El Imaginario de Los Pleneros de la 21 – Re[Framed]

Los Pleneros de la 21 (LP21) is the premier East Harlem-based performing ensemble and non-profit community organization. LP21 was founded in 1983 by Juan J. ‘Juango’ Gutiérrez (National Endowment for the Arts’ Heritage Fellow, 1996) and the legendary Master Plenero, Marcial Reyes Arvelo. The ensemble has pioneered the road for Bomba and Plena performance around NYC, and continues to spread it globally for nearly 40 years. The ensemble received a Grammy nomination for their groundbreaking album with Smithsonian Folkways, Para Todos Ustedes.

As a traditional arts and community organization, Los Pleneros de la 21 fosters awareness and appreciation of Afro-Puerto Rican and related cultural expressions, namely Bomba and Plena music and dance, as essential for healthy community life and encouraging people of all ages to create their own bonds through active participation in these traditions. Our landmark cultural arts education and performance programs have served communities for nearly forty years, with an annual roster of accessible workshops and community-based concerts.

Gutiérrez learned to play the Plena, but as he started his career as a professional percussionist, he performed many other styles of music as well. After moving to New York City to continue his studies, he felt a need to return to his Puerto Rican musical roots. He took up Plena under the legendary Plenero Marcial Reyes Avelo, who introduced him to other master Pleneros in New York.

Later, Gutiérrez focused his attention on Bomba as an even deeper root of Puerto Rican tradition and sought out elders who were able to teach him. The Bomba had emerged in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century plantation life and exhibited many of the attributes of West African dance ensembles; interlocking drum patterns overlaid by a lead drum that “converses” with improvised solo dancing, a declamatory vocal style, rhythmic patterns, and sometimes spiritual overtones.

ABOUT JULIA L. GUTIERREZ-RIVERA