The Puerto Rican “Gran Fiesta Navideña” Will light up East Harlem. Los Pleneros de la 21 will celebrate La Gran Fiesta Navideña in the Crystal Ballroom at Taíno Towers in “El Barrio” (East Harlem), Manhattan, on December 17, 2023, from 2:00 to 9:00pm. (From $25.) New York Latin Culture writes:
Los Pleneros de la 21 are a Grammy nominated, National Endowment of the Arts fellows, New York Puerto Rican, bomba and plena group of performers and teaching artists, based in “El Barrio” East Harlem.
A little advice. If you are lonely in New York City, study bomba and plena with Los Pleneros de la 21. You will find the most loving community. Welcome to Puerto Rico!
The group usually celebrates Las Fiestas de Cruz in June, and during the holidays a parranda and a Gran Fiesta Navideña. ¡WEPA, WEPA, WEPA!
The group was founded in 1983 by NEA Fellow “Juango” Juan J. Gutiérrez and Master Plenero Marcial Reyes Arvelo. Gutiérrez still leads the group.
The group’s name comes from the old trolley or bus stop 21 in Santurce, San Juan, Puerto Rico. That stop was once a neighborhood of famous pleneros.
They are NEA – National Endowment of the Arts fellows. “Para Todos Ustedes” was Grammy-nominated for “Best Traditional World Music Album” in 2005.
Bomba and Plena
The group’s name refers to plena, but they are usually photographed singing, drumming, and dancing bomba. Don’t be confused. Bomba and plena are not the same thing, though in Puerto Rico, they come from the same neighborhoods. Folkloric groups in the Puerto Rican Diaspora usually do both arts. That’s why you see “bomba y plena” together.
Bomba uses a barril, a barrel drum that used to be made from rum barrels.
Plena uses the pandereta, a hand drum like a tambourine without jingles, which originally came from the Arab world.
The rhythms and dances are different too. Bomba and plena influences are one of the things that makes New York salsa different from its son cubano roots.
Many people associate bomba dancing with the striking woman’s movements and dress work. But men dance bomba too, and sometimes are even more interesting. Try it. It’s easy and fun.
These are some of the places where Los Pleneros de la 21 play:
Julia de Burgos Cultural Center in El Barrio East Harlem.
Hostos Center in Mott Haven, The Bronx.
Pregones/PRTT in Concourse, The Bronx.
Taíno Towers in “El Barrio” East Harlem.
To learn more, visit losplenerosdela21.org
X (Twitter) @Pleneros21
Facebook @Pleneros21
Instagram @pleneros21
For original post, see https://www.newyorklatinculture.com/los-pleneros-de-la-21/
[Photo above by Andrés Rodríguez/Lincoln Center: Los Pleneros de la 21]
The Puerto Rican “Gran Fiesta Navideña” Will light up East Harlem. Los Pleneros de la 21 will celebrate La Gran Fiesta Navideña in the Crystal Ballroom at Taíno Towers in “El Barrio” (East Harlem), Manhattan, on December 17, 2023, from 2:00 to 9:00pm. (From $25.) New York Latin Culture writes: Los Pleneros de la 21 are a Grammy
