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A storytelling Puerto Rican folk rhythm — the sung newspaper of its day.
A Puerto Rican song-and-dance genre within the creolized music of the Hispanic Caribbean
4 min read
Music as news-bearing in the Caribbean, in comparative context
Situating a Caribbean processional dance within a contested cultural geography
3 min read
The trumpeter-bandleader who brought plena to the big-band stage
Plena as a Named Puerto Rican Music and Dance Genre
Origins of a Puerto Rican Social Dance
Musical Anatomy of Puerto Rican Folk Traditions
The three frame drums and gourd scraper at the heart of Puerto Rico's plena
5 min read
Juan Gutiérrez's New York ensemble kept bomba and plena alive far from home
Pioneer of the modern plena sound in Puerto Rico
From Plena’s Tongue-Twisters to Salsa’s All-Trombone Sound
Puerto Rican Plena and Bomba Ensemble
Afro–Puerto Rican bandleader who modernized bomba and plena (1928–1982)
Music, Race, and Social Commentary in the Colonial Periphery
6 min read
Topical song and the vernacular chronicle of Puerto Rico's coastal working class
Bobby Capó's 1950s song, sung by Cortijo and Ismael Rivera, turned a dance tune into protest
Puerto Rican plena and bomba ensemble that modernized the island's folk rhythms and carried them to international stages.
A bomba-and-plena ensemble in the Afro–Puerto Rican tradition
Clarifying the origins, age, and dual music-and-dance identity of a Puerto Rican tradition
Definitions of rhythmic, instrumental, choreographic, and sociocultural elements in Puerto Rico's native music‑dance genre
A Guide to the Scholarly Literature on Plena
