Popular genres such as salsa—not actually a music style but an umbrella term for the New York City updating of Cuban music—and merengue are only the proverbial tip of the (Latin music) iceberg.  Three recent releases provide a broader view of the music landscape of Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, while offering glimpses of the links between the better-known commercial genres and the traditions.

Puerto Rican musicians have long proven remarkably adept at playing all kinds of styles.  New York City-based Puerto Rican musicians, in particular, have played a crucial role in preserving and developing traditional Cuban music styles outside Cuba.

Curiously, until recent years—and but for some notable, honorable exceptions, including percussionist Rafael Cortijo, singer Mon Rivera, pianist Eddie Palmieri, and trombonist-singer-bandleader Willie Colón—indigenous Puerto Rican styles such as bomba and plena had not received much attention.  The emergence of groups such as Plena Libre and Viento de Agua—as well as a younger generation of Puerto Rican artists as disparate as pop singer Ricky Martin, saxophonist David Sanchez, and trombonist William Cepeda—has changed all this….

…On ¡Estamos Gozando! (Times Square), Plena Libre, arguably the leading group in the bomba-y-plena revival, pays its respects to some of the most influential creators in the history of the genre.  The results are both instructive and eminently danceable.  The set includes nods to trumptere César Concepción (who during the 1960s, gave plena a big-band setting); Corjito (a medley featuring “Perfume de Rosas” and “Maquinolandera”); Manuel “Canario” Jimenez, the first plena singer to be commercially recorded; and Mon Rivera (listen to the homage to his four-trombone arrangements in this version of “Lluvia Con Nieve”).

Since the emergence of the world-music phenomenon during the 1980s, recordings that once would have been considered of interest only to ethnomusicologists have found a broader audience—and with good reason.  Often these recordings offer the beauty and power of these styles stripped of the standard commercial wrappings.  Moreover, these performances often broaden our perspective by suggesting surprising insights about the links between contemporary, commercial styles and their traditional sources. . . .