What Is Bomba y Plena?

[Ecuajey]

Bomba y Plena

[TatoBrujo]

Bomba is one thing and Plena is another. Somehow they always find themselves lumped together when there is absolutely no practical reason for this. It is no different than saying "Salsa y Bolero". Below I will focus on the Bomba and later I will post something on Plena.

The following are excerps from a work-in-progress titled:
¡Cuando la bomba ñama...! © 2001
(When the Bomba Calls...!)
Religious Elements of Afro-Puerto Rican Music
by Carlos "Tato" Torres

African culture not only crossed the Atlantic, it crossed, survived, and creatively adapted itself to its new environment. Caribbean culture was therefore not "pure" African, but an adaptation carried out mainly in terms of African tradition. This we can determine by looking at what anthropologists have called its culture-focus… And everyone agrees that the focus of African culture in the Caribbean was religious.
-Edward Kamau Brathwaite

African music was one of the strongest cultural elements preserved by people of African descent in the Americas. Rhythm, syncopation, repetition, percussion and the oral narration of historical and everyday experiences are all part of this tradition. In Puerto Rico, this legacy has produced the cultural expressions which have collectively come to be known as bomba.

Manuel Alvarez Nazario in his book, “El Elemento afronegroide en el español de Puerto Rico” (The African Element in the Spanish of Puerto Rico) defined the term bomba as follows:

bomba f.: Afro-Puerto Rican musical composition, sung and danced accompanied by the beat of the bomba drum.

bomba f.: wooden drum, of approximately two to three feet high, with a single membrane.

bomba f.: name which classifies generically, types of dance of African or Afro-Antillean origin - Bomba dances (bailes de bomba o de bombas) - that are accompanied by the beat of the drum called bomba and of the particular songs of the same name.

Bomba is one of the oldest musical traditions in Puerto Rico. It is a form of cultural expression developed from African music, which first appeared in the Caribbean at the end of the 17th century. It encompasses song, music and dance. It’s origins in Puerto Rico extend throughout the entire island, but primarily concentrated within, but not limited to, the areas of Mayagüez, Ponce, Guayama, Loiza and Santurce. Bomba has its roots in African culture brought to the Caribbean predominantly through slave trade and migration. The tradition in Puerto Rico developed from a series of “drum dances” performed since early colonial times by the slaves who inhabited the large sugar, tobacco and coffee plantations. It developed out of the African experience within colonial life in Puerto Rico, and remains as the island’s maximum expression of our African heritage without excluding indigenous (Taino/Carib), European and inter-Caribbean elements.

Modern bomba is generally interpreted by a cantador/cantaor (male singer) or cantadora/cantaora (female singer), who sings the lyrics of the song and an accompanying chorus over the beat of the drums in the typical Afro-Caribbean call-and-response manner. It is presently composed of variations of specific rhythms played on goat-skinned barrel-drums, improvised dancing, expected "active" audience participation and the call-and-response nasal singing style characteristic of Afro-Caribbean music. The element of dance in bomba is just as important as the singing and the music. Dancers improvise steps to converse with drummers, a unique element actually common throughout the rest of the Caribbean. A dynamic dialogue brings all of these elements together to create Puerto Rican bomba.

Development of Bomba

From their arrival in Puerto Rico, Africans began to leave a lasting imprint of their music and their culture in Puerto Rican society. In 1788, Fray Abbad Lasierra comments on Puerto Rican blacks: “They are very inclined to dancing and music...” bomba was one of the terms used to describe and identify some of their musical expressions. During the times of slavery, it served as an important means of communication and interaction within slave communities and later among their descendants. Bomba gatherings have always been important rites of intensification, bringing groups together to celebrate, define and reinforce their collective ties and identity. Through bomba they transmitted their oral histories and customs, cemented social bonds and passed down their traditions to the new generations. To the beat of the drums, the slaves relieved their anger, humiliation and frustration related to their conditions. The music, dancing and singing healed and reinvigorated their tired bodies and souls.

It was convenient for the masters that the slaves forgot, even temporarily, about their terrible living conditions. Therefore, they did not always oppose to these celebrations. But they were also aware that these gatherings brought slaves together and reinforced unity among them. Bomba dances (bailes de bomba), musical funerals (velorios cantados) and all social gatherings and celebrations carried out by slaves were always closely observed by the authorities. They were considered the focus of anti-colonial conspiracies and the occasions when acts of resistance were planned and carried out. According to Morales Carrión, on October 9th of 1840, Ciriaco Sabat "King of the Congo Nation" in the town of Mayagüez, requested permission to celebrate his organization’s feasts of Saint Michael and the Our Lady of the Rosary in the market place (plaza del mercado). Permission was denied by General and Count of Santa Cruz, Méndez Vigó, governor of the island, who slave gatherings dangerous because of reports about Haitians speading rebellious ideals throughout the western coast of Puerto Rico.

It was common throughout the haciendas and plantations for some masters to allow the slaves to gather on weekends and holidays, and on certain occasions, slaves from different haciendas were allowed to come together to celebrate their customs. These gatherings flourished in the past throughout the coastal regions of the island, where the imposed sugar cane industry historically favored a diverse concentration of people of African origin. Among the people of color of these areas, whose lives were primarily oriented towards the sugar mills (ingenios) and coffee plantations, bomba was their main form of entertainment and collective interaction.

Bomba dances (bailes de bomba) were commonly celebrated on Saturday nights, on special occasions and to mark the closing of the zafra (the sugar cane harvest) in celebrations known as fiestas del acabe (ending feasts). Bomba was an ever-present element of important feasts in haciendas or in the communities close to these, both private and public. Charles Walker, a North American, in a letter dated in the southern town of Ponce on the 7th of April of 1836, refers to this type of dances performed by bozales and points out their “unquestionable" African origins, at that time particularly “Congolese”. “It is the dance of their native land and they accompany the music with songs in the Congo language".

Since the beginning of colonization, slaves would gather after completing their daily duties to engage in their main forms of entertainment: music and dance. These gatherings were the principal means of social interaction among them. They served as history classes for the young, as a source of news and current events, as well as an expression of the political and social inclinations of the community. They also served as vehicles for the ventilation of their frustrations. And without a doubt, they also provided the means for spiritual expression. This musical genre and form of social interaction was regularly censured by ecclesiastics and government officials. This practice was eventually limited to Sundays and holidays, and as some areas became more urbanized, they were further limited and displaced. It was played at slave gatherings on Saturdays, Sundays, holidays and at wakes, thus resembling the Jamaican grounation, evenings of tumba francesa in eastern Cuba, and swaré lewoz or bidgin bulá in the French islands.

The Drum

The name of the musical tradition derives from the common name given to the drums, which are the main musical instruments used in bomba. The earliest written mention of the instrument in Puerto Rico date from the year 1797, French Naturalist Ledru, who during his visit to the island at the time, observed the use “of the small drum (tamboril) commonly known as the bomba. Fabricated by the peasants of a hacienda - Whites, Mulattos and Negroes - to accompany their dances". In Puerto Rico, the term bomba refers to determined songs and dances, which are accompanied by the drum of the same name. The word bomba is part of a group of terms similar in sound and meaning used throughout the Americas to reffer to African drums as well as to the music performed with them. Outside of the island, Ortiz claims to have heard “many years ago” the name bomba applied in Santiago de Cuba, not to a specific type of drum, but instead, with a generic sense, to all types of “drums of Negroes” (“tambores de negros”).

According to Alvarez Nazario, the word bomba most probably derives from an archaic African word for drum; ngoma or ngwoma, from which, an infinity of variations spread throughout the Bantu regions of Africa (Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, Angola, Mozambique, etc.). In this way, new forms developed within the Bantu family to identify the instrument: gomba (apparently the most frequent), omba, ingomba, ngamba, nkamba, etc. In Bantu languages, the term ngwomba means ‘to play drum.’ In Kikongo the meaning of the term ngoma is that of a “long cilindrical wooden drum for dancing”. In the Orungu, Ngoten and Baselce languages the drum is ngom. In Isuwu, Diwala, Bumbete and Nkundu the drum is called ngomo, which is defined as “drum for dancing with skin”. Others variant forms in diverse languages in Mozambique include: in Ki-Mavia, ingoma; in Goma of Quelimane, makua and ikoma. In the U-Laka language of northern Angola, we find the name ñomo with a similar pronunciation as in ñgoma, of the Omumbuin and Mussele dialects of the Ki-Mbundu and the U-Mbundu, which means both ‘drum’ and ‘dance’.

As Alvarez Nazario explains, by the time the different names for the drum reached the Americas with the slave trade, they had probably already participated in the development of the -ba ending of the word. This seems to be suggested by both older and modern names of the drum, all derived from gomba or other close forms, which occurred in the Caribbean and even in other parts of the Americas. In the Carolinas on the southern U.S. we find the use gumba-boxes, which are drums with tanned sheepskin heads. In the musical traditions of the Bahamas the word goombay describes a local musical tradition and it is also the name of the goatskin keg drum used to accompany the music. In Jamaica, for example, diverse documented denominations for certain drum include: gomba, gombah, gombay, gombe, goombah, goombay, gumba, gumbe, gumbé, gumbie, gumbi and also kumbay. Derived from gombay, gumbe or goombay, in Jamaica, the term goombayer ‘one who plays a goombay’, is quite similar to the term in Puerto Rico, bombero ‘individual who plays the bomba’. According to Carámbula, among the old slaves of Rio de la Plata in Argentina, the expression “bumba bumba” made reference by onomatopoeia, to the deep sound of the drum.

The various bomba rhythms of Puerto Rico are played on a family of hand drums called bombas. A bomba group is usually formed by at least two types of bomba drums: the buleador (in the north) or segundo (in the south), with a deep bass sound providing the rhythmic base, and the primo, premié or subidor with a high pitch sound used to play long series of improvisation and to "mark" the dancer’s improvised steps and movements. As Angel G. Quintero points out, it is in “these wonderful rhythmic variations, inconceivable in the European tradition, where bomba reaches its highest levels of development and sophistication.”

The main instrumentation of bomba consists of these cylindrical single-membrane drums. Traditionally, two or more bomba drums with distinct functions in rhythm and improvisation are used. Supposedly women were, in the past, traditionally excluded from playing the drums. The bomba drums are for the most part traditionally played by men with the hands (not with sticks) and are accompanied by the cuá or fuá, a pair of "rhythm sticks," and the maraca, a gourd shaker. In some parts of the northeastern region of the island, the güira (metal scraper or grader), usually associated with music from the Dominican Republic, was also used to accompany the bomba drum.

The maraca is a hand-held rattle generally made from the dried and hollowed round shell of the higüera, fruit of the crecentia cujete tree, filled with seeds or pebbles inside and pierced from one end to the other by a wooden stick, which serves as a handle. The maraca is traditionally played by the cantador or cantadora (singer) to keep time from beginning to end. In southern bomba, singers were traditionally female. In Haiti, Martinique and Guadeloupe the maracas are called tcha-tcha or cha-chás, and they are predominantly metal rattles. They are called chac-chac in the Grenadine islands. In Angola, where thay are made from a gourd called maboque, they are called saxi or katchakatcha.

This maraca, the most commonly used in Puerto Rico, is associated with African culture. It is true that the use of the maraca in Puerto Rico has both indigenous and African roots, but according to archeological finds, the maraca of the native inhabitants (Tainos/Caribs) was made of one single piece of wood, with a handle and a rattle at the end to which, with great patience, a loose piece of the wood was carved out within its center through slits on its sides. Thus the maraca currently used in Puerto Rico is more representative of the African tradition.

Once the bomba cycle begins, the dancers join forces with the markers in a dynamic dialogue. One or more buleadores play the basic rhythms while a single primo engages in an interactive rhythmic dialogue with the improvised movements of dancers. Since the primo establishes an actual conversation with the dancer, it is often described as a “talking drum”. The position of the drummers varies regionally; sometimes sitting on the larger rum barrels (Ponce), or placing the smaller dried meat or fish barrels between the legs (Mayagüez, Loiza and Santurce).

The bomba drum is currently a single headed cylindrical drum with a goatskin head. It is traditionally constructed out of old wooden barrels or casks, which were used to store and transport rum, salted meat and fish. There are several methods of making a bomba drum, depending on local traditions and the availability or scarcity of the necessary materials due to the growing urbanization of the island. “Instead of hollowing out a tree trunk, as our Indians did to make their drums, the Negro makes the bomba” - as Dr. María Cadilla de Martínez explains - “using a small bottomless barrel, to one of its ends ties a well stretched skin.” Re-conditioned rum or dried fish and meat barrels are the most common. Often, some of their side panels may be removed to make them narrower in order to stretch out a goat skin over one end. According to early reports from Loiza Aldea, during bomba dances (bailes de bomba) an ensemble of two of these drums was generally used, “a bomba tuned for deep sounds and another for high ones”. This is still the general practice today, although the use of more than two drums is also common.

These drums are part of a general tradition spread throughout the rest of the Caribbean (Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Jamaica and the Lesser Antilles). According to musician and folklorist Luis Díaz, this family of instruments probably traced to the Congo/Bantu region of Africa is generally referred to as that of bambula-drums (tambores de bámbula or bambulá). The term bambulá and its variations (bambuleé, bambulé, bambuleá, bambulaé) aparently derives from the name of a single skinned drum, recorded in French texts as bamboula, found throughout the French colonies in the Caribbean as well as in Louisiana. The name probably came to Puerto Rico, with slaves and immigrants from the French islands to the east and with the slaves of refugees from New Orleans who had originally fled the uprising of Africans in San Domingue (Haiti/Dominican Republic) in the beginning of the 19th century.

It should be mentioned that although the use of the barrel-shaped bomba drum has become the standard within all the different regional expressions of bomba, the use of hollowed out tree trunks covered on one end with a skin was in the past widespread and particular to some areas. According to oral tradition, these were the traditional drums used originally in the area of Loiza Aldea. The fast bomba rhythms from this region were once accompanied by the güira (a metal scraper or grader) and by a single “rhythm stick” played on the side of the drum. These facts express a very close relationship between the bomba of Loiza and Kongo derived drumming traditions like the palos from Dominican Republic and yuca in Cuba.

Traditionally, the construction of a bomba drum usually follows specific techniques with some regional variations. The drums are today predominantly made from wooden barrels; a goatskin is stretched over one end of the barrel and fastened using a variety of tuning techniques (depending on the region). Although in Puerto Rico, the secular tradition no longer demands strict baptismal rites, many bomba practitioners today, still conserve and develop "secret" or traditional methods of consecrating bomba drums to be used strictly for religious purposes and which often can only be played by specific individuals. Through specific ritual preparation, spiritual entities are connected to the drums and believed to "reside" within the instruments themselves. These types of beliefs and practices are quite common in many Afro-Caribbean traditions, especially those of Kongo origin. Contrary to what many folklorists and academics claim, there has always been a tradition within the communities, which practice bomba to constantly develop and maintain particular spiritual practices, which to them, are inherently associated with the bomba drum.

It is also important to keep in mind that although in the last centuries the term bomba has been culturally standardized in Puerto Rico to name the drums used in this tradition, it has not been the only name that has been applied to these instruments. A variety of other terms (most of them probably derived from the variations of the Bantu words ngoma or ngomba ‘drum’) have been used and are still commonly used today. These include: barril (literally ‘barrel’), drón (derived from the English word ‘drum’), bombo, buleador, boulá, bámbula (according to Ortiz, bambulá or babulá is the name of a drum and of an “erotic” Bantu dance), tambó, tambú, tingüero, tumba, timba, etc. The last two are dominant in the northeastern part of the island (as well as in other parts of the Caribbean). They could possible derive from the term tingoma or tingomba, one of the possible plurals for the Bantu words ngoma or ngomba ‘drum’, influenced by the Afro-Criollo term bomba.

In Curaçao, the word tumba means ‘popular dance.’ Term bomba, in Puerto Rico and the rest of the Caribbean represents a probable transformation of the Bantu word gumba/gomba with a change of the ‘g’ for a ‘b’. The term tumba, also common in Puerto Rico and the rest of the Caribbean represents a similar transformation of the word gumba/gomba with a change of the ‘g’ for a ‘t’, influenced by the formal use of the term tambor (drum) in Spanish. In Santiago de Cuba the terms tumba or tombola are commonly used to refer to any tall, wide cylindrical drum. We also find the common Caribbean use of the term támbula (< bámbula) to refer to the drum.

The terms bomba and tumba, for example, are closely related in that they are both words with Bantu roots which transmit, not only the meaning of drum, but of the activities associated with the instrument, including dance, song, and social gatherings. Both words derive from the archaic ngwoma. The word ma-tumba is an Bantu word, applied in Central Africa to a "small wooden drum with an antelope hide, used in ceremonial dances". It is also used in Bantu languages south of the Congo (Luba or Lusonge); tumba, in Central Congo, Lusambo people; among the Kilegas (Ruwensori) and itumba; in other areas of the Kongo region, endumba; among the Bahololo. Within these groups the term is applied as a generic word for 'drum'. According to Laman, tumba, in Congo is equivalent to "making great noise" and to "dance", in some dialects.

As we can see, the current barrel-bomba drums are actually representative of specific Afro-Caribbean style drums found predominantly in the islands colonized by the French, particularly the ka or kwa and juba or djouba drums. As we have seen, the term juba or djouba is used in Haiti to refer not only to certain rhythms, but to these specific drum ensembles found within Vodou rites. These connections express part of the strong French-Caribbean influences found in contemporary bomba. Many of these probably arrived with Haitians brought as slaves from the island of Hispañola (Haiti/Dominican Republic) as well as slaves and emigrants from other French-speaking islands to the east.
The first of these were brought to Puerto Rico after the transfer of the eastern part of the island (Santo Domingo) from Spain to France. The second wave arrived 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. Some of these settled first in New Orleans, later relocating to Puerto Rico. During the 19th 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 island under the refuge and protection of the Real Cédula de Gracia of 1815.

Evidence for these connections is seen in the similarities between present-day Puerto Rican bomba, Haitian, Dominican, Cuban and French-Caribbean musical traditions. This connection is evident not only in the types of instruments used, but also in the dances and the language used in songs. The influences from the eastern islands like Martinique and Guadeloupe are most evident in southern bomba, while Haitian influences are most evident in the western and northern expressions of the Puerto Rican tradition. This is probably due to the fact that, in the past, it was easier to sail to these neighboring islands from the coastal towns than to travel across the central mountain range, which divides Puerto Rico’s northern and southern regions. This fact allowed a constant traffic and interaction between the southern and northern Afro-Puerto Rican communities and the rest of the Caribbean islands.

The Dance

The old expression “cuando la bomba ñama, el que no menea oreja menea una nalga" ('when the bomba calls he/she who does not shake an ear shakes a butt cheek') describes the strong ancestral attraction to the Afro-Puerto Rican rhythms. Common Afro-Caribbean traditions like the bambulé (bambulá, bamboula, bambalue, etc.), the yubá (juba, chubá, djouba, etc.) and the calindá (calenda, calindé, kalindá, etc.) evolved with various rhythms into what is today known as bomba in Puerto Rico, but with similar expressions in all of the Caribbean.

Regardless of the particular dance rhythm, the main objective of dancing bomba is to improvise steps and body movements, called piquetes, over the beat of the drums. The primo or subidor must follow these movements. The execution of these piquetes by the dancer and the response of the drummer establish the unique dialogue, which characterizes bomba dancing. This dialogue is an intense connection between drummer and dancer in which the dancer challenges the primo player. This interaction may be quite spiritual, sensual and even erotic at times.

Some say that “the root of the bomba dance is Spanish" referring to dances such as the jota, the fandango, and the seguidilla to trace steps and movements used in bomba dancing. But these "Spanish" dances tend to have strong African roots themselves. The meeting between Portuguese, Spanish and African cultures through the sea voyages of the seventeenth century, resulted in an exchange between people from the Iberian peninsula and Africans, which gave rise to dances like the fandango, a popular Spanish dance which first came into light around 1769. Such statements also tend to express an internalized racism which too often intends to de-Africanize bomba to different degrees and they also exclude other European influences in bomba such as French, Dutch or British, as well as possible indigenous ones. This is not to say that bomba is an African dance, it is, without a doubt, a Puerto Rican and Caribbean tradition, but developed from an African concept. Bomba is a direct reflection of the original African context of musical expression. The symbols used in bomba (lyrics, dance steps, music, etc.) do not exclude extra-African elements, but these are incorporated into a basic cultural framework and structure inherited from our African ancestors.

Bomba could be described as a continuation of a value system that is in essence African, but with the colonial plantation system as the foundation for its social platform. The deep roots of the dance are unquestionably African, although we cannot ignore other influences, such as those of the European slave owners, whose dances the slaves mocked and imitated, eventually adapting these steps and movements and incorporating them into their bomba. Slaves worked, not only in the fields, but also in the homes of European settlers. In this way, or simply by observing from a distance, they were influenced by the musical traditions of their masters and vice-versa. With time, the dance adapted some of its expressions, particularly influenced during the 19th century by the slaves of French-Caribbean culture (negros afrancesados) brought to Puerto Rico from Haiti, Louisiana and the Lesser French Antilles.

The term bomba, which as we have seen, evidently derives from the common name of the drum, which provides the primary accompanying music is equivalent to baile de tambor (drum dance) still common today throughout the Spanish-speaking Caribbean. In this same way, the expression bailar bomba (to dance bomba), used in Puerto Rico, the Caribbean as well as in other countries like Ecuador, expresses the same concept as the typical Afro-Caribbean expression bailar tambor (to dance the drum), and both, in identifying the name of the drum with the dance associated to it. These repeat in Spanish, expressive uses and conceptions, which are also, present in Bantu languages. For example, in the Nyanja language (of Nyasaland), the term mngoma expresses, no longer the idea of ‘drum’, but that of certain dance. In Puerto Rico, the name of bailes de bomba marked in the past a differentiation from bailes de garabato. This last one referred to a series of dances characteristic of the jíbaros, the Criollo peasants of the central mountainous regions of the island.

Various terms have been used among the practitioners in Puerto Rico to describe the distinct forms of the bomba dances, which have been performed or developed in the island. Each one performed accordingly to the corresponding bomba rhythm (son de bomba in the south and sey or seys de bomba in the northeast), and in the same way with particular basic movements and steps. Some of the names found in literary records and the oral tradition include: babú, balele, balancé, bambula, bambolaé or bambulaé, belén, belén corrido, bembé, calindá, calendá or kalindá, candungo or candungué, changüí, ci cas or sicá, cocobalé, coembé, cuembé or güembé, congrué, corbé, cunyá (or cunyá masón), or kunyá, curiquinque, danuá, danois, grasimá or grasimás, holandé or holandés, holandés seco, holandés cuartea(d)o, quateque, leró or le rose, masón, mariandá or mariyandá, mariangola, milonga, rulé, seis corrido, timbeque, yubá, chubá or jubá, etc. Some of the rhythms most commonly played today include the following: sicá, grasimá, cuembé or güembé, yubá, leró, holandé or holandés, and seis corrido.

These records along with a living oral history are evidence of the great variety of names and their variations, which have been used in the past and are still used in the present to refer to bomba dances in Puerto Rico. Among them we can see the interaction of words of probable direct African origins with others which evolved within the Afro-Caribbean languages in the Spanish colonies as well as in the territories colonized by the French, Dutch and British. These terms give evidence of the great variety, not only of languages, but also rhythms and dance forms, all indicative of the diverse roots of Puerto Rican bomba.

Throughout the years, different styles of bomba developed, each associated with a specific region or school. There are some significant regional differences in bomba dancing. In the north, only solo dancers usually take turns engaging in an almost competitive dialogue with the drummers. In the south, bomba is always danced in couples, although individual dancers or couples also often engage in a dialogue with the primo player. The rhythms and style of dancing in Loiza Aldea are significantly faster than those performed in the area Santurce or the southern regions of the island. The Loiza style is closer to central African or Kongo dances. Those from the area of Santurce or towns like Mayaguez, Ponce and Guayama, have been particularly influenced by the Europeanized culture of French-Caribbean blacks (negros afrancesados) who arrived from Haiti, Louisiana and the Lesser French Antilles during the 19th century, and generally considered to be “more refined” by their exposure to French culture.

Although basic rhythms and steps and movements have been developed and standardized by certain communities, professional bomba groups and bomba dance schools, the basic concept of bomba dancing is improvisation on a beat or rhythm. Many people are under the impression that in order to dance bomba, one must acquire some type of formal training; nothing could be further from the truth. Most well known traditional dancers emphasize the importance of “feeling the rhythm” or “feeling your spirit” and allowing the body to move almost involuntarily to the beat of the drums.

The drum is the foundation of the bomba dance. A particularly distinctive spiritual element still found in bomba today is the reverence to the drum. Most dancers pay their respects to the drums in a variety of symbolic gestures before dancing in front of them. Some elders speak of the old tradition of lighting two candles in front of the drums as a sign of respect, one for the “spirit of the drum"(and maybe "that of the drummer") and the other for “the spirit of the dancer". Bomba dancing has always served as a means of physical relief as well as spiritual expression. Like our ancestors, bomba dancers today use the dance to connect with their roots, traditions and with themselves, at the same time identifying and nurturing the bonds, which unite them as a community.

We must be aware of the fact that often, the names for particular bomba rhythms are often used throughout the island to refer to variations of a rhythm or totally different rhythms all together. We must also keep in mind that, from the beginning of its use in Puerto Rico, as well as throughout the rest of the Caribbean, the term bomba was a generic term used among many others to identify the drum and a myriad of Afro-Caribbean musical traditions associated with it. It was not until later that the term bomba becomes the dominant or most common one, eventually becoming recognized as the "standard" name for a tradition which encompasses within its parameters the diversity of elements found within what is known today as Puerto Rican bomba.

The Songs

Bomba lyrics are generally simple, consisting of a chorus with a phrase or refrain initiated by singer, which is then repeated by all those present, and the singer continues improvising (soneando) over the repeated chorus. Bomba singing is characterized by the soloist's improvisation and the nasal quality of the voices. There is a significant amount of repetition in bomba lyrics, each time the verses are repeated, there is variation in the melody and tone. Melodies often consist of short phrases repeated with some variation. These variations in intonation are possibly another expression of the heritage of tonal African languages. Contrary to popular belief, bomba songs can be very melodic and harmonious. It was traditional in southern bomba, for only women to sing and it was considered improper for men to be bomba singers.

Bomba lyrics often consist of simple words or phrases, often repeated throughout the song. The songs are sung accompanied by the chorus, and they tend to include local commentaries on everyday life. The chorus is made up of the attendants who take up the refrain. Many words of extra-Hispanic origin can be found within the language of bomba songs. And although these words may often be meaningless to some of the people who hear them and often to those who sing them, many singers have at least some understanding of their meanings.

The common use of Spanish or French-derived words and phrases in bomba lyrics most probably began to appear among Creole and Criollo blacks (negros criollos) whose oral expressions, even though distanced from the “rough” speech of the bozales, still conserved the memory of “strange words” of the African tradition (Alvarez Nazario). These words may often, but not always, be lacking in plain meaning, and when inserted into compositions, they imprint the songs with an ancient ancestral character and message.
These records along with the contemporary tradition are evidence of the great variety of linguistic roots, which have influenced the lyrics and themes of bomba songs. Among them we can see the interaction of words of African origins with Spanish, French, Dutch and English, which developed within the Creole or Criollo Afro-Caribbean languages. These are evidence of the great variety, not only of languages, but also subjects indicative of the diverse roots of Puerto Rican bomba.

Bomba & "Vodou"

The thread, which binds the quilt of Caribbean culture, is African. Food, music, dance, religion and language are among the many elements where this influence is quite evident. The connections of Puerto Rican bomba to the musical and religious traditions Cuba, Haiti, Louisiana, the rest of the French-Caribbean islands such as Guadeloupe and Martinique are very important as sources of some of the most significant spiritual characteristics of bomba. These include many obvious and significant religious elements. Many of these spiritual elements are parallel to and have been influenced by the culture of these Afro-Caribbean communities.

As in all Afro-Caribbean religious traditions, in Vodou, drumming, singing and dancing are important elements in the communication with spirits. Many of the terms used to identify common elements of bomba, such as instruments, dances and rhythms can also be found used in similar manner throughout the rest of the Vodou inspired Caribbean and Louisiana. We have already mentioned the use of the terms juba, calenda and bamboula as dances in Haiti, New Orleans and Cuba. In Dominican Republic, Rodrígez Demorizi transcribes a disposition of the Bando de Policía y Buen Gobierno of 1862, a colonial decree which prohibited the following dances: holandés, danois, tango, bambulá and judú, for being considered “noisy and including the practice of vodú". The holandés, the danois, and the bambulá are all the names of bomba dances and rhythms in Puerto Rico.

In Haiti, we still find the following dances; djouba baboul, djouba fran, djouba-kasé and djouba krabiyen within the Vodou rites of Matinik and Djouba and played on bomba-like djouba drums. In Haitian Creole (Kréyòl), the term kase or kasé means ‘to break’, fran means ‘frank’ or ‘serious’. In Haitian Creole (Kréyòl), the term kasé or casée means ‘to break,’ fran means ‘frank’ or ‘serious.’ As we observed earliear, the concept of the djouba-kasé is very similar to the Puerto Rican version of the yubá cuarteao (do). The Spanish word cuarteao (do) means ‘split,’ ‘cracked’ or ‘broken.’ Within the Boumba rites of Haitian Vodou we find the boumba fran and boumba sec as names of dances or rhythms played on petro or petwo drums. In Haitian Creole (Kréyòl), the term sec or sek means ‘dry’. The Spanish term seco, also meaning ‘dry’, as in “holandés seco,” is often used to identify specific bomba rhythms.

In Haiti, we find the baboul, baboul krabiyen, and baboul woulé within the Matinik rites of Vodou. The woulé or roulé is one of seven basic rhythms found in the tradition known as gwo' kwa, bélé (belairs) and léwoz in Guadeloupe and Martinique. In the island of Dominica, we find the term djuba belé (belair), applied to a variety of dances. The rulé (<roulé or woulé), the jubá, (<yubá or djouba) and the belén (<belé or belair) are all the names of bomba dances and rhythms in Puerto Rico.

Within the lyrics of many older and traditional bomba songs we also find numerous traces of common Afro-Caribbean religious themes. Afro-Caribbean music has always been full of traditional religious elements.

In Haiti, the term bomba or boumba refers to the Boumba “family” or “nation” of lwa or spirits known as the Boumba Maza and which include the names Boumba Ganga and Boumba Maza Dokiman. These are considered to be of "pure Kongo lineage" within the Dan Petro or Dan Petwo family of spirits. A family of spirits or lwas in Haitian Vodou is referred to as a nancho. The term nancho is a Creole (Kréyòl) term referring to a “nation,” family or grouping of lwa. These groupings are based upon such things as point of origin of the lwa, their means of “working” or expression and the type of work that the lwa performs.
Public bomba performances were probably very similar to the gatherings witnessed in New Orleans. With time, bomba adapted some of its expressions, particularly influenced during the 19th century by the black slaves of French Afro-Caribbean culture brought to Puerto Rico from Louisiana, Haiti and the Lesser French Antilles by many colonial settlers. According to Díaz Soler, the slaves of the island traditionally celebrated dances on the nights of Saint Peter (June 29th) and Saint Michael (September 29th).

In his description of "these celebrations" given by the Díaz Soler, he describes the consumption of corn meal, rum and cigars. These elements are still present in present day Afro-Caribbean religious rituals, including those in Puerto Rico. The fact that these took place on the nights of Saint Peter and Saint Michael is also significant as a common tradition throughout the rest of the Antilles. In the popular religious traditions of Haiti and Dominican Republic, Saint Peter is commonly associated with the lwa or Vodou spirit Papa Legba and Saint Michael with warrior deities Ogou Balindjo (Haiti) and Belié Belcán (D.R.).
Besides the comparison made by Ricardo Alegría between the Yoruba deity Shango and Santiago Apostol (Saint James the Apostle) in Loiza Aldea, we must also consider the similarities to Vudú (Vodou) in the Dominican Republic where Saint James is "syncretized" with Ogún Balendyó, the equivalent of the Haitian spirit Ogou Balindjo. This warrior deity is considered to be "the Lord of the thunderbolt and of storms, of a austere character and prudent". Vodou practitioners see him as a distinguished military man, brave, and mounted on a white horse. Like Changó, he drinks rum and smokes cigars. His color is red, and he specializes in diplomatic, social, and family affairs. Another common religious date also traditionally cellebrated in Loiza Aldea is the feast of its patron, Saint Patrick, who in Haiti and Dominican Republic is associated with Damballah Hwèdo, the powerful and wise spirit of Dahomean origin which appears within Haitian Vodou rituals.

Popular religious ceremonies in Puerto Rico have always expressed strong elements of African culture. According to Fernando Picó, it was for this reason a Catholic bishop visiting the town of Arecibo in the late 1720s, censured the celebration of the feast of Saint Michael by the people of color (morenos). “The music and dances which frequently accompanied this religious act made the popular devotions suspicious to the Spanish prelates, who generally were not acostumed to associate so much partying (jolgorio) with religious ocassions.” Some bishop even asked the local military authorities to destroy the altars dedicated to the saints in the private homes.

We had already mentioned how in on October 9th of 1840, Ciriaco Sabat "King of the Congo Nation" in the town of Mayagüez, was denied permission to celebrate his organization’s feasts of Saint Michael and the Our Lady of the Rosary. The governor of the island, General and Count of Santa Cruz, Méndez Vigó, considered slave gatherings dangerous because of reports about Haitians speading rebellious ideals throughout the western coast of Puerto Rico. We cannot forget the significant role of Vodou within the Haitian Revolution. The forced migration of at least fifty-five thousand African slaves between 1784 and 1842 re-enforced the African influence within the island’s popular religious expression.

Clear signs of various connections between bomba and the Afro-Caribbean musical and religious traditions such as Vodou and Palo Mayombe are abundant. Yet for some reason academics and researchers have failed to observe or simply refused to take them into account. Outsiders to the community of popular religious practitioners have always had limited knowledge of or access (if any) to these private ceremonies, their symbols and language.

Secrecy imposed by tradition as well as fear of social judgment or ridicule prevent most practitioners of Afro-Puerto Rican religious traditions from exposing or talking openly about their religious practices and beliefs, and many have been disconnected from them completely by the process of americanization under U.S. colonial rule. Some researchers have made the musical connections between bomba and Haiti, Cuba and the French Antilles, but have always avoided or simply ignored the spiritual or religious elements and connections within Afro-Caribbean musical traditions.

Conclusion

The slaves brought to Puerto Rico, like those brought to other parts of the Caribbean and the Americas, possessed well established religious practices and beliefs. The masters and colonial authorities were consantly opposed to these practices and in many occassions imposed severe penalties and restrictions to prevent ceremonies considered “pagan” and the occasions when acts of resistance were planned or carried out. The slaves and peoples of African descent fused a composite of their own cultural heritage with the popular Catholicism of their masters and local indigenous traditions to develop a set of beliefs and practices of their own. A religious tradition, which began to develop in the 17th century throughout the Americas. Enslaved Africans everywhere in the Caribbean used the dominant Catholic religion as a cover under which African-based religious practices could be performed. This process allowed Africans and their descendants to maintain their own culture, preserving and developing a collective memory and identity.

All of the connections mentioned above are only some of the many significant and evident spiritual values and traditions which the tradition of bomba has always contained for its practitioners and the communities which produce it. Strong evidence is easily observed when we consider the Afro-Caribbean linguistic elements found within bomba; the names of instruments, dances and rhythms and the traces of spiritual language within the lyrics of many songs. Contrary to what many academics claim, there is a strong lasting tradition within the communities which produce bomba to constantly nurture, develop and maintain particular, individual and collective spiritual practices which to them, are and have always been, inherently associated with bomba.

Bomba is currently played and danced in a wide variety of social gatherings; in private (homes, clubs) or public spaces (parks, beaches, streets) as well as in churches, spiritual centers and other religious institutions. Today, bomba is still an important element of celebrations, both particular and public within the communities in which they are practiced. In the public sense, these modern bomba dances usually take place with the purpose of celebrating the traditions of bomba and to expose them to the community at large, but may also be used to celebrate birthdays, weddings, recovery from an illness of other "joyous" occasions. These gatherings may take place in private or public spaces, but always with strong elements of community involvement. Bomba dances are also organized by many practitioners as part of a wide variety of spiritual ceremonies based on Afro-Criollo traditions of honoring ancestors or spiritual entities as it has been the case with other Puerto Rican musical traditions as well, such as música jíbara (Puerto Rican mountain music) in the tradition of promesas de aguinaldo.

Among Puerto Rican practitioners of Cuban religions like Palo Mayombe and Santería living in New York City, for example, it is quite common to substitute the traditional Afro-Cuban ritual music associated with these traditions with bomba, or simply include the Puerto Rican musical forms as an additional element. In the popular centros espirituales (spiritual centers) where Puerto Rican espiritista gatherings take place, bomba rhythms are often played and referred to as música espiritual even if they are not recognized as bomba rythms. The spiritual traditions of bomba are a living presence throughout the dispersed Puerto Rican Nation. They are found within all Puerto Rican communities even those outside of the island.
Contemporary bomba is a continuum of all the cultural elements which have, from the beginning of the emergence of a Puerto Rican cultural and national identity, been influenced and adapted into an Afro-Puerto Rican tradition and to Puerto Rican society as a whole. It reflects those cultural traits which have proved to be most resistant through time and have taken a dominant role within the communities which produce bomba in all its current variations. Bomba continues to evolve, as any living cultural entity does, and constantly innovates, adopts and adapts, new forms and ideas, influenced by both internal and external factors. We can be certain, that the African musical influence in Puerto Rico is not limited to some purely secular or profane "folkloric" tradition. On the contrary, close observation reveals that bomba is inherently related to the popular spiritual traditions we practice containing strong African and Afro-Caribbean traits. It is impossible to ignore the obvious presence of these rich cultural elements. We can no longer continue denying the complete contributions and fruits of the African root, limiting it to "folkloric" elements, without taking into account its lasting imprint on "living" Puerto Rican culture as a whole.

Mu kala kintwadi ya tubu i mu zinga!
"To be in contact with your origins is to live for ever!"
-Kongo saying

Carlos “Tato” Torres, 2001

Luz y Progreso
Amor y Caridad
Paz y Justicia

Next Stop: La Plena

[LatinDolphin]

He broke down the 'BOMBA' info for you!
Next stop is the Plena...so watch out!

Trato Brujo knows his music--u go boyee!