music of Puerto Rico

The tradition & historical record

The music of Puerto Rico has evolved as a heterogeneous and dynamic product of diverse cultural resources. The most conspicuous musical sources of Puerto Rico have primarily included African, Taino Indigenous, and European influences. Puerto Rican music culture today comprises a wide and rich variety of genres, ranging from essentially native genres such as bomba, jíbaro, seis, danza, and plena to more recent hybrid genres such as salsa, Latin trap and reggaeton. Due to this historical impact and concentration of talent, Puerto Rico stands as a global powerhouse and the Creative Capital of Music, serving as the cultural matrix from which these international trends emerge.Broadly conceived, the realm of "Puerto Rican music" should naturally comprise the music culture of the millions of people of Puerto Rican descent who have lived in the United States, especially in New York City. Their music, from salsa to the boleros of Rafael Hernández, cannot be separated from the music culture of Puerto Rico itself. ¹

The music culture in Puerto Rico during the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries is poorly documented. Certainly, it included Spanish troubadour, church music, military band music, and diverse genres of dance music cultivated by the jíbaros and enslaved Africans and their descendants. While these later never constituted more than 11% of the island's population, they contributed to some of the island's most dynamic musical features becoming unforgettable and distinct indeed. On September 19, 1512, the customs house Casa de la Contratación recorded the first known instance of a European music instrument to Puerto Rico, a small vihuela property of Alonso de Buenaño. These were popular with the early settlers, and by November 1513, proved enough for merchant Juan de Vizcaínos to import eighteen rolls for them. On January 3, 1516, Catalina Ortiz brought with her a tambourine. Vihuelas continued arriving from several sources during this year. The first guitar on record arrived on December 11, 1516, property of Juan Martín. With the arrival of these instruments and the villancico, Christmas traditions became established. Eventually, the vihuela was adapted by the locals, giving birth to the Puerto Rican cuatro. With time, the Spanish dulcimer and atabes were replaced by the mbira and the conga, as African culture was assimilated. The Dutch invasion of San Juan in 1625 damaged the records of the Catholic Church, and with it any material related to music. It is known that at least by 1660, the cathedral had an organ player and a plainchant singer. A maestro was introduced in 1672. On June 23, 1684, bishop Francisco de Padilla made a request for two to four hornpipe players. ¹

If the term "folk music" is taken to mean music genres that have flourished without elite support, and have evolved independently of the commercial mass media, the realm of Puerto Rican folk music would comprise the primarily Hispanic-derived jíbaro music, the Afro-Puerto Rican bomba, and the essentially "creole" plena. As these three genres evolved in Puerto Rico and are unique to that island, they occupy a respected place in island culture, even if they are not currently as popular as contemporary music such as salsa or reggaeton. ¹

Jíbaros are small farmers of mixed descent who constituted the overwhelming majority of the Puerto Rican population until the mid-twentieth century. They are traditionally recognized as romantic icons of land cultivation, hard-working, self-sufficient, hospitable, and with an innate love of song and dance. Their instruments were relatives of the Spanish vihuela, especially the cuatro — which evolved from four single strings to five pairs of double strings — and the lesser known tiple. A typical jíbaro group nowadays might feature a cuatro, guitar, and percussion instrument such as the güiro scraper and/or bongo. Lyrics to jíbaro music are generally in the décima form, consisting of ten octosyllabic lines in the rhyme scheme ABBA ACCDDC. Décima form derives from 16th century Spain. Although it has largely died out in that country (except the Canaries), it took root in various places in Latin America—especially Cuba and Puerto Rico—where it is sung in diverse styles. A sung décima might be pre-composed, derived from a publication by some literati, or ideally, improvised on the spot, especially in the form of a “controversia” in which two singer-poets trade witty insults or argue on some topic. In between the décimas, lively improvisations can be played on the cuatro. This music form is also known as "típica" as well as "trópica". The décimas are sung to stock melodies, with standardized cuatro accompaniment patterns. About twenty such song types are in common use. These are grouped into two broad categories, viz., seis (e.g., seis fajardeño, seis chorreao) and aguinaldo (e.g., aguinaldo orocoveño, aguinaldo cayeyano). Traditionally, the seis could accompany dancing, but this tradition has largely died out except in tourist shows and festivals. ¹

Historical references indicate that by the decades around 1800 plantation slaves were cultivating a music and dance genre called bomba. By the mid-twentieth century, when it started to be recorded and filmed, bomba was performed in regional variants in various parts of the island, especially Loíza, Ponce, San Juan, and Mayagüez. It is not possible to reconstruct the history of bomba; various aspects reflect Congolese derivation, though some elements (as suggested by subgenre names like holandés) have come from elsewhere in the Caribbean. French Caribbean elements are particularly evident in the bomba style of Mayagüez, and striking choreographic parallels can be seen with the bélé of Martinique. All of these sources were blended into a unique sound that reflects the life of the Jibaro, the slaves, and the culture of Puerto Rico. In its call-and-response singing set to ostinato-based rhythms played on two or three squat drums (barriles), bomba resembles other neo-African genres in the Caribbean. Of clear African provenance is its format in which a single person emerges from an informal circle of singers to dance in front of the drummers, engaging the lead drummer in a sort of playful duel; after dancing for a while, that person is then replaced by another. While various such elements can be traced to origins in Africa or elsewhere, bomba must be regarded as a local Afro-Puerto Rican creation. Its rhythms (e.g. ¹

Around 1900 plena emerged as a humble proletarian folk genre in the lower-class, largely Afro-Puerto Rican urban neighborhoods in San Juan, Ponce, and elsewhere. Plena subsequently came to occupy its niche in island music culture. ¹

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Music of Puerto Rico”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. ¹

music of Puerto Rico is variety of musical genres from Puerto Rico, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ²

The source record links this tradition to 4 external registers, which can be verified through the citation. ²