventual widespread acceptance of the plena can be attributed to the increased number of people joining the workforce, which led to a new demand for public leisure. It was still considered indecent by the upper class, who fought against its rising popularity. In December 1917, an ordinance was passed banning the dances from happening inside the city limits. It took another decade for the plena to gain widespread popularity throughout Puerto Rico and cross racial and cultural boundaries. Listening to plena at home and at neighborhood- or municipal-sanctioned celebrations became acceptable and was no longer considered morally tainted by "respectable" white upper class Ponceños. Eventually, with much whitewashing to make it more palatable to the masses, plena was embraced in earnest as a style of music that united Puerto Ricans. However, with the acceptance of the upper class, what began as a vitally important cultural identifier and personal expression of philosophy, community, and self to the lower class became an entertaining spectacle for the white upper class. [7]
By the 1930s, the plena was accessible to all through the radio and record industries. [7]
Plena music is generally folkloric in nature. The music's beat and rhythm are usually played using hand drums called panderetas, also known as panderos. The music is accompanied by a scrape gourd, the guiro. Panderetas resemble tambourines but without the jingles. These are handheld drums with stretched animal skins, usually goat skin, covering a round wooden frame. Three different sizes of pandereta are used in plena: the Seguidor (the largest of the three), the Punteador (the medium-sized drum), and the requinto. An advantage of this percussion arrangement is its portability, contributing to the plena's spontaneous appearance at social gatherings. Other instruments commonly heard in plena music are the cuatro, the maracas, and accordions. [12]
The fundamental melody of the plena, as in all regional Puerto Rican music, has a decided Spanish strain; it is marked in the resemblance between the plena Santa María and a song composed in the Middle Ages by Alfonso the Wise, King of Spain. The lyrics of plena songs are usually octosyllabic and assonant. Following the universal custom the theme touches upon all phases of life—romance, politics, and current events. Generally, anything which appeals to the imagination of the people, such as the arrival of a personage, a crime, a bank moratorium, or a hurricane, can be the subject of plena music.
Plena is played throughout Puerto Rico especially during special occasions such as the Christmas season, and as the musical backdrop for civic protests, due to its traditional use as a vehicle for social commentary. When plena is played the audience often joins in the singing, clapping, and dancing. Plena is also enjoyed by the Puerto Rican diaspora outside of Puerto Rico. Pleneros de la 21, for example, traveled to Hawaii to perform for the Puerto Rican diaspora there which include descendants of Puerto Ricans who immigrated to Hawaii from Puerto Rico in the early 20th century. [13]
As a folk genre, there have been many good composers, some well known in their day and into the present. Perhaps one of the genre's most celebrated composers and performers was Manuel Jiménez, known as 'El Canario'. Certainly, there were many others, including such greats as Ramito, Ismael Rivera, Mon Rivera (the junior), and Rafael Cortijo. In 2006, Tito Matos and Los Pleneros de la 21 received a Grammy nomination for their Para Todos Ustedes plena songs recording. [14]
The genre has had a revival recently, as evident by the emergence of many plena bands (such as Plena Libre, Viento de agua and others) and its use in various songs, such as Ricky Martin's recent song "Pégate" and Ivy Queen's "Vamos A Celebrar".
In 1953, Puerto Rican writer, Luis Palés Matos wrote Plena del Menéalo urging the Puerto Rican woman to move it and ends the plena with the line ¡Para que rabie el Tio Sam (to make "Uncle Sam" angry). [15]
Isabel Luberza Oppenheimer, better known as "Isabel la Negra", was a Puerto Rican brothel owner and madam in barrio Maragüez, Ponce, Puerto Rico. Her name and her brothel, Elizabeth's Dancing Club, became part of Puerto Rican folklore both during her life and posthumously.
The Music of Puerto Rico has evolved as a heterogeneous and dynamic product of diverse cultural resources. The most conspicuous musical sources of Puerto Rico have primarily included African, Taino Indigenous, and European influences. Puerto Rican music culture today comprises a wide and rich variety of genres, ranging from essentially native genres such as bomba, jíbaro, seis, danza, and plena to more recent hybrid genres such as salsa, 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, 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.
Bomba is an umbrella term that refers to a variety of musical styles and associated dances originating in Puerto Rico. It was developed by enslaved Africans and their descendants in sugar plantations along coastal towns, most notably Loiza, Mayagüez, Ponce, and San Juan, during the 17th century. It is the island's oldest musical tradition.
Juan Morel Campos, sometimes erroneously spelled Juan Morell Campos, was a Puerto Rican composer, considered by many to be responsible for taking the genre of danza to its highest level. He composed over 550 musical works before he died unexpectedly at age 38.
Ruth Fernández was a Puerto Rican contralto and a member of the Puerto Rican Senate. According to the "Comisiones Nacionales para la Celebración del Quinto Centenario" (National Commission for the Celebration of the Fifth Centennial), she is said to be one of three artists whose contributions have helped unite Latin America. The other two artists named were Libertad Lamarque from Argentina and Pedro Vargas from Mexico.
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.
Jíbaro is a word used in Puerto Rico to refer to the countryside people who farm the land in a traditional way. The jíbaro is a self-subsistence farmer, and an iconic reflection of the Puerto Rican people. Traditional jíbaros were also farmer-salesmen who would grow enough crops to sell in the towns near their farms to purchase the bare necessities for their families, such as clothing.
Afro–Puerto Ricans are Puerto Ricans who are of 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.
A parranda is a Puerto Rican music tradition that takes place in Puerto Rico during the Christmas holiday season. Parrandas are social events that feature traditional Puerto Rican music, food, and drinks. The traditional events have been likened to Christmas caroling, but the contents of the songs are secular rather than religious. They are sometimes carried out in the evening, but most traditionally occur in the night, even into the wee hours of the morning. The songs sung are almost exclusively aguinaldos. In this tradition, people go to their friends' or relatives' homes "singing songs, eating pasteles and arroz con dulce, sipping coquito and picking up people along the way" who then join in to proceed to the next home.
The pandereta plenera, pandero plenero or plenera, is a handheld frame drum typical of Puerto Rican music. A group of these drums is commonly used in traditional Puerto Rican plena music. There are three general sizes: primo or requinto, segundo or seguidor, and tercero or bajo, although sizes can vary. A fourth type is the pandereta punteador, also used for rhythm.
The Museo de la Música Puertorriqueña is a museum in Ponce, Puerto Rico, that showcases the development of Puerto Rican music, with displays of Taíno, Spanish, and African musical instruments that were played in the romantic danza genre, the favorite music of 19th-century Puerto Rican high society, as well as the more African-inspired bomba and plena styles. Also on display are memorabilia of composers and performers. The Museum traces the rich musical history of Puerto Rico through memorabilia of prominent musicians and displays of the musical instruments associated with the three genres of music that originated in this Caribbean island.
San Antón is one of the 31 barrios of the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Along with Canas Urbano, Machuelo Abajo, Magueyes Urbano, and Portugués Urbano, San Antón is one of the municipality's five originally rural barrios that are now also part of the urban zone of the city of Ponce. It is totally enclosed within the Ponce city limits. It was founded in 1818.
The Fiesta Nacional de la Danza, also known as Semana de la Danza Puertorriqueña, is a cultural celebration that takes place every year in Ponce, Puerto Rico. The festival centers on the danza, a musical genre native from the city of Ponce and oftentimes called "Puerto Rico's classical music" with rhythm, tune, and cadence that are similar to the waltz. The celebration lasts a week and takes place in mid-May. It is sponsored by the Ponce Municipal Government and the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture.
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.
The Festival de Bomba y Plena de San Antón, is an annual celebration held in Ponce, Puerto Rico, as an extravaganza celebration of Bomba and Plena music genres and the traditions of Ponce's barrio San Antón. The celebration lasts 10 days and it ends on a Sunday. It is generally held in July but sometimes in November.
The Carnaval de Vejigantes, officially Carnaval de Vejigantes de La Playa de Ponce, is an annual celebration held at Barrio Playa in Ponce, Puerto Rico. The celebration, which commonly lasts three to five days, generally takes place in late January or early February. It started in 1991. It takes place at Parque Lucy Grillasca on PR-585 in Barrio Playa. The parade, one of the highlights of the carnival, usually takes off from Cancha Salvador Dijols on Avenida Hostos (PR-123) and ends at Parque Lucy Grillasca (PR-585). Attendance is estimated at over 15,000 people. It is attended by people from all over Puerto Rico, and some attendees are from as far as the United States. It is organized and operated by a community, civic, NGO group, not by any government or government agency.
Festival Nacional Afrocaribeño is an annual cultural celebration held at Ángel "Cuqui" Mangual baseball field in the La Cuarta neighborhood of Barrio Capitanejo in Ponce, Puerto Rico. The celebration, which commonly lasts three days, takes place in late June. It has been called "a world-class" event that brings together "the best exponents of salsa, bomba, plena and merengue music". It is attended by some 30,000 people. The festival's purpose is to positively impact the region by creating a cultural space to help preserve traditions. It aims to highlight the contributions to Puerto Rico culture and society by Puerto Ricans of African heritage. The festivities are highlighted by bands playing salsa, bomba and plena music.
Los Pleneros de la 21 is a New York City-based drum and dance ensemble that has been active since 1983. They specialize in Afro-Puerto Rican bomba and plena music and related dance forms. In addition to performing, they run a community-based, not-for-profit educational company dedicated to preserving and celebrating Puerto Rican traditional culture and "fostering the legacy and history of Puerto Rican artistic traditions of African and Creole descent."
Margarita "Tata" Cepeda is a Puerto Rican dancer, singer, teacher, and cultural icon known for her lifelong dedication to preserving and promoting the traditional Afro-Puerto Rican music and dance forms of bomba and plena. Affectionately nicknamed "La Mariposa de la Bomba", Cepeda is celebrated for her captivating stage presence, deep knowledge of bomba history and rhythms, and commitment to passing on these traditions to future generations.
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