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BOMBA: Music
Bomba embodies the essence of Afro-Puerto Rican music/dance traditions, performed in the east and northeast regions of Puerto Rico, primarily in Fajardo and Loiza, since the early 1800s. Drummers, singers, and dancers performed bomba on the sugar cane plantations or in the plazas of the town square. Though some historians suggest that the dance was brought to the island by African slaves from Ghana (descendants of the Akan or Ashanti people), others indicate that slaves who came to Puerto Rico from other Caribbean islands created bomba as suggest by the French, Spanish and English influences in the music. Forbidden to worship openly their African gods, the slaves merged their celebrations with festivals for St. James.
The bomba ensemble consists of two drums (or barriles de bomba), two sticks called a cua and one maraca. The drums are made from rum, nail or lard barrels. Goat skin is attached to one end of the barrel and attached in holes along the sides of the drum. The hide is heated and stretched across the top of the drum. A series of ropes or screws that tighten the drum head tune the instrument. Bomba drums, shorter and wider than conga drums, resonate a deeper, fuller sound. The buleador, the larger drum, has a low bass tone and maintains the fundamental, constant rhythm throughout the dance. The subidor, the smaller drum, has a higher pitch and provides the improvised rhythms that play off the dancers’ movements( “piquetes”).
The single maraca was originally made from the hollowed shell or gourd of the "crescentia cujete”, an evergreen tree found in Puerto Rico. The handle is a piece wood inserted into the maraca. Small dried perona seeds inside the maraca produce the crispy rattling sound.
The cua was originally two sticks that were played by hitting the base of the buleador. More recently, the cua is one or two large bamboo poles that are played with sticks. Wooden sticks (palillos) are also used for the higher pitched sounds. Distinctly regional styles of bomba have developed in Puerto Rican communities in the north, south and in the town of Loiza. Though it is not clear if Loiza was the birthplace of Bomba, it has become the center of the movement to preserve it. In Loiza, people dance Bomba socially and not solely as in the context of staged performances. Every July, the Patron Saints Day Festival of Loiza Aldea features 10 days of Bomba music and dance commemorating the victory of St James, the patron saint. The Ayala and Cepeda families have been major forces in continuing this festival and preserving the traditions of Bomba.
Bomba encompasses a family of rhythms and dances including sica, yuba, holandes, guembe and danue. The sica rhythm, developed in Santurce and Mayaguez, has a slower tempo and sensual feeling. The yuba rhythm is more rapid and upbeat. The holandes, often used at the end of Bomba performances, is a faster, syncopated rhythm.
Bomba begins with a liana (a female vocalist answered by the chorus and drummers, a style derived from the African music tradition of "call and response.") answered with a related musical pattern. The singer begins the song and is answered by a melody sung by the chorus. The songs include African words and phrases and the lead singers improvises in response to the drumming.
According to musicologist, Juan Cartagena,
"Bomba is also the music of resistance and rebellion, for it was during the bailes de bomba that slaves plotted their escapes. The resulting stricter regulation of bomba kept its manifestations at bay but did not completely outlaw its practice, leading to the preservation of a musical art form that resonates today among Puerto Rican youth who identify with its rebelliousness."
BOMBA: Dance
Female bomba dancers wear flowing white or brightly colored dresses , full white petticoats and their hair encased in colorful head wraps. The male dancers dress in white overshirts and trousers with large panama hats.
The dancers encircle the drummers, marking time with the basic dance step (tap in place, step back, step in place). Eventually a solo dancer (male or female) advances towards the subidor drummer and makes staccato, rhythmic gestures called "piquetes" that the subidor drummer attempts to duplicate in his drumming pattern. The women flick their skirts, men pop their shoulders or kick, challenging the drummer to respond with similar drum rhythms.
The 2001 video "Bomba: Dancing the Drum" is a one hour film which chronicles the fierce passion of the legendary Cepeda family, as they struggle to keep music alive in Puerto Rico. The late Don Rafael Cepeda, patriarch of the family, and his wife, Caridad, passed the tradition on to their 12 children, who, in turn, are passing it on to their children and grandchildren. Saturated with the color, music, and dance of Puerto Rico, "Bomba: Dancing the Drum" is a portrait of a remarkable family that has chosen to embrace the future with the strength of the past.
Another moving documentary about bomba is Banco Popular's 2001 video , "Con la Música por Dentro.
Over the years bomba's influence and popularity has spread beyond Puerto Rico. In the 1950's, Rafael Cortijo and his lead singer, Ismael Rivera, brought bomba to the recording studios and produced legendary records such as "El bombon de Elena" (Elena's candy). The Cortijo Combo spiked with Riveria's lush voice helped fuel the increased popularity of bomba and plena by updating the style and integrating the music into a Cuban conjunto format. Cortijo primarily used the bomba rhythm, sica, in his recordings possibly because that rhythm featured the deeper tones of the bomba drums which could be replicated on the conga. Cortijo felt that the congas were more versatile instruments than he bomba drums since they could be used to play bomba, plena, and calypso or Cuban music styles.
Internationally known artists such as Eddie Palmieri, Descarga Boricua, Sonora Poncena and John Santos and Machete Ensemble incorporate bomba into contemporary Latin Jazz and salsa music.
For more information on bomba and plena, contact
www.prfdance.com
Guiro Y Maraca newsletter; Segunda Quimbamba Folkloric Center Inc. 279 Second St Jersey City, N.J. 07302 Tel 202-420-6332
Cartagena J(2004). When Bomba Becomes the National Music of the Puerto Rican Nation.Centor Journal, spring, vol. SVI, numero 001. city of New York. Cento de Estudios Puertoririquenos New York, Latinoamiercanistas pp.14-35
http://www.musicofpuertorico.com/index.php/genre/bomba/
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