Plena Libre

‘Estamos gozando’

      Plena, a festive, farcical and intensely danceable Afro-Puerto Rican folk music genre, had been put out to pasture by Puerto Rico’s music industry for decades when the gifted bass player and bandleader Gary Nunez hounded Plena Libre in 1994.  He set out to renovate plena with new songs and creatively arranged classics, delivered by a big band that, in addition to the requinto, punteador and seguidor hand drums that form plena’s percussive core, also included instruments such as horns, piano, bass, congas and timbales.  Nunez bet that, far from being a sclerotic and exhausted genre, plena had the potential for massive commercial appeal and for artistic exploration and advancement.

       Although the odds were against him, Nunez proved the naysayers wrong as Plena Libre’s music was quickly embraced by audiences and critics in Puerto Rico and abroad, with accolades including Grammy and Latin Grammy nominations.    

       Now the prolific Plena Libre has released its 10^th album in as many years.  “Estamos gozando” (“We’re having a blast”) pays tribute to what the band considers the greatest composers of plena and bomba, a similar Afro-Puerto Rican folk genre.

       While previous Plena Libre albums have emphasized new compositions, “Estamos gozando” is a must-have for anyone interested in plena’s roots, as it showcases the genre’s essential traits: its lyrics’ plainspoken and irreverent takes on everyday happenings and its intricate, irresistible rhythms.

       Thus, “Estamos gozando” works as an anthology of plena and bomba classics, such as “Canario blanco” (White canary) and “Lo que a ti te gusta” (What you like), that don’t sound redundant or archaic, thanks to Nunez’s skilled arrangements and adaptations, and to the group’s colossal sound-the album’s liner notes list 10 regular members and 14 guest musicians.

       -Juan Carlos Perez Rodriguez