Plena Libre

Puerto Rican band Plena Libre isn't boricua, it's barbicua. Contributions to the Afro-Rican plena music were made in part by Barbadian immigrants in the Nineteenth Century, but plena is the most organic of Puerto Rico's sounds. What sets the gregarious down-home jam of a plena apart from other tropi-Latino styles...

By Julienne Gage

February 10, 2005

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Puerto Rican band Plena Libre isn't boricua, it's barbicua. Contributions to the Afro-Rican plena music were made in part by Barbadian immigrants in the Nineteenth Century, but plena is the most organic of Puerto Rico's sounds. What sets the gregarious down-home jam of a plena apart from other tropi-Latino styles is the way it interlocks rhythms with Spanish tambourinelike hand drums. That's the Caribbean cultural collision the decade-old band will celebrate this Saturday in conjunction with Broward's Puerto Rican Fiestas Patronales. Plena Libre will mix it up with Cuban violinist Alfredo De La Fe, bongocero Roberto Roena, pianist Luis Marin, trumpeter Charlie Sepulveda, and trombonist William Cepeda playing songs from their tenth and most recent album Estamos Gozando! (Loose translation: We're Having a Blast!)

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Julienne Gage is a Miami-based anthropologist and journalist who has worked as a reporter and as a civil rights and international aid communications specialist in the United States, Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, and Europe. Her fieldwork has exposed her to many forms of cultural expression, and during her master’s in anthropology, she studied at Cuba’s Center for the Investigation and Development of Cuban Music.

Contact: Julienne Gage

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