With its infectious call and response vocals and topical lyrics commenting on the events and gossip of the day, the music genre plena is known in Puerto Rico as the people’s newspaper. And much like ...

Although transnational, contemporary, and based on the Cuban son, salsa is often assumed to be Puerto Rico’s national song. Enter Plena Libre, purveyors of Puerto Rican pride and promoters of plena, a ...

In Santurce, a poor suburb outside San Juan, Puerto Rico, there’s a bus that doesn’t run anymore, but the stops it once madeparadasstill lend their names to the densely populated neighborhoods. Ask ...

Some musical genres are just particular—particular to a region or a community, without aspiring to be universally relevant or to commercially conquer new audiences. I think of the plena this way, an ...

Those attending the second annual Canto a Puerto Rico festival will hear some cutting-edge island music. The festival kicks off at 12:30 p.m. Sunday at the Agricultural Center in Kissimmee and ...

A solid rhythm beat from stage right at the Joe Mathias Elementary School cafeteria Thursday afternoon. Gary Nunez waved his arms at the other side of the cafeteria, orchestrating a plena rhythm in ...

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