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Giiiro y Maraca Vol. 5, No. 1 Winter, 2001

A PUBLICATION OF THE SEGUNDA QUIMBAMBA FOLKLORIC CENTER, INC.

Ensayos Sobre Las "Ades Marciales" Africanas y La Bomba de Puerto Rico

Introduction Editorial Fue un encuentro simple y genuino. Un encuentro entre dos inteligentes y destacados boricuas. Uno joven, otro maduro. El joven a punto de lanzarse a la abogacia reconociendo en si mismo su afan para la investigation de un aspecto fascinante de la diaspora africana: el desarrollo de la "artes marciales" africanas disfrazadas en baile. El mismo habia investigado varios ',crises caribeilos y latinoamericanos sin darse cuenta de las posibles conexiones en su propia tierra. El otro, cuarenton, es bailador de la bomba puertorriquella sin igual. Fue en el encuentro que este pudo profundizar por primera vez sobre los estilos de baile de una bomba sacra, "Misierere," y mas importante aun, el baile cocobale y las "artes marciales." Asi fue que Roberto Cepeda y Francisco "Paco" Valcarcel se encontraron en el Centro Foklorico Segunda Quimbamba. Esa conversation germinO una demostracion de los enlaces africanos en los bailes del capoeira brasilefio, la colombia y el mani cubano, y la bomba puertorriquena cocobale que se celebro en Trenton Central High School en New Jersey por medio de nuestro amigo, Hector Bonilla, durante las

actividades de "Black History Month" en febrero del corriente. Con este trasfondo

pudimos modificar un ensayo original de Paco Valcarcel titulado "Una Introduction a las •Artes Marciales - Afro-Cariberias," que incluimos aqui.

Simultaneamente, yo tuve la buena suerte de compartir con Carlos "Tato" Torres en Nueva York y comparar estas conclusiones. De ese encuentro vino el ensayo de Tato Torres " 'Cocobale' African Martial

Arts in Bomba," que incluimos aqui tambien. Tato es un antropologo de esos que se envuelve completa y activamente en todo que tiene que ver con sus investigaciones. Ultimamente toca, canta y compone pare la agrupacion de bomba y plena, YERBABUENA. Para Tato, YERBABUENA es mas un concepto que intenta romper el molde de grupos de bomba y plena. A este joven boricua le sobra talento como veran ustedes en el ensayo siguiente.

Inside: An Introduction to Afro-Caribbean Martial Arts

Spanish Version .... ...p6 "Cocobale" African Martial Arts in Bomba

P9 Spanish Version... ... ...p12 Profiles From Ricon Criollo: Jose Rivera

CD Reviews ... ...p20

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Hay, tal vez, cierto nivel de repetition en los dos ensayos pero no llega al punto de disminuir la contribution de los dos en su totalidad. Nos honramos en Guiro y Maraca en presentarlas, ya que estas observaciones no se ven todo los dias ni entre los boricuas que saben de bomba. Admito que los ensayos senalan la necesidad de seguir investigando esto temas, temas que no han recibido la atencion que se merecen

"Si to no sabes cocobale

No to pongas a bailar"

Asi es el coro del "Baile del Coco" de la libreta de Don Rafael Cepeda. El cocobale es el enlace entre los ensayos de Torres y Valcarcel, la masica autoctona borinquelia y la coreografia en bomba titulada cocobale que se conoce por medio de las agrupaciones y ballet fokloricos dirigidos por el Don Rafael. Roberto Cepeda se recuerda muy bien de la presentaci6n coreografiada:

"Cuando nosotros montabamos el ntimero con la familia Cepeda, lo haciamos empezando con un hombre que le trata de enamorar la mujer al otro. Entonces el hombre viene y lo empuja y se intercambian palabras. Entonces ahi viene uno y saca el palo y el otro saca el palo y ahi rompe la bomba, los dos empiezan a bailar y los dos empiezan a ejecutar el baile.

Los palos eran palos del cua, un poquito Inas grande. Como del piso a la rodilla. Puede ser cualquier tipo de madera pero que sea fuerte, porque a base de la emotion de la gente a veces se parten los palos.

Los palos se agarraban con las dos manos. Pero en la variation con los piquetes,

Giiiro y Maraca uno lo agarra con las dos manos y el otro con una mano para atacar. Uno de los hombres sale de la misma pelea y empieza a tirar piquetes. A tirar los piquetes el otro lo ataca a la misma vez. Pero el bailarin siempre mantiene el palo en las manos, to' el tiempo porque recuerdate que eso sigue siendo una pelea. Cuando el bailarin tira los piquetes el otro lo ester atacando. Entonces el se ester protegiendo con el palo mientras tira los piquetes a la misma vez. Tan pronto se tiran los dos, que se arrancan, en ese momento, arrancan los tambores.

Tu ye, en esos tiempos la gente usaba el machete para cortar la caria, pero usaban el palo tambien, para trabajar tambien. Pues, para usar los machetes, tambien usaban los palos. En vez de usar el machete, en los baffles, a veces se usaban los palos. Para crear la escena habian mucha gente, mujeres que hablaban, gritaban y to' eso. Y asi se hacia la coreografia."

Editor's Introduction: It has always been our hope at Gairo y Maraca that we could document, in some small way, the richness and complexities of art fog ms that have existed for centuries in Puerto Rico, in some small way. Admittedly, this is no small task. Decades of neglect layered upon undercurrents of racial bias relegated bomba, especially, and to some extent plena, as art forms that have remained obscure and left to the oral history traditions of our nation. Much has changed in the last twenty years, a lot of it on this side of the charco that separates the Puerto Rican faithful. All of which made it especially poignant to witness a short encounter between two Puerto Ricans discussing new discoveries that neither of them realized about bomba and the concept of African martial arts forms disguised as dance throughout the African diaspora. It occurred during a practice of the group SEGUNDA QUIMBAMBA and it engaged a young boricua with a penchant for research in the martial arts and a foot in the door

Cocobale Demonstration (F. Valcarcel and E. Torre

3 of the orthodox, legal profession. He was acutely aware of the African traditions and the need to further elaborate upon martial arts-as-dance within the diaspora. What he was unaware of, due in no small way to the trends described above, was the interconnections

s)

between the bomba of the Island, especially the cocobale dance, and the subject of his avocation. Across from him was a master of bomba dance whose name graces a bomba dance competition held yearly in Ponce. This seasoned veteran has seen it all, one could say. Except that he too acknowledges that he never viewed the dance steps he learned from the age of five as containing patterns of movement that may be similar to martial arts-as-dance. From its inception the interchange between the elder statesman, Roberto Cepeda, and the younger researcher, Francisco "Paco" Valcarcel was laced with possibilities. Indeed, it led to a live demonstration of Brazil's capoeira, Cuba's colombia and mani dances, and Puerto Rico's cocobale during the Black History Month celebrations in Trenton Central High School in February 2001. It also led to a revision of an original essay titled "An Introduction to Afro-Caribbean Martial Arts" by Paco Valcarcel that we reprint herein.

Simultaneously, and fortunately for us, I shared some of these preliminary conclusions about the stick-fighting dance, cocobale with Carlos "Tato" Torres in New York, who had also previously prepared a separate piece

Guiro y Maraca documenting some of the identical trends that Valcarcel was finding. Tato is a composer, singer and drummer for an exciting group in the city called YERBABUENA. Actually, YERBABUENA is more a concept and a vehicle than your typical bomba & plena group. And that's due to the energy and vision that Tato brings as a cultural anthropologist along with a small group of like-minded cultural activists who perform with the group. His essay, "'Cocobale' African Martial Arts in Bomba," is also included in this issue.

The reader may find a level of similarity that borders on repetition in these two works which in my opinion does not detract from their contribution as a whole. Given that some of these observations may break new ground, within old roots that is, even amongst us who profess to know bomba well, I am convinced that my decision to leave them, essentially as is, is the right one.

"Si to no sabes cocobaM

No to pongas a bailar"

Such is the chorus of the song "Baile del Coco," which says: "If you don't know cocobale, Don't attempt to dance it." Its admonition stands in contrast to what is usually the inviting, participatory nature of bomba dance in Puerto Rico; and with good reason. CocobaM is danced with sticks, simulating the feints, thrusts and parries of actual combat; not exactly game for the novice. The cocobale dance is a unifying theme in the essays we present below. This particular song is from the songbook of Don Rafael Cepeda and is used in the choreographed piece performed by his family on several occasions. Roberto Cepeda, his son, remembers the choreographed presentation as follows:

4 "The first scene involves a man that obviously tries to steal the affection of another man's female friend. This leads to a physical and verbal confrontation which sets the stage for the stick fighting. Once the sticks are revealed, the bomba begins and the two men begin the dance. The sticks are typically the same sticks we use to play the cua, actually a little longer. They run from the floor to about your knee. Any wood can be used, although we always used hard woods, because it wasn't surprising when other emotions took over during the choreography which led to a number of broken sticks.

"The sticks were held usually in both hands. One variation allowed an attack to be made with the stick swung by one hand, and this was during the piquetes of the lead dancer. What would happen is that in the course of the stick fight in the beginning of the number one of the dancers would begin dancing to the drum and start his individual moves, his piquetes. At that time the other dancer / fighter would attack. At all times the dancer who alternates dancing to the drum always maintains a hold on the stick. Remember that this was a constant fight. When attacked the lead dancer would use the stick to defend the attack, all the while throwing piquetes to the drummer.

"What I learned was that in those times people used a machete to work the sugar cane, but the use of a stick to help that along was common. Both were used. On stage, however, we would also have many people to re-create a crowded scene. Women would talk, encourage the men, shout and so on. All of these elements were present in the choreography."

An Introduction to Afro-Caribbean Martial Arts

By Francisco Valcarcel

When most of us hear the phrase "martial

Giiiro y Maraca arts" we conjure up images of Bruce Lee fighting single-handedly against a band of thugs, armed only with fists of fury and dazzling spin-kicks. A great many of us would be surprised to learn that the Far East is not the only region of the world to have developed sophisticated forms of unarmed combat. And very few of us would know that the real cradle of the martial arts is not the Sino-Japanese world but the continent of Africa -- Egypt, to be precise.

The so-called Greco-Roman form of wrestling (from which modern-day Olympic freestyle wrestling is derived) had its real origins not in the arenas of Rome, but in the sandy tombs of the pharaohs of ancient Egypt. The tomb in Beni Hasan, for instance, houses a mural which depicts a multitude of bare-hand combat attacks and defense — it is arguably the earliest form of martial arts instruction in evidence. While "fighting never became the pharaohs' favorite sport," the phenomenon of organized unarmed combat methods was not limited to the Nile Valley basin. To the south, the Nuba had their form of wrestling, which is still practiced today. Even farther south, the Zulu people have their own style of stick fighting, Zulu impe. And more important for our purposes, the Kongo people had their n'golo — from which the immensely popular modern-day martial art of copoeira is acknowledged to have come from.

Thompson acknowledges the contribution that Puerto Ricans made to the urban art form, drawing on their own bomba y plena

As a result of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, many Africans lost their lives and homes, many kingdoms were all but decimated as a result of the European incursions into the African continent. Yet a great number of

5 African art fog ins survived — with a resiliency that amazes scholars of Africa and the African Diaspora to this day. African religions, such as that of the Yoruba, and the Kongo peoples, underwent an intense process of syncretization. That process brought about the modern-day religions of santeria and palo mayombe, respectively.

The situation was no different when it came to forms of traditional unarmed combat. Some scholars argue that these martial arts were traditional dances in which combative elements predominated, others see the dance element as a necessary incident of syncretization. In other words, these martial arts had to be disguised as dances in order for them to survive. Robert Farris Thompson, a professor of art history at Yale University, and a scholar of African culture in the Diaspora, quotes two individuals, one, a scholar from continental Africa and the other, one of the greatest masters of Afro-Brazilian copoeira, on the issue:

[M]ost of these moves originated in friendly sparring. "In Kongo, to fight against your peers in the village is bad form," said [Dr. Fu-Kiau] Bunseki. "We came to play, not fight." Joao Pequerio, one of the leading teachers of capoeira in Bahia today, drove the point home: "When the Africans did copoeira, ginga [the characteristic swaying motion of capoeira players, or capoeiristas] was a form of dance . . . In Brazil it turned into a fight."

While a detailed exploration of capoeira itself is beyond the scope of this article, the reader will find a sizeable (and growing) body of literature on the subject. For now, suffice it to say that the martial arts of the African Diaspora are not limited to those found in Brazil, many others exist, but there is a keenly felt lack of research regarding these. Most of the

Giiiro y Maraca information comes from first-hand accounts and is anecdotal in nature.

From Venezuela, specifically the Curiepe region, comes the art of broma. Dr. Thompson interviewed a native from the region and asked him to demonstrate some moves. What he saw was a combination of feints and dance steps culminating in a spinning back kick (in capoeira called an armada). The move is also characteristic of many Chinese martial arts as well. The broma was accompanied by the playing of drums. In Haiti there is a form of wrestling, noted by journalist C. David Dawson, called pingue. The island of Martinique is home to a martial dance called ladja (or l'agya), which was documented by the celebrated African-American ethnologist Katherine Dunham (under the pseudonym of Kaye Dunn). Curiously, the ladja was characterized by spinning kicks identical to the Brazilian armada. Trinidad is known for its stick-fighters, who do the kalinda, described as "both a dance and a combat" by Errol Hill. The kalinda is a common part of the gaudy and flamboyant carnival for which the island is famous. In Cuba we have mani (also called bombosa, according to Dr. Thompson), which was documented by both Argeliers Leon and Fernando Ortiz. The former described it as

[A] fight-dance in which a man, in the center of a tight circle of men, moving to the beat of the yuka drums and the singing, was supposed to attack, in a prescribed set of stinging punches, one of the men in the ring. The latter was supposed to counter these attacks with a prescribed number of blocks and evasive movements from his position in the circle without stopping his dance motion.

This description is arguably identical to that of modern-day uprock, which the Puerto Ricans in New York City pioneered.

6

Uprock was martial posing. Uprock meant battle mime. It was danced combat, a fight with steps instead of fists. One basic sequence was: hop, step, lunge. Or the hands were used as if they were a knife in a form of uprock known as zipping, witnessed by a historian of breakdancing, Sally Sommer.

Thompson acknowledges the contribution that Puerto Ricans made to the urban art form, drawing on their own bomba y plena. They added not only the "fast-stepping entry pattern," but "head spins, windmills and helicopters," in addition to the "1990" — a one-armed handstand / spinning motion (also found in capoeira). We might also note that, unsurprisingly, the great breakdancing explosion in New York City during the late 70's coincided with the arrival of two capoeiristas from Brazil — Jelon Vieira and Leremil Machado — whose names would become synonymous with the martial dance of capoeira in that town for years to come.

Finally, what can we add about the bomba dance called cocobale in Puerto Rico? Despite my exposure to numerous dance and martial arts forms from various countries I only recently learned of the connections I raise herein to the island of Puerto Rico in conversations I had with Roberto Cepeda and Juan Cartagena. It was through these contacts that I learned of the cocobale dance in bomba where the male dancers challenged each other with sticks. The Puerto Rican ethnomusicologist, Emanuel Dufrasne, described cocobale as a dance performed with sticks that he was able to document in the areas of Toa Baja, Toa Alta, Dorado, and perhaps, Catafio, in Puerto Rico. Admittedly, he recognized that this art form was an enigma. In a demonstration by Roberto Cepeda of some of the moves in the dance cocobale I was able to discern a number of

Giiiro y Maraca features. The entry by the performer into the dance area, his exit, his initial attack, and other generalized movements approximate the patterns prevalent in the stick-based, art forms of other countries. Tangentially, I would think that the following observation may instill further discussion and research into this fascinating subject: it stems from the written work of Don Rafael Cepeda. His composition No Le De En El Suelo contains a line which, roughly translated, states: "He strikes you with his feet and a head-butt." Practitioners of African-based, martial arts, particularly capoeira, may recognize a link here between the description of the combat in this song, with the combative nature of cocobale, and with the other art forms discussed herein. In capoeira, kicks and head-butts are utilized within the African tradition. Indeed, a Brazilian saying can sum up the inter-connections between the Americas and the African continent in this regard: "Your hands are made to create, your feet are made to destroy."

Cocobale Demonstration (E. Torres and F. Valcarcel )

Una Introduccion a las "Artes Marciales- Afro-Caribetias Por Francisco Valcarcel

Cuando la mayoria de nosotros escuchamos el termino "artes marciales -enseguida pensamos en alguien como Bruce Lee repartiendo patadas y putios contra una Banda de villanos con inigualable destreza y rapidez (o, como le gusta decir el excampeOn mundial Jose

7 -Chegui. Torres, -dandoles como bacalao en Semana Santa"). Sin embargo, muchos estarian sorprendidos ante el hecho de que el Lejano Oriento no es la tInica parte del mundo que ha desarrollado sofisticadas formas de defensa personal o combate sin armas. Y somos muy pocos los que sabemos que el verdadero origen de las artes marciales no yace en el Lejano Oriente, sino dentro del continente Africano — en el antiguo Egipto, para ser exacto.

La llamada Lucho Greco-Romana (de la cual se derivan dos formas de competencia olimpicas modernas, la Greco y la "freestyle") encuentra sus origines dentro de las tumbas de los faraones del antiguo Egipto. La tumba de Beni Hasan, por ejemplo, contiene un mural que ilustra un sinfin de ataques y defensas de combate sin armas. Posiblemente esta es la evidencia de un tecnicismo marcial altamente desarrollado entre los seres humans mas antigua que existe. Aunque -la lucha nunca se convirtiO en el deporte favorito de los faraones, el fenomeno de autodefensa sin armas no se limita al Valle de Nilo. Hacia el sur (aunque probablemente no se haya desarrollado contemporaneamente) la tribu de los Nuba tenia su propia forma de lucha, que aun es practicada hoy en dia. Mas al sur todavia el pueblo Zulu tiene un estilo bien desarrollado de pelea con palos, el Zulu impe. Y, a colacion con nuestro tema, los Kongo de la parte sud-oeste de Africa tenian un baile llamado el n'golo, el cual se alega es la raiz del arte marcial brasilero capoeira, que tanta popularidad ha cobrado en nuestros dias.

Como resultado de las incursions esclavistas europeas dentro de Africa, muchos pueblos fueron devastados y muchisimas mas personas perdieron sus vidas y sus hogares, al ser portados a traves del Oceano Atlantico hacia las Americas. Sin embargo, un gran numero de tradiciones africanas sobreviviO la manera en que estas se han adaptado es sorprendente, aun para estudiosos dentro de este campo. Religiones

Giiiro y Maraca africanas, como las de los Yoruba y los Kongo, sostuvieron un proceso de sincretizaciOn o adaptacion intenso. Este proceso forjo las religions que hoy conocemos coma la santeria y el palo mayombe.

Esta situacion es comparable a la de las formas de combate africanas tradicionales. Algunos investigadores argumentan que estas artes marciales eran bailes tradicionales en los cuales el elemento de combate era predominante, mientras otros opinan que el elemento del baile fue ariadido por necesidad de sincretizacion. Es decir, estas formas de combate tradicionales tenian que ser disfra7adas como baile para poder sobrevivir. El profesor Robert Farris Thompson, de la universidad de Yale, y un estudioso de la cultura africana en la Diaspora, cita a dos individuos — uno un academic() de origen africano y el otro uno de los mas grandes maestros de capoeira — respecto a este tema:

La mayoria de estos movimientos se originaron en el fogueo amistoso. -En Kongo, pelear con tus iguales en la villa esta mal hecho," dijo el Dr. Fu-Kiau Bunseki. -Venimos a jugar, no pelear. - Joao Pequerio uno de los principales maestros de capoeira en Bahia hoy dia, aclaro algo al respecto: "Cuando los africanos hacian capoeira, la ginga "[el movimiento caracteristico de los jugadores de capoeira o capoeiristas] era una forma de baile... En Brasil se convirtio en una pelea. -

Mientras que una discusion en detalle sobre la capoeira por si sola no es posible en estas breves paginas, el estimado lector encontrard que hay una cantidad razonable de literatura sobre esta, que aun esta creciendo. Por ahora, basta decir que las artes marciales de la Diaspora africana no se limitan a aquellas dentro de Brasil. Muchas mas existen, pero existe una grave falte de investigaciOn y documentacion sobre estas. La mayoria de informacion acerca de estas otras artes proviene

8 de anecdotas o testimonio de aquellos quienes las han presenciado.

De Venezuela, y la region de Curiepe en particular, proviene la broma. El doctor Thompson entrevisto un habitante de la region y le pidio que demostrara algunos pasos. Lo que aquel vio fue una combinacion de fecas ("feints" en ingles) y pasos de baile culminando en una patada giratoria (o "spinning back kick"), la cual en capoeira se conoce como armada. Esta movida es muy utilizada dentro de las artes marciales chinas tambien. La broma, al contrario estaba acompailada por el ritmo de los tambores. El periodista C. Daniel Dawson menciona una forma de lucha en Haiti llamada piny:ie. La isla de Martinica es el hogar para un baile de pelea llamado ladja (o l'agya), el cual fue documentado muchos afios atras por el celebre etnologa Katherine Dunham (bajo el seudonimo de Kaye Dunn). Curiosamente, la ladja esta basada en patadas circulares identicas a la armada brasilera. Trinidad es conocida por sus peleadores con palos, que hacen el kalinda, descrito como "un baile y un combate" por Errol Hill. En Cuba existia el mani (o bombosa), el cual es mencionado por Argeliers Leon y Fernando Ortiz. Leon lo describe como

Un baile-pelea en el cual un hombre, en el centro de un circulo apretado de hombres, al compas de los tambores yuka y cantos, se supone que ataque, con una serie de golpes prescritos a uno de los hombres dentro del circulo. Este se supone que contraatacara con ciertos bloqueos y movimientos evasivos desde su posicion en el circulo sin parar de bailar.

Sevin Emanuel Dufrasne, el cocobale -era una cosa de palos, - y este sugiere que "surge de las areas de Toa Alta, Toa Baja, Dorado y quizeis, Catano, - aunque admite "que es un enigma. -

Guiro y Maraca Esta descripciOn se asemeja al

baile moderno de uprock, en el cual puertorriquefios dentro de Nueva York fueron pioneros.

Uprock significaba aparentar pelear. Uprock significaba una batalla en mimica. Era un combate bailado, una pelea con pasos en vez de puflos. Una secuencia basica era: salta, anda y tira. 0 las manos eran usadas como si fueran una cuchilla dentro de una forma de uprock conocida como -zipping, - vista por una historiadora del breakdancing, Sally Sommer.

Thompson reconoce la contribucion que los puertorriqueflos han hecho al arte urbano [de breakdancing], utilizando su propia bomba y plena. No solo afiadieron un patron de entrada al baile de pasos rapidos, - sino que tambien incluyeron movidas como "headspins, windmills y helicopters" en adicion al "1990" (o sostener el cuerpo en el aire con un solo brazo, dicho movimiento tambien se encuentra en la capoeira). Cabe mencionar tambien que, y esto no nos debe sorprender, el auge del breakdancing en Nueva York en la ultima parte de los atios 70 coincidio con la llegada de los capoeiristas de Brasil Jelon Vieira y Loremil Machado, cuyos nombres se harian sinonimo del capoeira en esta urbe al transcurso de unos anos.

Finalmente, ague hay del cocobale en Puerto Rico? A pesar de conocer muchisimas artes de otros paises, no fue hasta que tuve una serie de conversaciones con Juan Cartagena y Roberto Cepeda que me entere de esta bomba, en el cual los bailadores utilizan palos para desafiarse uno al otro. Segim Emanuel Dufrasne, el cocobale "era una cosa de Palos," y este sugiere que "surge de las areas de Toa Alta, Toa Baja, Dorado y quizas, aunque admite "que es un enigma." Roberto Cepeda tuvo la gentileza de mostrarme brevemente algunos movimientos del cocobale, y por lo que pude ver, los patrones de

9 movimiento, entrada, salida, y ataque se asemejan a los otros artes que utilizan un palo Como nota al calce, y quiz& para instar a los comparieros y comparieras dentro de la bomba, que sigan investigando, me gustaria serialar algo acerca de la bomba yuba -No le de en el Suelo." En una Don Rafael Cepeda canta: -Te da con las patas y una cabeza. - Para aquellos que conocen de las artes marciales africanas, en especial la capoeira, esta es una clave no tan sutil que nos insta a investiga posibles conexiones entre las formas de combate aqui descritas. En capoeira, se utilizan las patadas y golpes con la cabeza exclusivamente ya que en la tradiciOn africana (como esta se ha difundido en Brasil), "las manos son para crear y los pies para destruir."

SOURCES for Valcarcel: Almeida, Bira (aka Mestre Acordeon), "Capoeira — An Afro-Brazilian Art Form;" Capoeira, Nestor "The Little Capoeira Book;" Cepeda, Rafael, recording "El Roble Mayor;" Hill, Errol, "Canboulay: A Ritual Beginning;" Iyi, Kilindi, "African Roots in Asian Martial Arts;" Keelyi, Liam, "Zulu Stick Fighting — Weapons and Training;" Lewis, J. Lowell, "Ring of Liberation;" Lopez Cruz, Francisco, "La Musica Folklorica de Puerto Rico;" Olivova, Vera, "Sports and Games in Ancient World;" Poliakoff, Michael, "Combat Sports in the Ancient World;" Thompson, Robart Farris, "Tough Guys Do Dance," "Flash of the Spirit," "Black Martial Arts of the Caribbean," "Hip Hop 101;" Interviews: Juan Cartagena, Roberto Cepeda, Emanuel Dufrasne (by Juan Cartagena, October 1999).

Giiiro y Maraca "Cocobale" African Martial Arts in Bomba

by Carlos "Tato" Torres

Bomba is one of the oldest musical traditions in Puerto Rico. Its origins extend throughout the entire coastal region of the island. Bomba finds its roots in 16th century African music brought to the Caribbean. It developed out of the African experience within colonial life in Puerto Rico at the end of the 17th century, and remains as the island's maximum expression of its African heritage. It is presently composed of variations of rhythms played on goat-skinned drums, improvised dancing and the call and response singing characteristic of Afro-Caribbean music. Common Afro-Caribbean traditions like the bambule (bambuld, bamboula, bambulue, etc.) and the calinda (calinde, kalinda, etc.) evolved with various rhythms into what is today known as bomba in Puerto Rico, but with similar expressions in all of the Caribbean.

The cocobale was a "now obsolete bomba dance" registered by folklorists Nydia Aleida Rios and Francisco Lopez Cruz. According to Rios, it was performed in the form of a duel: -The weapons, which are the cua, forming a cross in the middle of the dance floor (tablero o soberao) and around these, the contenders dance; the one who advances to take the stick on top, attacks, the other cua serves as defense to the rival." The term cocobale supposedly derives from cuculambe, a word relatively unknown today in Puerto Rico, which was used in the past by non-practitioners to describe, in a negative fashion "any dance of Blacks." Somehow the name eventually became associated only with the ritualized stick fight, or "game" accompanied by drumming. This means that the proper term or name for the tradition, as it was practiced in Puerto Rico, was probably not cocobale. The available descriptions suggest

10 a close relationship to various similar traditions of African origin found throughout the Americas.

Combat or warrior dances like variations of the calinda or kalinda, capoeria and the danza del mani, are a common element within many communities of African descent in the Americas. The terms, kalinda, calinda or calinde, which refer to an old bomba dance, link the Afro-Puerto Rican tradition to other Afro-Caribbean expressions. In Cuba, a "dance of Negroes (baile de negros) in the African style' was known as calinda, varying with the term caringa or calinga. In the past, the Blacks of the Rio de la Plata, Brazil danced the calenda, as well as the Blacks of the French colonies where it was observed by Father Jean-Baptiste Labat at the end of the 17 th century and the beginning of the 18 th with the name of calenda and described as a group dance of erotic nature, which was performed to the beat of drums and chants. Father Labat also talks of how the dance was brought to the Spanish Americas, where the Criollos learned to dance it and that it was commonly danced even in churches and religious processions. Andre-Pierre Ledru observes this type of dance in Puerto Rico in 1798 and documents its name as calenda in his original French text. Today the most common term used in Puerto Rico to refer to this dance of the past is calinda.

According to reports from Father Labat, the term calinda probably derived from a dance from the ancient Dahomeyan Kingdom of Ardrah, in the coast of Guinea. . . .

The kalinda, was a highlight of Caribbean slave festivals, although often viewed ambivalently by Europeans. A name long associated with a Caribbean dance at some point practiced throughout most of the islands, the kalinda or calinda also referred to a ritualized fight, or "game" accompanied by drumming.

Giiiro y Maraca This combat or warrior dance roughly similar to Brazilian capoeira and reminiscent of what in Puerto Rico came to be known as cocobale, performed with sticks and simulating clashes between opposing groups and exclusively practiced by men. The combatants attacked one another with staves of about two and a half feet long

There were massive Afro-Caribbean migrations following the Real Cedula de Gracias of 1815 (Royal Decree of Graces) which provided refuge for colonos (settlers) as well as slaves who escaped persecution in such islands as Martinica, Hispariola (San Domingue) as well as New Orleans. This policy also provided a fifteen-year grace period to bring slaves from other islands and permitted the inhabitants of Puerto Rico to acquire slaves from friendly or neutral colonies. As a result of the agricultural reforms listed in the Real Cedula de Gracias, slave labor was further encouraged to attract new settlers. Under this policy numerous slaves proceeding from French colonies in the Caribbean were brought to the island.

The calinda represents part of the strong Haitian and French-Caribbean influences found in contemporary bomba. These arrived with Haitians brought as slaves from the island of Hispaliola (Haiti / Dominican Republic). The first of these were brought to Puerto Rico after the transfer of the eastern part of the island from Spain to France and the second wave after the Haitian liberation of the colony, especially after the African slaves of this nation (San Domingue) liberated themselves from the French colonial yoke in 1804. Numerous slaves were brought to Puerto Rico by French and Spanish planters who sought refuge in the island. Many of these settled first in New Orleans, later relocating to Puerto Rico. During the 19 th century, black slaves of French Afro-Caribbean culture were brought to Puerto Rico from Louisiana and the Lesser French Antilles by the many colonial settlers (colonos) who were able to settle in the

11 island under the refuge and protection of the Real Cedula de Gracia of 1815.

This dance was probably known throughout Puerto Rico with a diversity of pronunciations and variations. Some of these included the names candungue or candungo, which probably resulted fron the free phonetic transformation of the African term camdombe. According to reports collected by Manuel Alvarez Nazario from "very old Negroes" from the western part of the island, the term candombe was used in the past as a "cry" or chant made when the drums began to sound to indicate the start of the bomba dance (baile de bomba). The term was also used in the past as the blacks of Rio de la Plata and still today in Brazil as candomble, to describe dances and celebrations of African origin, deriving from the African word candombe in the Fon language. There is also a possibility that the term candungue derives, by natural association, from the Congo tern ndunga, which refers to a type of drum.

Combat or warrior dances like variations of the calinda or kalinda, capoeria and the danza del mani, are a common element within many communities of African descent in the Americas.

John Storm Roberts discusses the mid-nineteenth century presence of capoeira de Angola, a Brazilian form of musical martial art, which was practiced by young men, often from Central Africa. Capoeira uses birimbaos `musical bows' (which are percussive string instruments) and drums to set a tempo for the movements of two dancers who combat each other in a highly ritualized and graceful manner.

Giiiro y Maraca

A martial art/dance form known as maculele, existed alongside capoeira in Bahia. In it, two dancers used sticks called grimas as both musical instruments an as weapons against each other. Maculele is a traditional Afro-Brazilian dance developed by enslaved Africans who worked in the sugar cane plantations in Brazil. This dramatic dance is performed with sticks and machetes. A group of men hit two sticks against each other to the beat of the drums, its basic movements imitate the gestures of chopping sugar cane. The dance is performed in a ritual circle called the coda. The wood of the sticks must be hard and shock resistant. Two players at a time dance together in the center of circle, while the other participants keep the rhythm by hitting their sticks or machetes together and taking turns leading the song.

Despite its obviously of African origins, maculae's original characteristics are unknown. All that is known about maculae comes from oral histories. There is no written trace of the way it was originally performed. Small snake, goat or calfskin drums, locally produced were once used for maculae. Today, three atabaques (Brazilian drums) have replaced these drums. The ganza, agogo and sometimes pandeiros, and often a twelve-string guitar also accompany them while the participants sing in a mixture of Portuguese and African. The sustaining instruments are the mete or the xique xique and the grimas (sticks), sometimes replaced by machete. Maculele declined after the Brazilian abolition of slavery in 1888. . . .

The baton and machete-twirling techniques of ra-ra in Haiti (ga-gci in Dominican Republic and Cuba), can also be placed as part of this complex system of musical, social, religious, and military traditions. Ra-ra is a ritual celebration associated with Easter, when ounfos (vodou temples) dispatch bands of musicians and dancers and servitors organized in a quasi-

12 military style to rove the city streets and rural roads. The avant-guard of the ra-ra band includes two or more majo jonks, who perform ritual maneuvers with their jonks (batons) or machetes. Ra-ra bands, each headed by a malt rara, usually the oungan (priest) roam the streets. If they encounter rival groups, a ritualized challenge and competition in song and dance takes place. Tensions can often escalate to a fight, in which the batons and machetes might turn into weapons.

My grandfather, Paco Sciez, as well as other elders of my community of Guayanilla, often speaks of the lost martial art of pelear al palo 'to fight with a stick'. He describes his father's (Don Julio Saez) training lessons as involving not only the use of a stave "beautifully carved out of ausubo" (an extremely hard wood), but also the incorporation of twists, tumbles, flips, and kicks. My grandfather and his brothers all received basic instruction on the art at an early age, but all gave it up and describe it as being "too painful to learn". They mention the fact that despite being small men, his father and uncles had the ability to break up brawls single-handedly. The staves or canes were also symbols of authority.

In the Canary Islands, a martial arts tradition known as juego de palo (game of -palo**), which also uses sticks as weapons is still practiced today. Numerous immigrants from these islands came to settle in Puerto Rico in the past. Although the Canary Islands are provinces of Spain, they are geographically closer to the African continent. We have to investigate this matter further, but an African origin would not be surprising at all.

A similar practice found in the Americas includes the tradition of "knocking and kicking" found in the southern United States. In 1733, a

Giiiro y Maraca notice in the South Carolina Gazette demonstrates one way in which African Americans adapted Kongo/Angolan culture in the Americas under the constraints of slavery. The notice offered a £10 reward for the return of Thomas Butler, a runaway slave who was known in the area as "the famous pushing and dancing Master." . . .

We should keep in mind that the competitive aspects of most of these traditions, as they have been expressed in the Americas, are not limited to the combat dance. The singing is often also a means of competition and also develops into challenges and duels. Singers improvise lyrics to verbally attack and respond to each other.

The common presence of various similar combat or warrior dances of clear African origin throughout all of the Americas suggests that these traditions were probably also common in Puerto Rico. The misnamed tradition of cocobaM, like all other bomba dances, probably expressed distinct forms throughout the island. The "cocobale", according to the available literary and oral descriptions, was probably a Puerto Rican interpretation of this common African, Afro-American and Afro-Caribbean tradition.

"Cocobale": artes marciales africanas en la bomba Por Carlos "Tato" Torres

La bomba es una de las tradiciones musicales Inas antiguas de Puerto Rico. Sus origenes se extienden por todas las regions costeras de la isla y tiene sus raices en la musica africana llevada al Caribe a traves de la esclavitud. Se desarrolla en la experiencia africana dentro de la vida colonial en Puerto Rico a finales del siglo 17, y perdura aun como la maxima expresion de

13 nuestra herencia africana sin excluir elementos indigenas, europeos e inter-caribefios.

Giiiro y Maraca sugieren una cercana relacion con varias tradiciones similares de procedencia africana encontradas a traves de las Americas.

La bomba se compone de una variaciOn de ritmos ejecutados en tambores con cuero de chivo, el baile improvisado, y el canto de llamada y respuesta caracteristico de la miisica afro-caribetia. Tradiciones afro-caribefias comunes como el bambule (bambuld, bambouled, bambulae, etc.) y el calinda (calinde, kalinda, etc.) se desarrollaron con varios otros ritmos en lo que hoy se conoce como la bomba en Puerto Rico, pero con expresiones comunes en todo el Caribe.

El termino kalinda, calinda, o calinde, que se refiere a un baile de bomba antiguo, enlaza la tradicion afro-puertorriquefia a otras expresiones afro-caribenas.

El cocobale era el supuesto nombre de un antiguo baile de bomba registrado por los folkloristas Nydia Aleida Rios y Francisco Lopez Cruz. Segfin Rios, era ejecutado en forma de un duelo: "Las armas, que son los cua, forman una cruz en medio del tablero o soberao y alrededor de las mismas los contendientes bailan; quien avance a tomar el palillo de encima, ataca; el otro cua sirve de defensa al rival." La palabra cocobale supuestamente se deriva de "cucalambe", palabra practicamente desconocida hoy dia en Puerto Rico, que se usaba por personas fuera del circulo de practicantes para describir y despreciar cualquier "baile de negros" (Alvarez Nazario, 1974).

De alguna manera la palabra cocobale ha sido asociada exclusivamente al duelo o juego de palos acompafiado por tambores. Esto sugiere que el verdadero nombre de la tradicion, segiin era practicada en Puerto Rico, probablemente no era "cocobale." Las descripciones disponibles

Bailes de combate o guen -eros como variaciones del calinda o kalinda, el capoeira, y la danza del mani, son un elemento comun dentro de muchas comunidades de descendencia africana en las Americas. El termino kalinda, calinda, o calinde, que se refiere a un baile de bomba antiguo, enlaza la tradiciOn afro-puertorriquefia a otras expresiones afro-caribefias.

En Cuba, el calinda era un "baile de negros" tambien llamado caringa o calinga. En el pasado los negros de Rio de la Plata en Brasil bailaban el calenda, al igual que los negros de las colonias francesas, donde fue observado por el Padre Jean-Baptiste Labat a finales del siglo 17 y el principio del siglo 18. El Padre Labat describio el calinda como un baile erotico, ejecutado al compas de tambores y cantos. Labat tambien hablo de como el baile fue traido a las colonias espanolas, donde los criollos aprendieron a bailarlo y se practicaba comimmente en las iglesias y procesiones religiosas. En el 1798 el mismo baile fue documentado en Puerto Rico por Andre-Pierre Ledru. Hoy dia en Puerto Rico, la palabra mas usada para identificar este antiguo baile es calinda.

Segun el Padre Labat, la palabra calinda proviene del nombre de un baile del rein Dahomeyano de Adrah en la costa de Guinea en Africa.

El calinda fue la gran atraccion en los festivales de esclavos caribefios, aunque los europeos de esos tiempos lo vieron en forma ambivalente. Calinda fue el nombre que desde el principio fue asociado con el baile caribeiio que en algun momento fue practicado por todas las islas. Este baile era tambien una pelea ritualizada o "juego", acompariado por tambores. El calinda era un

14 baile de combate o guerrero parecido al capoeira brasilefro y al baile que se identifico en Puerto Rico como cocobale, ejecutado con palos y simulando combates entre grupos opuestos. Los combatientes se atacaban con palos de alrededor de dos pies y medio.

La otorgacion de la Real Cedula de Gracias en 1815 tuvo como resultado emigraciones afro-cariberias masivas. Esta le proveia refugio tanto a colonos como a esclavos que se escapaban de islas como Martinica, La Espanola y Curacao. Tambien proveia un periodo de 15 afros para traer esclavos de otras islas y le permitia a los habitantes de Puerto Rico traer esclavos de colonias espanolas o neutrales. Como resultado de las reformas agricolas de la Real Cedula de Gracias se promovio aun mas el uso de esclavos para atraer nuevos colonos. Durante este tiempo, numerosos esclavos de las colonias francesas en el Caribe fueron traidos a Puerto Rico.

El calinda representa parte de las fuertes influencias haitianas y afro-cariberias que se encuentran en la bomba contemporanea. Estas llegaron con haitianos traidos de la isla de La Espariola (Haiti / Republica Dominicana). Los primeros llegaron a Puerto Rico luego que Espana cediera la parte este de La Espanola (Republica Dominicana) a Francia y la segunda ola llego luego de que los esclavos africanos de esta nacion se liberaran del yugo colonial frances en el 1804.

Durante el siglo 19, esclavos negros de una cultura franco-afro-caribena fueron traidos a Puerto Rico desde Louisiana y las Antillas Menores por colonos, quienes se refugiaron en la isla bajo la Real Cedula de Gracias. Los agricultores franceses y esparioles quienes se refugiaron en la isla trajeron muchisimos esclavos a Puerto Rico. Muchos de estos se establecieron primero en Nueva Orleans y luego se trasladaron a Puerto Rico.

Giiiro y Maraca

El nombre "calinda" probablemente se conocio en Puerto Rico con una diversidad de pronunciaciones y variaciones. Algunas de estas incluyen los terminos "candungue" o "candungo", los cuales probablemente fueron resultado de la transformacion fonetica del termino africano "candombe" en el idioma Fon. Tambien existe la posibilidad de que "candungue" se derive de la palabra congo "ndunga" la cual se refiere a un tipo de tambor. Segiin testimonios de "negros muy viejos" recopilados por Alvarez Nazario, en la parte oeste de la isla el termino "candombe" se uso en el pasado como un grito o canto emitido cuando los tambores repicaban para indicar el comienzo del baile de bomba. La palabra tambien se uso en el pasado por los negros de Rio de la Plata y todavia hoy en el Brasil se usa como "candomble" para describir bailes y celebraciones de origen africano derivados de la palabra africana "candombe".

John Storm Roberts habla de la presencia a mitad del siglo 19 de el capoeira de Angola, una forma musical de artes marciales la cual era practicada por hombres jovenes, usualmente del Africa Central. En el capoeira se usa el birimbao, un arco musical, y los tambores, para mantener un compas sobre el cual ejecutan sus movimientos los bailadores, quienes combaten entre si de una manera altamente ritualizada.

Ademas de el capoeira, existia en Bahia un tipo de arte marcial / baile conocido como maculele. En el, dos bailadores usaban palos llamados grimas como armas y a la vez como instrumentos musicales. Maculele es un baile tradicional afro-brasilerio que desarrollaron los esclavos africanos que trabajaban en las plantaciones de calla en Brasil. Este dramatic° baile se realiza con palos o machetes. Un grupo de hombres golpea dos palos, uno contra otro, al compas de los tambores. Los movimientos basicos imitan el

15 corte de caria. Este baile se lleva a cabo en un circulo ritual llamado "roda" (pronunciado "joda"). Dos combatientes bailan en el centro del circulo mientras que los otros mantienen el ritmo de la musica con sus palos o machetes y tomando turnos para cantar.

A pesar de sus obvios origenes africanos, las caracteristicas originales del maculele no se conocen con certeza. Todo lo que se conoce del maculele proviene de historias orales. Anteriormente se usaban unos pequenos tambores cubiertos con cuero de serpiente, chivo o ternera, los cuales eran producidos localmente. Hoy, tres atabaques han reemplando estos tambores. La ganza, el agogo, pandeiros, y, algunas veces, una guitarra de doce cuerdas, acompanan a los participantes quienes cantan en una mezcla de portugues e idiomas africanos. La practica del maculele disminuyo mucho despues de la abolicion de la esclavitud en 1888. . . .

Las tecnicas de manipular la batuta y el machete en el ra-ra haitiano (ga-ga en Republica Dominicana y Cuba) tambien se pueden incluir como parte de este complejo sistema de tradiciones musicales, sociales, religiosas y militares. El ra-ra es una celebracion o ritual asociada con la cuaresma, cuando los ounfos (templos de vodou) despachan grupos de musicos y bailadores organizados en un estilo cuasi-militar para recorrer las calles y los caminos rurales. La vanguardia del grupo de ra-ra incluye dos o mas majo jonks, quienes ejecutan maniobras rituales con sus jonks (batutas) o machetes. Las bandas de ra-ra estan encabazada por un mait ra-ra, quien usualmente es el oungan (sacerdote). Estas recorren las calles y si se encuentran con un grupo rival, llevan a cabo una competencia ritualizada de canto y baile. Estos encuentros pueden tornarse

Gifiro y Maraca violentos. En estos casos, las batutas y los machetes pueden convertirse en armas.

Mi abuelo, Paco Saez, al igual que otros mayores de mi comunidad de Guayanilla, Puerto Rico, hablan mucho de la ya perdida tradicion de "pelear al palo". Mi abuelo cuenta como su padre, Don Julio Saez, practicaba el arte utilizando un bast& elaboradamente tallado de ausubo, una madera muy dura a la cual "el machete no le entra". Este arte tambien incluia saltos, maromas y patadas. Mi abuelo y sus hermanos todos recibieron instrucciOn basica desde una temprana edad, pero todos desistieron describiendolo como "muy duro para aprender". Mencionan el hecho de que a pesar de ser hombres de pequeria estatura, su padre y sus tios tertian la habilidad de meterse en medio de una violenta pelea y pararla por si solos con el arte de pelear al palo. Los bastones tambien servian como simbolos de autoridad.

En la Islas Canarias se practica una tradicion de artes marciales conocida como el juego de palo, en la cual se utilizan palos como arenas. Numerosos emigrantes de estas islas se establecieron en Puerto Rico en siglos pasados. Aunque las Islas Canarias son provincias de Esparia, estan geograficamente mucho mas cercanas al continente africano. Esto se tiene que investigar mas a fondo, pero un origen africano no seria sorprendente.

Una practica similar de estos bailes de combate en las Americas incluye la tradicion conocida como "knocking and kicking" (tumbar y patear) que se encuentra en el sur de los Estados Unidos. En el 1733, un anuncio en el South Carolina Gazette demuestra una manera en la cual los afroamericanos adaptaron la cultura Congo /Angola en los Estados Unidos. El anuncio ofrecia una recompensa de 10 libras por la devolucion de Thomas Butler, un esclavo cimarron quien era conocido en el area como el

16 "famous pushing and dancing master" (famoso maestro del baile y los empujones).

Debemos mantener en mente que los aspectos competitivos de la mayoria de estas tradiciones como se han expresado en las Americas no se limitan al combate del baile. El canto tambien es un medio de competencia y toma forma de retos y duelos. Los cantantes improvisan letras para atacarse y responderse verbalmente uno a otro.

La presencia comun de varios bailes de combate similares de claro origen africano a traves de las Americas sugiere que estas tradiciones eran tambien comunes en Puerto Rico. El llamado "cocobale", como todos los demas bailes de bomba, probablemente tomo una variedad de formas a traves de la isla. El "cocobale", segun la literatura disponible y las descripciones orales, probablemente fue una interpretacion puertorriquefia de esta tradicion africana, afroamericana y afro-caribefia.

Sources for Torres: Alvarez Nazario, Manuel, El Elemento Afronegroide en el Espanol de Puerto Rico (1974); Labat, Jean-Baptiste, Memoires des Noveaux Voyagesfaits aux Isles Francois de las Ameriques, La Haye, 1734; Ledru, Andre-Pierre, Viaje A La Isla de Puerto Rico En El Afio De 1797, traducido por Julio L. Vizcarrondo, (1863); Lopez Cruz, Francisco, La Musica Folklorica de Puerto Rico, (1967); Rios, Nydia Aleida, "La Bomba y su EvoluciOn en Puerto Rico," (Transcript on file with author).

Giiiro y Maraca

PROFILES FROM RINCON CRIOLLO:

JOSE RIVERA.

"WE USED PLENA TO SAVE LA CASITA."

This is our third installment of the profiles of the people who have been instrumental to maintaining RincOn Criollo as a mecca of bomba & plena music in the Bronx. Jose Rivera, an excellent percussionist and teacher, is well known to many who know our music. He served as President of the Centro Cultural Rine& Criollo throughout a critical time in its development. A frequent member of the LOS PLENEROS DE LA 21 ensemble, Jose heads up his own group, AMIGOS DE LA PLENA that has captured the imagination of many music fans in the New York area. We recently caught up with Jose in his workshop adjacent to the offices of Aurora Communications in El Barrio and learned quite a bit of his background and his dedication to the institution called Rincon Criollo. Jose is a master at code-switching between English and Spanish. We've decided to leave it like he gave it.

Presentamos el tercer de los perfiles de las personas claves en el mantenimiento del Rincon Criollo como el centro de la bomba y la plena en el Bronx. Esta vez nos enfocamos en el Sr. Jose Rivera, conocido percusionista que ha sido un miembro regular del grupo LOS PLENEROS DE LA 21 y que tambien tiene su propia agrupacion de pleneros, merecedores de la apreciacion del public°, los AMIGOS DE LA PLENA. Por un period() delicado Jose sirvio como Presidente del Rincon Criollo y llego ha profundizar el labor de la casita y dejar a

17 conocer y documentar el tesoro que es. Jose es producto de la nacion puertorriquena y por lo tanto se faja en ingles, espanol o ambos; aqui decidimos mantener sus comentarios como el lo presento.

Jose Rivera: Yo naci en Puerto Rico en la parada 26 y media, barrio Tokio. We lived across from el Puente Martin Pena. We all lived on one side of the river but the government forced us to live on the other side because there was a dispute with Hato Rey. That town was called la 26 y media, la barriada Tokio. There all kinds of people there, you had bootleggers who had their stills there. I was born there. My mother's father came from a Spaniard family, Don Goyo a Puerto Rican — Espailol. My father era mas negro, de la costa. Mi mama se llama Paula Castro, y su papa era Goyo Castro, ellos vendian came y eran matarifes. Mi papa es Ramon rhin .Rivera, era pescador.

Yo vivi siempre en el Bronx. Casi toda mi vida en el Bronx. Mucha gente me conocen del Barrio porque siempre estoy aqui en El Barrio metio. Mi trademark fue hecho en El Barrio.

The music didn't start for me until I was 9 years, 8 years old. It was in the curriculum in the school I went to. They taught us how to make drums, our own conguitas. That school was IS 38. One of the teachers played a lot of Haitian music, a lot of palos and 6/8's and that's the way I began to play. His was named Baba Femi. A lot of top musicians were taught by Baba Femi, he was one of the first Haitian drummers to come to the schools. And he taught us black kids and Puerto Rican kids. The Bronx has a lot to offer.

Later on I start playing. At that time I really liked Ray Barretto but I also liked the Monkeys and jazz and rock. My mother gets me a drum set and I start playing the Beatles. After

Giiiro y Maraca that I went to Morris High School and started with modern jazz. Since I didn't do too good in other classes they gave me 8 periods of music in a music mini-school. And we did jazz, with Mr. Brown, Miss Katz, Dennis Lane. They were pretty good teachers. I was playing different stuff, started with saxophone, alto sax. Began first with clarinet. And there were other players that were better than me. Then I began with percussion, congas, learning my own drums.

My brother, Papo Chin, started coming frequently from Puerto Rico to visit my mother. Papo was a conguero and he would bring drums, he played with a lot of local groups here in NY and they would take him to Las Villas.

So my mother decides to send me back to Puerto Rico when I was 10 or 11, so that I can learn some of my culture. I went for a long vacation, several months. Went to live back in the puentes, with my father. My father was a known plenero, and fisherman. And he would always give to the people; when he went fishing everyone was waiting for him, everybody knew it. El bajaba de la 22 a la bahia de San Juan, por alli adentro, and when they came back they came right through the laguna. Y era alambiquero tambien. He had a still, el tenia dos o tres con sus compadres. So by traveling back and forth I get to stay with my dad. He started teaching me pandereta, my brother started teaching me more.

I came back to the Bronx to start school again, to go to Morris. I start doing bad again, started with the gangs again. But my mother still had the store so I started doing less with the gangs and more with the store. My mother wouldn't let me hang that much. I though I was all that, but I really wasn't. So she sends me back to PR. By that time I dropped out

I was reading music then. Then I got into this Ray Barretto thing. I played a lot of

18 local stuff Even played with my teacher, Dennis Lane. I played in El Viejo Santurce, played with Vitin Aviles, with Sonido Cha. I was playing conga y bongo. I played with los hermanos Cha, with La Sonida Siete. We would play congas and bongos with these groups and they would check us out. Eddie Montalvo would be one of these guys. We would play in the Bronx Casino, the Cerromar Casino. Once I hit 17 years old I was playing these clubs with groups like Los Hermanos de Santurce. Even with Ernie Agusto y La Conspiracion. I wound up coming back to El Barrio and playing with Pepe Castillo a couple of times.

Once I came back from Puerto Rico after learning the pandereta I was really into it. We started checking out Gene Golden. There was a botanica with a Cuban guy named Mambo and in the back, Totico, the rumbero would come and we would play for a long time right there on Westchester Ave. and 156 th . As Puerto Rican drummers we went through a Cuban cycle of music, of rumba.

Then I went off to the military, at age 17. In Germany I formed a plena group, se &Imo Latinos Unidos. We developed a theatrical thing, playing in the USO and in different places. We had a lot of Puerto Rican guys in the group. You see I was a Military Policeman, and so I got to a lot of places and met the top Puerto Ricans and others in different places. I took a test and scored 110 and they didn't have Puerto Ricans in the whole Military Police so they gave me the position after they doctored my papers to show that I was 5 foot 7 when I was really 5 foot 4 without my boots (laughs). For the Latinos Unidos, I had panderetas sent from Puerto Rico. I came back to New York and started playing with the big boys. I played with Atlantic Records, Luther Vandross was out at that time. There were 2 Puerto Rican guys with that company, me and Rafy De Jesus, who played with the European guys like, Duran Duran and

Guiro y Maraca people like that. I started playing with a band called Kleer and we did -Keep Your Body Working" and "License to Dream." I started playing with local groups again. I got a chance to play with Pete El Conde, with Orquesta Broadway.

Then I got involved with Rincon Criollo. Back then we played in Chema's club, in the basement of the place across the street from the RincOn. We started the RincOn with just one little bench that went from one tree to another. From there we would watch the club, there was nothing around, just abandoned lots. In 1983 we had La Casita established. They had a small Batey Borincano. Freddy Perez starts to come around and having those big Bronx Festivals which gave us a lot of play too, to play plena. And Chema would make drums and show us. And Marcial Reyes Arvelo would come by too, from the Fania days.

So Pepe Castillo and I start going around to the schools — this is before Los Pleneros. I did demonstrations but most of the time it was performances. I would explain the pandereta. In 83 I meet Juan Gutierrez at a party at Rincon Criollo. He had this idea of forming Los Pleneros de la 21. Juan had also played with Pepe, along with Edgardo Miranda and Donald Nicks. All of us were in Pepe's group. Juan and Tito Cepeda were taking classes with Marcial down in El Barrio. They were from there and we were from the Bronx. So Juan started the group, I kept playing with Pepe. Heny Alvarez's group breaks up and those musicians, like Paco Rivera, los hermanos BobO, Eugenia Ramos todos deciden formar parte de Los Pleneros because there was a problem with Heny Alvarez, I don't know what it was. So now you have Los Pleneros de la 21 and Pepe Castillo y La Estampa Criolla. And this is where the musicians of this music from the Bronx and El Barrio began to meet. And you had pleneros there who knew Emilio Escobar, like Pablo

19 Gallito Ortiz. And they happened to all know each other. Add Victor Montanez with his Pleneros de la 110. And you had the players that were part of Los Hermanos de Loiza Aldea. And you know that the drums of that group, the drums of Carmelo Acosta, were the drums used by all the folkloric groups at that time. I would even say that the bomba drums that he brought from PR to El Barrio were the first ones. Nobody had drums.

In 84 and 85 I was still with Pepe but started doing local gigs with Los Pleneros. I became one of the youngest Pleneros. Half of Pepe's band goes to Los Pleneros and me too. In 86 or 87 I stayed steady with the group. Los Pleneros went on to record like two cassettes and 3 CDs. And I was on them. Union Boricua also is around at the time and I record on their album but my name never comes out on it. That happened to me again, like in Pepe's new album now I am the soloist with Papo Pepin, I'm playing the bomba drums, but I'm not mentioned. I did another CD with Yomo Toro for a film. And I'm coming out in another CD led by Jose Mangual, Jr. where I'm the soloist with Papo Pepin.

But La Casita at Rincon Criollo played a major role in this music. It was on the verge of being taken down by development when I first started there. I was the President for 4 years, first was Johnny Colon. When the club across the street burned our hangout became the corner of 158th and Brook Avenue. Naturally we had a lot of plenas there. And every time the inspectors would come and close our yard down. We decide to take on Johnny ColOn and he would go as a minister from the church and claim that it was a cultural garden, not a plena place yet. And he went back to the City to open the house, Batey Borincano, again. Then the City would come back and lock it, and we would open it. And so on. Then we finally joined Green Thumb. When the other buildings around

Giiiro y Maraca us started coming down we would take the bricks and start building other little things at Rincon Criollo. And again the City would close it down and again we would open it. So I said, we need to do something here. So we made an organization. We documented the house with the documentary "Plena is Work, Plena is Song." I was doing documentaries at that time with Susan Sig. And that's how we started filming it.

At the time the structure of what is now La Casita was not up, only a smaller version. Later on we made it 12 by 12, maybe we weren't supposed to, but we did. We named it Centro Cultural Rine& Criollo with a focus on the music. So we aimed the plena so that we could hold on to Rincon Criollo. And we let the people from Green Thumb know, hey we're folk artists, we come from Puerto Rico and we're entitled to keep this. And it was true. After we joined Green Thumb more people came to see our gardens. Then everyone gets into gardens. So La Casita changed into a folkloric Puerto Rico scene, the gardens. Then the politicians started coming by.

So you see we used plena to save La Casita. And we started throwing parties to focus on this like SalvaciOn Casita, which was written up by Juan Flores in his book. So Rincon Criollo develops. And Freddy Perez hooks up with the City Council and they start bringing major people from Puerto Rico, Bizcocho, Iris Chacon, Tommy Olivencia and all the big bands would come to the big festivals that Freddy Perez would give on 156 th and naturally, the pleneros would be with him because we were the closest neighborhood organization to this. So all the artists would get dressed at Rincon Criollo, by that time people had seen it in films in Puerto Rico. It was considered the main place.

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20 And in the 4 years that I was President we get to document Rincon Criollo again, this time with the Smithsonian Museum; because the casitas were getting in trouble because there were too many. People were saying they were shacks where the homeless could sleep. And it was a lie because we created La Casita because of la plena. La plena saved La Casita. We knew the neighborhood and would go to all the businesses in something we started called La Mula, to let them know we weren't going anywhere. As more people learned of us, the Parks Department builds a park right across the street from us. And we were happy go lucky. When they looked around they learned that we were the ones maintaining the culture — the men and women from Rincem Criollo.

With the Smithsonian, with the help of City Lore with Roberta Singer, we built a casita in D.C. And from there we took it back to New York. This is what we did in Puerto Rico —when the people came to take us off the land we would push the walls and take it down to build it up somewhere else. We took that casita from the Smithsonian to the middle of Central Park as part of the Somos Boricua Festival. After this we take her to Philadelphia. Finally we gave it Chocolate, to a building he has on Prospect and Wales Avenue and Jackson that's the original casita that was at the Smithsonian.

With this we were able to document La Casita in film. And that's how we saved it.

Giiiro y Maraca REVIEWS

Esta To' Habla'o GRUPO COHITRE D'EL YUNQUE

Miguel Angel Carrillo Para Grupo Cohitre D'El Yunque 787.721.4048

This recording has a natural, down-home feel to it. All but one of the tunes consist of percussion and guitars and all of the singing projects a house

party amid the plenas. The tune El Canario interpreted by Ramon Carrillo Suarez, is a plena that has a tight interplay between the cuatro and the lead voice, along with a nice, neat cuatro solo. But this tune, along with others like Carmelina, Con Titi, Camelia and Triguelia are classic plenas that really swing, the last two penned by Angel Luis Torruellas. The bottom line here is that there aren't many bland pieces on Esta To'Habla'o. Listen to the coro in the plena, Pancho y Gervasia, recorded over 40 years ago by its composer German Rosario: Condena'o Toma La Llave, Que A Mi Lo Mismo Me Da, Condena'o Toma La Llave, Que Yo Contigo No Vivo Mas! Want more? Then check out the Antonio Lugo's masterful guiro on Camelia, the repiques on the bomba drum by Miguel Angel Carrillo on the bomba Teresa Calinda, the excellent cuatro work by 19 year old Christian Nieves on the plena Dr. Williams and you'll agree that GRUPO COHITRE D'EL YUNQUE has mastered the tipico feel in this their first recording. Miguel Angel Carrillo, the leader of this group, remarks that this project is the first one in twenty years to record traditional, folkloric plena in the style of Don Rafael Cepeda. Now his task is to get it sold. We say buy it.

21 Giiiro y Maraca

Hay algo tipico, callejero en esta production. Algo que viene del balcon, natural y refrescante en medio de este ambiente moderno del nuevo siglo. Aqui todos los nameros menos uno, tiene sencillamente percusion, canto, y tal vez, cuerdas. Por ejemplo, El Canario, interpretado por Ramon Carrillo Suarez, es un plena que goza del reto dinamico entre el cuatro y don Ramon. Esta, igual que Carmelina, Con Titi, Camelia y Triguefia representan la plena dorada de la isla — la que nunca muere — y dos de estos son de la libreta del gran Angel Luis Torruellas. Al fin y al cabo ha hay plenas mongas en esta grabacion. Figensen en el coro de Pancho y Gervasia, grabada Inas de 40 allos atras por el compositor German Rosario: Condena'o Toma La Llave, Que A Mi Lo Mismo Me Da, Condena'o Toma La Llave, Que Yo Contigo No Vivo Mas! Quieren Inas? Pues, figensen en la ejecucion excelente del guiro de Antonio Lugo en Camelia, los repiques del subidor de Miguel Angel Carrillo en Teresa Canna y el talent() en el cuatro del senor de 19 arlos, Christian Nieves en la plena Dr. Williams. Miguel Angel Carrillo, el lider GRUPO COHITRE D'EL YUNQUE nos comenta que este proyecto es el primero en 20 de "un trabajo de plena en forma tradicional." Ahora le toca venderlo. Pues, basquenlo.

Also includes: Esti To' Habla'o (plena); El Presentimiento (plena); A Santiago Apostol (titled "bomba rule" from Loiza); El Yace• (plena); and El Leon (a plena with a full horn section, lust to show people that I can do this, too" says Miguel Angel).

Sonaron Los Panderos GRUPO ESENCIA PUERTORRIQUESA Producciones Alfonso Sanabria 787.738.9303

The two-trombone standard in the modern-day Puerto Rican plena takes hold of this recording product by

GRUPO ESENCIA PUERTORRIQUERA. On this recording that formula works well in the plena Mariana, helped along with a tight coro, and sometimes it's predictable as in the title tune Sonaron Los Panderos. The few other standouts on this project, few that is, because the entire recording offers us only seven tunes, are Homenaje a Mon Rivera a solid medley of tunes honoring one ofplena's immortal voices and the very danceable, plena, La Murieca. Add to this the bomba sica, El Baile de Bomba Empezo, which has the unlikely pairing of a guiro to the bomba rhythms and that sums up this effort. Also includes: Ismael, Cortijo y Cepeda (plena with bomba sica bridges); and La Ola (bomba sica).

Son del Almendro

RUTA TROPICAL

Productor Ejecutivo: Carlos Rivera P.O. Box 1123, Luquillo, PR 00773

In our constant search for the

best in bomba & plena recording we came

22 across this project by RUTA TROPICAL dated in 1999 but only recently made available in places like Casa Latina, the famous, historic record shop in El Barrio, NY. We weren't able to confirm the release date but after hearing the CD we couldn't help but bring it to your attention. There is a love of the island's natural beauty, its environment, that shines through in a number of tunes on this recording. Semilla del Africa, a bomba yuba / sica traces the history of the coffee bean and its development in Puerto Rico with an excellent conga lead by the virtuoso, Anthony Carrillo. Tinglar is framed in the oriza rhythm made famous by Rafael Cortijo. It's a wonderful dedication to the preservation efforts of environmentalists in Puerto Rico to save a species of tortoise by the same name. The tinglar is the symbol / mascot of the brave men and women of the Cayo La Yayi encampment in Vieques who have battled the U.S. Navy for decades. La Buruquena speaks to nature's way of repaying the persistence of a fishermen who patiently goes crabbing along the sea's edge. Performed as a bomba sica it has nice flute work and another conga lesson by Anthony Carrillo with a baba bridge to boot. El Mensaje is the crown, however. A plena ambiental (environmental plena) with sica interludes, the song speaks to the duty we all have to correct the erosion of our land, to correctly dispose of our waste and to re-learn the lessons of nature. Quite simply El Mensaje is a great message. Other notables are El Perro Navegante a catchy, danceable plena with a solid lead vocal by Jose Cabrera and an enjoyable coro; Yubakere a bomba yubd that really rocks with a lasting melody and vocals by Kike Febres that elicits comparisons to the late Frankie Rodriguez style on rumba; and Oriza, a straight-up oriza which is always a pleasure. Son Del Almendro is pleasure and a testament to the skills of band leader, singer and composer Carlos Rivera.

La busqueda de grabaciones de bomba y plena

Giiiro y Maraca en el exterior no es nada facil. Y eso que tenemos acceso a los negocios de la gran urbe nuevayorkina. Asi mismo encontramos en Casa Latina en El Barrio esta grabaciOn con fecha de 1999 pero que acaba de llegar recientemente. Le pedimos disculpas si es que se nos paso el tren — pero esta grabacion tiene algo para ofrecer al public° — musica buena y temas ambientales que muestran el amor a la tierra y el mar que tiene el Sr. Carlos Rivera, compositor de todos los nameros. Semilla de Africa, una bomba yubd / sica nos habla del trasfondo del café, Tinglar en estilo oriza, nos habla de la lucha para preservar esta tortuga hermosa e importante en el sistema ecologic° de Vieques. Tambien ofrecen La Buruquena, con las manos calientes de Anthony Carrillo en las congas en ritmo sica y bata. Y lo mejor to dejaron para to ultimo, la plena ambiental, El Mensaje que nos advierte del peligro que existe cuando nos olvidamos de la delicadeza de nuestro ambiente. Son Del Almendro es un trabajo solid°. Agarrenlo.

Also includes: Borinquen (plena); Calypso Con Plena (plena); and Playa Azul (salsa).

GRUPOS DE BOMBA y PLENA z,Tienes un grupo de Bomba y Plena? Dejanos saber para incluirlos en esta seccion. Despues de recibir comentarios y sugerencias a menudo, vamos a tratar de documentar nuestros colegas en la Isla. El attic° criterio es que cada grupo tiene la capacidad y la disponibilidad de hacer presentaciones musicales de bomba y / o plena, en vivo. Ya saben que estamos disponibles a aliadir grupos tan pronto ustedes nos llaman. Aqui estan, en orden alfabetico: If you know of a Bomba and Plena group let us know. We'll include them in our next issue. We welcome GRUPO FOLCLOR VIENTO that plays in the Philadelphia area to the list as well as LOS PLENEROS DE LA SA LUD from

Los Criollos de la Plena, Bronx, NY, Julio Colon, 718.328.9231

Giiiro y Maraca

AfriCaribe, Tito Rodriquez, Chicago, IL, 773.879.2123

Amigos de la Plena, NYC, Jose y Ramon Rivera c/o Aurora Communications, 212.410.2999

Jorge Arce y Humano, Jamaica Plains, MA, Jorge Arce, 617.524.6338

Arena de Playa, Bronx, NY, Miguel Sierra, 718.590.9328, puntambele@aol.com

Ballet Folclorico de Bomba y Plena Lanz6, Orlando, FL, Miguel Lanzo, 407.855.0732

Ballet Folklorico Boriken, San Antonio, TX, Olga Custodio, 26 Granburg Circle, San Antonio, TX 78218, Boriken98@aol.com

Ballet Folklorico de Celia Ayala, Boston, MA, Celia Ayala, 89 Shirley St.#3, Boston, MA 02119

Ballet Folklorico Hermanos Ayala, Loiza, PR, Marcos Ayala, 787.758.2222

Bombazo de Puerto Rico, Jose Emmanuelli, 787.795.9774

Los Bomberos de Brooklyn, Brooklyn, NY, Awilda Sterling & Hal Barton, 718.488.1163

Bomplenea, PR Gary Vera, 787.792.3552

BorinPlena, Miami, FL, Efrain Torres, 786.489.4212

Modesto Cepeda y Cimiento de Puerto Rico, Santurce, PR, Modesto Cepeda, 787.728.1096

Cultura con Clase, Brooklyn, NY, Angelica Jimenez, 718.443.8689

Folklorico Bohio (F.L.E.C.H.A.S.), New Haven, CT, Menen Osorio, 203.562.4488

Golpe de Plena, PR Harry Sebastian, 787.728.4283

Grupo Cohitre D'El Yunque, San Juan, PR, Miguel Angel Carrillo, 787.721.4048

Grupo Folcor Viento, Philadelphia, PA, Jose Catala c/o Liz Gonzalez, 856.963.4994, negrita729@aol.com

Grupo Yuba, Chicago, IL, Eli Samuel Rodriguez, c/o Centro Cultural Ruiz Belvis, 773.235.3988

Guateque, Ballet Folklorico de Puerto Rico, Corozal, PR, Joaquin Nieves Calderon, 787.859.8601

Los Hermanos Cepeda, Carolina, PR, Jesus Cepeda, 787.757.1672

Los Instantaneos de la Plena del Rincon Criollo, Bronx, NY, Norma Cruz, 288 East 151st Street, #1, Bronx, NY, 10451

Milagro Bailadores, Portland, OR, Rebecca Martinez, 503.236.7253, wvvw.milagro_org

Orgullo Boricua, San Diego, CA, Viny Torres, 619.697.8496

Orgullo Taino, Queens, NY, Gladys Rodriguez, 718.521.0051 Plena Dulce, Newark, NJ, Lillian Garcia, 973.645.2690

23 Springfield, Massachusetts and we welcome the new group that Tito Rodriguez leads in Chicago, AFRICARIBE. And of course we welcome our colleagues from Puerto Rico.

24

Plenealo, Aibonito, PR, Ivan Rivera, 787.735.3322

Los Pleneros de la 21, NYC, Juan Gutierrez, 212.427.5221

Los Pleneros de la 24, San Francisco, CA, Hector Lugo, 510.594.4335

Los Pleneros del Batey, Philadelphia, PA, Joaquin Rivera, 215.456.3014, ext. 42

Los Pleneros del Coco, Worcester, MA, Miguel Almestica, 508.792.5417

Los Pleneros del Quinto Sono, NYC, Enrique Diaz, 212.260.5879

Los Pleneros de la Salud, Springfield, MA, Luis Melendez, 413.584.8125

Proyecto La Plena, Minneapolis, MN, Ricardo GOmez, 612.728.0567

Puerto Rican Folkloric Dance, Austin, TX, Ana Maria Maynard, 512.251.8122, web site: www.prfdance.org

Los Relimpagos de la Plena, PR Gerardo Ferrao, 787.767.1454

Segunda Quimbamba, Jersey City, NJ, Juan Cartagena, 201.420.6332, temporary web site: www. ricopositive. com

Son de Plena, Trenton, NJ, Luis Ortiz, 609.584.1644

TamBoricua, Atlanta, GA, Benjamin Tones, 404.609.9942, web site: www.elporro.com/Tamboricua.htm

Viento de Agua, NYC, Hector "Tito" Matos, 646.373.6533, viento_de_agua@hotmail.com

Yerbabuena, NYC, Carlos Torres, TatoBrujo@aol.com

Yoruba 2, Warwick, RI, Lydia Perez, 401.737.0751

Gifiro y Maraca is dedicated to the preservation of Bomba & Plena music from Puerto Rico. It is issued four times per year and is a publication of the Segunda Quimbamba Folkloric Center, Inc., 279 Second Street, Jersey City, NJ 07302, Tel. 201.420.6332. Email Juan Cartagena at: quimbambero@hotmail.com . Subscription is $15 per year. GUiro y Maraca se dedica a la preservacion de la musica de Bomba y Plena de Puerto Rico. Se publica cuatro veces al atio por el Centro Folclorico Segunda Quimbamba. La subscripcion es $15 por

Juan Cartagena, Editor, Writer Rafael Torres, Design & Layout All photos: Rafael Torres

1111.1.91 1111111111111

Giiiro y Maraca Taller — Conjunto Paracumbe, PR Emanuel Dufrasne, 787.762.2464 Plena Libre, San Juan, PR, Gary Nunez,

787.763.4729