|
|
 |
New Old Sound from Puerto Rico: Plena Libre
|
| Click Here to go back. |
NPR's All Things Considered, New Old Sound from Puerto Rico: Plena Libre >>
Puerto Rican musician Gary Nunez is introducing listeners to plena music, his island's rhythmic folk music. With his band, Plena Libre, Nunez is reviving and re-inventing a musical style. Hear NPR's Brian Naylor and Nunez.
Click to hear audio
We close tonight with some dance music from Puerto Rico. Bassist Gary Nunez is fascinated by the musical style called plena. Back in 1994 the style was almost forgotten, but then Nunez started a group called Plena Libre. His band has led a revival of plena as contemporary dance music in Puerto Rico. As part of the series Musicians in Their Own Words, Gary Nunez describes the essence of plena.
Mr. GARY NUNEZ (Plena Libre): Plena is a rhythm that was born at the beginning of the 20th century, and it takes on the African roots. There's some French in there, but most of it is what Puerto Ricans did with it. It was taken around the island by the cane field workers, and it became very popular.
(Soundbite of song in foreign language)
Mr. NUNEZ: There's a basic pattern for plena. It's a combination of actually three hand drums. One hand drum will be the seguidor, which is the low register, and it's like the beat: boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. And then there's the punteador, which is middle register, and it's like the answer: doon, doon, tsk-tsk, doon, doon, tsk-tsk, doon, doon, tsk-tsk. And then there's the third one, which is the high pitch. Now when you combine the whole pattern, it sounds something like (demonstrates sound).
(Soundbite of song in foreign language)
Mr. NUNEZ: I believe in groups and orchestra that create their own personality. You know, when you hear a Plena Libre record, you easily recognize it.
(Soundbite of song in foreign language)
Mr. NUNEZ: What I tried to create was a group that will work on the basis of Puerto Rican folklore rhythm but develop that.
(Soundbite of song in foreign language)
Mr. NUNEZ: There's a tune I wrote that's called "El Celular," which is "A Cellular Phone," and it's a story about a guy who gets a cellular from his girlfriend. And it's very important tune for us because my intention was that we were not going to talk about the old stuff, about the plena and the tradition. You know, this is new plena, and we're going to talk about our lives.
(Soundbite of "El Celular")
Unidentified Man: Hello? Hello? (Foreign language spoken) OK. (Foreign language spoken) Plena Libre.
Mr. NUNEZ: We did this record that actually was like a mix of early Plena Libre hits in Puerto Rico, and we put a disco beat on below it, you know? And we were experimenting, you know. I went to this guy who knew how to do this stuff. I said, 'Listen, this is my idea, this is my concept.'
(Soundbite of music)
Mr. NUNEZ: There were people who'd say, 'Well, you know, he's going way beyond tradition,' or whatever. Well, I do tradition; it's OK. Now I want to do this.
(Soundbite of song in foreign language)
Mr. NUNEZ: The kind of music I do is very heavy on rhythm. You know, we got contrasting balas, plus the panderos, which is the hand drums.
(Soundbite of music)
Mr. NUNEZ: And I wanted there to be a small wind section, you know, that would really sound powerful. So I decided I was going to use trombones.
(Soundbite of music)
Mr. NUNEZ: I discovered why most people really ...(unintelligible) trombone, just the capacity to play such a beautiful melody.
(Soundbite of music)
Mr. NUNEZ: Plena Libre is going to be 10 years now. We're celebrating 10 years. So what I wanted to do was go back to the roots and, once again, do them Plena Libre style.
(Soundbite of song in foreign language)
Mr. NUNEZ: You know, you've got to be true to yourself, you know? And as long as you respect the music--that's the important thing. You've got to respect what you're doing.
(Soundbite of song in foreign language)
NAYLOR: Gary Nunez, bass player and leader of the Puerto Rican dance band Plena Libre. His story was produced by David Shulman and NPR's Jeffrey Freymann-Weyr.
That's ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Brian Naylor. 07/25/04 >> go there
|
| Click Here to go back. |
|
 |
|
|
|
