bomba

In 2023 Atabal celebrated 40 years since percussionist Héctor Rodríguez co-founded the band, and this month they started their 41st year with a remarkable performance at the Fiestas de la Calle San Sebastián. Atabal 's 40th Anniversary…

As this week Puerto Rico commemorates its "discovery" by Columbus (November 19) in 1493, our folk rhythm of "Plena" is still going strong over a century after its origin. Note: this blog was originally published in 2010, when this rhythm…

For this Father's Day Special we honor two great father-son musicians in Hector (Atabal) Rodriguez and his son Caymmi Rodriguez. Past Father Day Specials in Latino Music Café have honored Bebo & Chucho Valdez, Rafael Jose and Juan…

Using a subtle blend of Jazz with Puerto Rican rhythms, The Nuñez Project launched their debut EP "Historias Desde Otros Lares". I want to highlight that the music in "Historias" uses Puerto Rican folk rhythms of Plena and Bomba as a…

As "Bomba" turned into the 20th century, it only survived in the backyards of the black neighborhoods in Puerto Rico. The free, but still marginalized, negro population in Puerto Rico began to listen to and experience other types of…

Puerto Rican folk group Atabal released their awaited EP "Yo Soy Atabal" just in time for the festive 2018 Christmas season. "Yo Soy Atabal": the EP The new EP contains six songs of which four have been previously released as singles.…

In the early 1900's, a man that traveled from the West Indies to Puerto Rico looking for work, brought with him a hand-held drum; the first known "pandero". This event planted the first seeds of the rhythm of Plena. Plena: a mix of…

It turns out there are several types of Bomba rhythms. We're going to cover and show you most of them in this part of this blog series. Most of the types of Bomba you can assign to a particular location or region where they came from.…

Unlike the Plena, there are several styles of Bomba. In this blog, I will only explain WHY we have several types of this genre. I will leave the explanation of WHAT are those types of Bomba rhythms for the next blog. There's a hint of…