DESCRIPTION:
Plena is an Afro-Latino tradition that developed out of bomba music around the beginning of the 20th century in southern Puerto Rico. Plena lyrics are narrative. They convey stories about events, address topical themes, often comment on political protest movements, and offer satirical commentaries. Plena instrumentation has changed greatly over the years, but the one indispensable and defining element is the pandereta, a round hand drum that comes in different sizes. The smallest of them is the requinto, which improvises over the rhythm of the other drums. In this video, the members of Los Pleneros de la 21 demonstrate the pandereta and explain its role in plena music during the 2005 Smithsonian Folklife Festival.

'Para Todos Ustedes' is available on CD and digital.

Stream/download/purchase:
Smithsonian Folkways: https://folkways.si.edu/los-pleneros-de-la-21/para-todos-ustedes/latin-world/music/album/smithsonian
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/304SxpX0NsaNayS1gAAhn5?si=uIISt1kSS6OBi1oivER73Q

It’s all about cultural roots: on this record, the presence of the décima (a ballad-like song form often philosophical in nature) and the pasodoble (a fast Spanish dance that introduces a bull fight and the entrance of the bull fighters) reflects the cultural association of the majority Puerto Ricans to their Spanish colonial past. A plena (humorous, satirical song of the "common man") is distinctly Puerto Rican. A guaracha (an old-fashioned Afro-Cuban street dance) ties Puerto Ricans to their Afro-Caribbean heritage.

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