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The Torch Bearers of Puerto Rico’s Plena, Bomba, and Beyond!

Four-Time Grammy Nominee Plena Libre is the Music of Puerto Rico
as it Should Be Experienced Live

Emerging over the chatter of a packed house at New York’s Lincoln
Center, the warm tone and subtle rhythms of a hand-held frame drum
quiets the crowd as it beckons to an assembly of drummers to join.
Layering in one by one, soon the polyrhythmic textures of three
panderos (frame drums) interweave and converse, echoing as
percussionists materialize from behind the audience and march
towards the stage. Atop this tapestry of rhythm, a melodious voice
calls out, and a chorus of singers responds, providing the final
elements of a music known as plena. Awash in this iconic folk music of
Puerto Rico, the spectators can’t help but become energized by the
simple and infectious sounds, swaying, then dancing, then singing
along in Spanish. While the momentum builds, the drummers reach the
stage and meet up with the rest of their band. As the music brings the
audience to their feet, bass, piano, guitar, and horns aggressively enter
with a series of thick harmonic staccato stabs, initiating an up-beat
Afro-Rican groove that is distinctly Plena Libre, the torch-bearers of the
modern incarnation of Puerto Rico’s musical roots.              

Captivating and moving audiences over the course of a fifteen-year,
thirteen-album career, this fine-tuned 12-piece Puerto Rican-based
ensemble of virtuoso musicians has only gotten better with age, as
evidenced by their four recent Grammy nominations. And now, for the
2010-2011 touring season, Plena Libre has created an all-new exciting
repertoire along with new choreography, compelling new stories told
from the stage between songs, and an overall presentation sure to win
the hearts of both aficionados and newcomers to their sound. “The
chemistry and emotions on stage – my God!” says founder, bassist,
arranger, musical director, and composer Gary Nuñez. “It never seizes
to amaze me how we all feel each other musically. I am continually
overwhelmed by the spirit of the band. It is the music of Puerto Rico as
it should be experienced. This train will just run you over!” The band
alternates between tradition and their unique creative expression and
arrangement, keeping audiences engaged with the best of roots music
and the surprises of Nuñez’s hard-hitting touch.

Plena Libre infuses their contemporary Caribbean compositions with a
deep sense of the unique indigenous musical traditions, known as
plena and bomba, which developed on the island over a century ago.
“When I was 20 years old,” remembers Nuñez, “I met Noel Hernández,
who is now my compadre. He opened my eyes to my Puerto Rican
heritage, got me into studying my history and my musical roots. I
realized then that, as much as Puerto Rican musicians were known
worldwide in many fields of music, the music that was truly traditional
to Puerto Rico was hardly known. I wanted to change that, to devote
myself to the music that is based on our African heritage, the plena and
the bomba. Up to then they were relegated to holiday get-togethers
and in danger of disappearing entirely. That’s how Plena Libre, or ‘free
plena’ was born.”

A culmination of African, Spanish, and Caribbean sounds, plena was
born in the barrios (slums) of Puerto Rico in the early 20th century.
Starting as a solo pandero that quickly developed into a trio of
interlocking pandero patterns that accompanied a call-and-response
vocal style, plena soon evolved from a music solely played by
agricultural migrants to a popular form of social expression that
recounted the daily lives of the island’s inhabitants. “Plena has been
called ‘the people’s newspaper,’” says Nuñez, “because its songs
recount the history of our land; it comments on and satirizes everyday
life. You won’t read its stories in history books.” While augmenting
plena with contemporary influences such as jazz, merengue, cumbia,
and mambo, Plena Libre nourishes the roots of this music by
continuing to sing about relevant social issues that affect the island.

While drawing from a diverse contemporary cosmopolitan well, Plena
Libre’s foundation is built on local elements. “Ninety-five percent of our
repertoire is based on the plena and bomba,” says Nuñez. Retaining
the African call-and-response singing style found in these musical
styles, a constant dialogue between the sonero and the coro (chorus
of singers) is present throughout many of Plena Libre’s compositions.
Unlike salsa bands, who usually only have two singers, Plena Libre
features five vocalists singing in lush three and four part harmonies; a
musical representation of a traditional community gathering. Further
giving their live performances a memorable standout quality,
occasionally, the entire band will vocalize the percussion parts of the
plena, creating an a cappella polyphonic polyrhythm. These artistic
choices drive home the core of the tradition in an aesthetic that
appeals to broad audiences and aficionados alike.

Using the straight two-beat of the plena, Plena Libre’s music is also
easy to dance to. “Salsa has many up-beats that can be confusing to
some newcomers,” says Nuñez, “but we show our audiences how
easy it is to dance to plena.” The simple elegance of plena rhythms
reflect the inclusive spirit of the music and encourages even the most
timid audiences to dance with carefree abandon. With these enticing
Afro-Caribbean grooves, Plena Libre has been able to break cultural
barriers around the globe. “When we played in Morocco the audience
started to dance, and people couldn’t figure out what the hell was
happening. The local reporters later said that they had never seen
people dance at a festival like this in this region. Maybe it was a cultural
thing. Anyway, it was great! Some of the band grabbed people and
started dancing and everybody jumped in.”  

Dance, in general, is a vital component of Plena Libre’s live
performances. Their innovative choreography, drawn from folk
traditions, offers an experience that is distinct from salsa bands, and
illustrates their profound understanding of their Puerto Rican heritage.
In the middle of a set, most of the band exits, leaving one of the
singers to take center stage as a dancer. He proceeds to challenge a
drummer to a rhythmic battle within an African derived, but
unmistakably Puerto Rican bomba. Dressed in traditional white
costume, including a traditional hat, the dancer stomps and shakes,
strategically spurring on the lead drummer in an energetic interplay
between rhythm and movement. The band then grabs willing audience
members to join the fun in an exciting exchange of dance and rhythm.
Throughout Plena Libre’s concerts they feature elaborate, visually
stunning, carefully crafted choreography that takes its inspiration from
the traditions of the Caribbean.           

Along with providing exhilarating entertainment, Plena Libre—which
has performed in fifteen countries, from Morocco to Malaysia—has a
deep commitment to educating their audiences about the traditional
culture of Puerto Rico. Since the founding of the group, the ensemble
has offered three levels of workshops tailored to the needs of
particular demographics. For young audiences, the band has conducted
hands-on demonstrations, taking an interactive approach to helping
kids play Caribbean rhythms and learn various dance steps. For older
audiences, Plena Libre focuses their discussion on the rich historical
and cultural aspects of their music, reinforcing these points with live
musical examples. And, for professional musicians, through
performance and dialogue, the band shares their insight into the music
business and their own creative process as well as details of the
technical aspects of producing their art.

With an aggressive, tight, yet sensitive style, which balances the
traditional with the contemporary, the global and the local, Plena Libre
creates a brand of music and live performance that is both profoundly
Puerto Rican and universally appealing. Filtering the sounds of various
Afro-Caribbean forms like merengue and cumbia, and Afro-Cuban like
mambo and yes, salsa if you ask nicely through a unique set of artistic
sensibilities, this versatile collection of expert performers create a
celebratory spectacle and engaging sonic ecstasy. Thrilling audiences
around the world, from the Fez Festival (in Morocco) to the Playboy
Jazz Festival, Plena Libre is a train that just keeps picking up steam as
it charges ahead in unexpected and exciting directions.
Plena Libre....

Hard-hitting horns,
master hand drummers,
and songs from the soul
of Puerto Rico.
Plena Libre
"The biggest band to play
plena, which is a folkloric
music out of
Puerto Rico, PLENA LIBRE
knows the tradition but
aren't afraid to
draw upon stuff from
outside the genre to keep
it fresh”. . The Village Voice