Batey Boricua: Music, Dance & Good People | Berkeley

Submitted by the Event Organizer

Bomba y Plena Workshop Bay Area invites you to jam with us! Celebrate life through music, dance and good people.

Bomba reflects the powerful forces that shaped Puerto Rico’s history, emerging from the African experience on the island before the 1700’s. Bomba music and dance originated in the sugar cane plantations and was played, danced and sung as a means to express daily hardships, cope with oppression, and escape captivity. Bomba is the oldest living musical tradition of Puerto Rico.

The Bomba ensemble consists of “barriles” or barrel drums with goat skins, a “maraca” played by the lead singer, and a pair of “cuas”, or sticks traditionally played on the wooden body of the drum. Inspired and guided by songs and the drum rhythms, dancers improvise their movements in a dynamic communication with the “primo” or lead drum.

Disclaimer: Please double check event information with the event organizer as events can be canceled, details can change after they are added to our calendar, and errors do occur.