Con guiro y pandereta: rhythm and instrumentation of bomba y plena - popular music styles

Latin Beat Magazine, March, 2004 by Frank M. Figueroa

The bomba and the plena are important genres of folk music in Puerto Rico. They both developed in the coastal zones of the island, which are the areas with the largest concentration of dark-skinned Puerto Ricans. Bomba and plena share African origins as well as some musical characteristics. Nevertheless, they are separate genres with several significant differences.

Bomba is the older of the two rhythms. It arrived in Puerto Rico in the 17th century with the Ashanti slaves brought to the island from the Ghana region of Africa. The genre began to develop Puerto Rican characteristics in the 18th century. During that period, bomba was the principal Saturday night diversion for black slaves that worked in the sugarcane fields of the southern coast of Puerto Rico. Bomba was also sung and danced during special holiday and social events.

At the same time that the bomba was a very important celebration, it was also used as a conspiracy tool for the struggle for the freedom of the slaves. Playing drums was a concession by the masters, that was utilized by the slaves to conspire. In the playing, there is a strong combination between the dancer and the drum until one of them gives up. There is a corporal dialog that sends a series of signals that were used to communicate messages, right in front of the white landowners who didn't know anything about this exchange. Many slave rebellions were planned during these gatherings.

The overall dance movements of the bomba and its rhythms are of African origin. The names of the varying 265 rhythms within the bomba genre at times indicate a geographic/colonial reference, such as the "olandé" meaning Holland, and ascribing a very fast-paced rhythm and dance. Others are identified by the formation of the dance, such as the "leró" (rosa) a French expression to describe the formation movement of a circ]e symbolizing a rose. These dances have an Afro French influence originating from the time when black slaves were brought to the island by the French in 1815. The "leró" and the "olandé" are only two of the many rhythmic variations of the bomba, often endowed with names that have nothing to do with Puerto Rican Spanish. The following are some of them: cocobalé, yubá, anué, galindá, sicá, cunyá and bambulae. The cocobalé is a kind of bomba performed with sticks that imitate a sword fight. It's just like a dancing game. The bomba olandé is very popular in Ponce and Mayaguez. The yubá is performed mostly in the northern coastal areas such as Loiza and Santurce. This variant of the bomba is much faster and the drums are played harder. The sicá is also popular in the zones close to the capital city of San Juan. The modernized version of bomba developed by Rafael Cortijo was based on the sicá variant.

Bomba Instrumentation

Since the bomba was first played during the early years of Spanish colonization, the typical instruments used in Spain and Africa were not readily available. Therefore, the native musicians had to improvise new ones in America. Wooden barrels employed to ship foodstuffs were turned into drums by attaching goatskin heads at one end of each barrel. These drums were called "bombas." They also used hardwood sticks called "cuás" as percussion instruments and adopted a gourd shaker employed by the Taino Indians called amaraca. That was the precursor of today's maracas. In the original groups, a single shaker was used. The double maracas were not introduced until much later.

The typical bomba ensemble included two barrel drums (bombas) one bigger than the other. The larger drum is called buleador. It is low pitched, considered the heart of the music. It provides supportive rhythms for bomba. The smaller drum is called primo. It is a high-pitched drum that the player uses to communicate with the dancer. The primo drummer keeps a steady rhythm while improvising over the buleador's rhythmic patterns. He also tries to match his drum beats in the dancer's steps. The basic bomba group also included a musician who beat a rhythm pattern with two sticks (cuás) on the side of the buleador. A fourth member of the group shook the maraca.

However, the most important instrument in bomba is the human voice. It is used mostly for its onomatopoeic and rhythmic value. In bomba, the lyrics are usually composed of nonsensical syllables employed primarily for their phonetic value. Bomba uses a call and response format with a solo male of female singer improvising lines, followed by a chorus singing the main theme in unison.

In due time, other instruments such as the harmonica, accordion, guitar and cuatro were added to the bomba group. Later, Rafael Cortijo created his own sound of the bomba. It was essentially bomba sicá adapted to congas and timbales with modern orchestrations. Cortijo excelled in adapting other seis de bomba into his unique sicá style.

Plena Although the plena's roots can be traced back to the strongly African bomba, it is an original rhythm of Puerto Rico. According to several music historians, it was born in the 19th century in a neighborhood in Ponte, Puerto Rico, known ironically as "La Joya del Castillo" (The Jewel of the Castle.) It was anything but that, being a poor slum populated by black sugarcane field workers. Among them was Joselino Oppenheimer, a humble plowman also known as "Bumbún." He tilled the cane fields along the coast near Ponce, Puerto Rico. While plowing, he improvised his "coplas" to which other laborers replied as an impromptu chorus. After work, Joselino returned to his "Joya del Castillo," where he would repeat the coplas he had created during the day. This time he was accompanied by improvised percussion instruments.