confined to coastal Afro-Puerto Rican communities and academic circles. It was
not until the early 1900s that visiting commercial producers, Columbia and Victor,
recorded the first bombas. The early 1900s was also when plena , whose defining rhythms are said to draw on the bomba style, emerged to become Puerto Rico’s
most representative Afro-Caribbean music and dance.
In two distinct ways, the tides for bomba surged even further after 1950 with
the help of government-run cultural programs and through local commercial re-
cordings. Initiatives by two local government agencies, the Puerto Rico Division
of Community Education and the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture, conspired with
independent producers to render commercial bomba as a true counterpart to the
1940s and 1950s mambo craze. A recording by Armando Castro in the early 1950s
is presumed to be the earliest bomba recording and was followed by Rafael Cor-
tijo ’s widespread radio and television broadcasts in 1954.
It was Cortijo’s orchestral arrangements that combined locally flavored brass and
saxophone sounds with a mambo -oriented Afro-Cuban percussion format entailing
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Bomba
Cortijo, Rafael
Cortijo (born Rafael Cortijo Verdejo, 1928–1982) was a Puerto Rican com-
poser, singer, and bandleader who modernized the bomba and plena while
reestablishing the African and working-class roots into Puerto Rican music.
Cortijo was born and raised in the barrio of Santurce, San Juan, and it was
there that he met his lifelong friend and collaborator, singer and percussionist,
Ismael Rivera (1931–1987). By 1954 he had formed his own group, Cortijo y
su Combo, which gave Rivera much exposure as a sonero. The makeup of the
group was almost completely Afro-Puerto Rican, and along with the prefer-
ence for African-derived genres, as well as black references and heavy allit-
erations in the texts, his music greatly challenged, and even threatened, the
Eurocentric beliefs regarding black Puerto Rican music. In the 1960s and 1970s,
Cortijo’s music, which brought the traditions of bomba, plena, and Cuban son
together, infused a strong Puerto Rican element into salsa, for which he is
considered one of the genre’s infl uential pioneers. He died of pancreatic can-
cer in 1982, in San Juan, and he was buried in his hometown of Santurce.
Further Reading
Rodríguez, Juliá E. Cortijo’s Wake: El Entierro De Cortijo. Durham: Duke Univer-
sity Press, 2004.
George Torres
the fusion of compounded 6/8 yubá songs with bambulaé or sicá rhythms. Perhaps aware of bomba ’s past cumulative cycle in the hands of slaves, Cortijo’s formulaic
blends set in stories of everyday life restarted a similar cumulative cycle for what
later came to be known as salsa.
In 1970, Cortijo and timbalero Kako Bastar released the album Ritmos y Can-
tos Callejeros, which tested the possibility of introducing an innovative dual
bandleader-and-lead-singer image for salsa: instead of featuring a sonero as the bandleader’s companion, this album showcased Cortijo and a percussion soloist in
a display of various bomba rhythms, like bambulé.
Other attempts to diversify the Afro-Caribbean salsa repertoire by introduc-
ing bomba are evident with efforts by Willie Colón, Hector Lavoe, and other
salsa artists. But, due to the marked emphasis on Cuban- conjunto styles (as pro-
posed by moguls of the U.S.-centered music industry), bomba rhythms barely
acquired a comparable prominence. Still, festivals and indigenous commercial
Bomba
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venues helped bomba styles maintain their substantial presence in Puerto Rico
alongside plena. Roberto Anglero’s “Si Dios Fuera Negro” (1979) exemplified
the ongoing vitality of bomba among Puerto Ricans of all socioeconomic groups
well into the 1980s.
Beyond the New York– and Puerto Rico–based circuits, bomba had its resonance
in Colombian bands like Fruko y Sus Tesos (1971) and La Verdad (1986–1988)
alongside Joe Arroyo’s skillful tongue-twisting lyrics in the song “Las Cajas” and
his evocations of Puerto Rican peasant songs in “Sentencia China.” Subsequent
performances by Arroyo with bomba patterns included songs such as “Oriza,” “El
muerto vivo,” and “Canto a Panama.” A true landmark in global salsa was the nov-
elty of Orquesta de la Luz, a Japanese ensemble, whose song “Flores y Tambores”
also acknowledged bomba practitioners with the initial remark, “Gracias, Borin-
quen” and the accompaniment of bomba drumming. Bomba was also prominent in
Gloria Estefan’s 1993 song, “Mi Tierra,” which became a worldwide hit.
Some of bomba ’s most ardent followers are a host of grassroots individuals and
institutions that organize dance and music schools, festivals, and conferences to
foster the understanding of its roots in the African diaspora. In the United States,
this enthusiasm is found in various cities like Chicago, which was the host of the
First Bomba Research Conference in 2005. New York City has also attracted well-
established bomba and plena groups like Pleneros de la 21 and Viento de Agua,
and is home to personalities like Mickey Sierra, Angel Luis Torruellas, and Obanilú
Gutiérrez.
The emergence of bomba adherents among the younger population is remarkable
for the influence it has left on music genres such as hip-hop and reggaetón . The Welfare Poets, an ensemble of African American and Puerto Rican activists, incor-perated bomba into their rap performances and La Bruja, a Santería -inspired singer,
became known for mixing poetry recitals with bomba rhythms. Female-directed
bomba ensembles such as Alma Moyó have even put into question male-oriented
hierarchies that have been a traditional part of bomba. But perhaps the ensemble
most actively engaged in performing bombas is Yerbabuena whose public presen-
tations include the use of bulá drums in various styles.
In various other ways, bomba has acquired considerable validity and accep-
tance both within and outside of Puerto Rico. The arrangements by artists such as
Tego Calderón, Vico C, and La Sista attest to the popularity of call-and-response
speeches and rhythmic styles in reggaetón as a method to address matters of youth
and cultural identity. Calderón is credited for bringing reggaetón to the forefront in
2002 with his album, El Abayarde, which featured distinctive bomba styles.
Further Reading
Álvarez Nazario, Manuel. “Historia de las Denominaciones de los Bailes de Bomba.
Número Especial del Caribe.” Revista de Ciencias Sociales 4, no. 1, Marzo (1960): 59–63.
52
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Bombo
Álvarez Nazario, Manuel. “Notas Sobre el Habla del Negro en Puerto Rico Durante el
Siglo XIX.” Revista Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña 1, no. 2 (1959): 43–48.
Conrad, Tato. 2005. “Historia—El Bambula Boricua,” Puertoritmo, http://www.puer
toritmo.com.
Díaz Díaz, Edgardo. “La Gomba Paraguaya: un Documento para el Estudio de la Bomba
Puertorriqueña.” La Canción Popular (January–June 1986): 8–14.
Ferreras, Salvador E. “Solo Drumming in the Puerto Rican Bomba: an Analysis of Mu-
&nb
sp; sical Processes and Improvisational Strategies.” Ph.D. diss., The University of British Co-
lumbia, Canada, 2005. Available at www.salferreras.com/writings/Sal-Ferreras-Thesis.pdf.
Torres, Tato “Tato Brujo.” “¡Cuando la bomba ñama . . . !” http://www.puertorico.com/
forums/music-arts/10205-what-bomba-y-plena.html, 2002.
Edgardo Díaz Díaz
Bombo
In Spanish, the term bombo can refer generally to any large, low-pitched drum from
the concert bass drum or kick drum on a drum set to various folkloric drums found
from the Caribbean to the Southern Cone. In the context of Latin American popular
music, bombo most frequently refers to the cylindrical, double-headed drum from
the northwest region of Argentina.
Bombos are traditionally constructed by hollowing out a tree trunk by hand and
attaching thick animal hide skins (typically cow, sheep, or goat) with the fur still
intact to each end. These heads are connected by interlaced rawhide cords, which
can be adjusted to change their tension. The heads are held in place by tall wooden
rims, or aros.
Musicians typically play the instrument seated, either balancing it horizontally
on the lap or under one arm or supporting it in a stand. The drum is typically played
with both hands, using wooden sticks or cloth-covered beaters. In folkloric styles
from the Southern Cone such as chacarera, cueca , and zamba, the bombo typically underlines the bi-metric nature of the rhythm, playing higher-pitched notes on the
wooden rim of the drum that emphasize the 6/8 meter and lower-pitched notes in
the center of the head that emphasize the 3/4 meter.
The bombo rose to national and international prominence in the 1960s with its
inclusion in widely popular Argentine folkloric groups such as Los Chalchaleros
and Los Fronterizos, Pan-Andean groups such as Inti Illimani and Quilapayún of
Chile, and, later Los Kjarkas of Bolivia.
Further Reading
Baumann, Max Peter. “The Kantu Ensemble of the Kallawaya at Charazani (Bolivia).”
Yearbook for Traditional Music 17 (1985): 146–66.
Michael O’Brien
Bongó | 53
Bongó
The bongó is a coupled set of two drums, usually held between the player’s
knees while seated and struck with the hands. Its two drums, the smaller called
macho (male) and the larger known as hembra (female), usually measure around
7.25 inches and 8.5 inches. Most are constructed from wooden staves, but fiberglass
is also common. The drumheads are usually made of animal skin, though synthetic
heads are becoming increasingly popular. The bongó is usually not tuned to specific
pitches. Instead, it is tuned to a general range preferred by the player, usually in an
interval of at least a fourth. Today, almost all types of bongós are tuned by means of
metal tensioning rods. Musically, the bongocero (or bongosero meaning the bongó
player) usually plays a specific rhythm known as martillo (hammer) and switches
to cencerro (handheld cowbell) during the montuno sections of Cuban music.
It is more common in English to hear the word bongos, though the plural is need-
less since the drums are never separated. In Spanish, el bongó refers to the coupled
set, while los bongoes (also bongós or bongoses ) would refer to multiple sets. The origin of this name is not clear but some believe it came from the bonkó enchemiyá
of the Afro-Cuban Abakuá society. Fernando Ortiz, the first Cuban scholar to doc-
ument Afro-Cuban instruments, convincingly suggested that the name also could
have come from an archaic Bantu word for certain types of drums, and it was that
word that instead influenced the Abakuá language.
The bongó has both African and European influences but it was created in Cuba.
It originated in the eastern provinces of Cuba in the music called son , and its prede-
cessor changüí . In both styles, it was the main percussion instrument and the only
drum. Precursors to the modern bongó were developed at least by the late 1800s
and commonly had a head that was tacked on and tuned by heat, though a number
of regional tuning mechanisms existed depending on particular African influences
in a given area. Early versions were often a single small drum held between the
knees. Early coupled sets used straps that hung one drum on each side of a player’s
leg. They later were joined by a piece of wood, as with the modern bongó.
The bongó spread throughout Cuba in the early 1900s along with son. It was
brought from the eastern provinces to Havana by military troops in 1912, accord-
ing to Ortiz, and had become the most popular Cuban drum by the 1930s. At that
time, it was also being popularized worldwide by bandleaders such as Don Azpi-
azú. The bongó probably reached its height of worldwide fame with the mambo
in the 1940s and 1950s, and was then surpassed in popularity by the tumbadora
and timbal .
Over the years, the construction of the bongó has varied. Its tacked-on heads
were replaced by metal tensioning mechanisms, commonly known as lugs. This
began by the 1940s and spread steadily until it became the norm by the end of
the 1960s. This tuning method allowed the bongó to achieve much higher pitches
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Boogaloo
than before, a fact that was also aided by its decreasing size. Modern groups that
interpret changüí music often use a larger bongó to signify an older sound. Animal
skins (such as goat and cow) and wooden drum shells (traditionally of cedar) are
still the most common materials for the bongó, though fiberglass shells are com-
mon and synthetic heads are gaining popularity.
Performers such as Armando Peraza, José Mangual, Jack Costanzo, Candido
Camero, Ray Romero, Chino Pozo, Manny Oquendo, among others, have aided the
worldwide popularity of the bongó. Today, it is a relatively common instrument and
has been incorporated extensively into popular music styles of non-Cuban origin,
especially Dominican bachata .
Further Reading
Fernandez, Raul A. From Afro-Cuban Rhythms to Latin Jazz. Berkeley, CA: University
of California Press, 2006.
Nodal, Roberto. “The Social Evolution of the Afro-Cuban Drum.” Black Perspective in
Music 11, no. 2 (1983): 157.
Nolan Warden
Boogaloo
Boogaloo, or bugalú, is a genre of Latin American music that achieved mass popu-
larity from 1966 to 1969. It arose after the fading charanga and pachanga crazes of the early and mid-1960s and preceded the rise of salsa in the 1970s. A product of
young Latin musicians living in New York City, boogaloo combined Afro-Cuban
and African American elements to become a subgenre of Latin Soul. It is sometimes
called the first Nuyorican music because its practitioners were the first generation
of Puerto Ricans born and raised in Harlem.
Both Latin and African American musical idioms should be present for music to
be considered boogaloo. This leads to a flexible range of stylistic influences from
the Latin mambo , son montuno , guajira , and guaracha, to the more African American rhythm and blues, soul, rock ‘n’ roll, funk, and doo-wop. Also found in boo-
galoos are improvised Spanish lyrics in the style of the son montuno , English
lyrics with
African American references such as “sock it to me,” and “hog maws
and chitlin,” hand clapping, vocal outbursts, crowd choruses, and short, repetitive,
rhythmic piano motifs. Boogaloo’s bawdy lyrics tend to give the music a party-
like atmosphere.
The mixing of Latin and African American music can be traced to the 1940s
with Machito and Dizzy Gillespie’s cubop experiments. By the mid-1960s, the
shows at the famous Palladium Ballroom in Manhattan were only attracting Latin
audiences while primarily playing mambos. Second generation Puerto Ricans in
Harlem grew up influenced by the established Latin bandleaders such as Machito,
Bossa
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Tito Rodríguez, and Tito Puente as well as doo-wop, rhythm and blues, and rock ‘n’
roll. This led to the desire for a fusion-based music that blacks would dance to. Ray
Barretto’s 1963 hit “El Watusi,” Mongo Santamaria’s 1963 hit “Watermelon Man,”
and Cal Tjader’s “Soul Sauce” in 1964 all foreshadow the popularity of boogaloo.
These feature a Latinized rhythm and blues mixed with typical conga rhythms.
Barretto’s hit reached number three on the top 20 chart, making it the first hit from
a Latin band to reach that spot. “El Watusi” contained spontaneous and conversa-
tional vocals, a rowdy atmosphere, and hand clapping paving way for the typical
boogaloo sounds. “Watermelon Man” has a funk rhythm but is fused with timbals
providing a backbeat.
Joe Cuba’s sextet 1966 hit, “Bang Bang” from the album Wanted Dead or Alive,
coincided with the closing of the Palladium Ballroom. The album sold over a mil-
lion copies and initiated the mass popularity of boogaloo music. The success of
“Bang Bang” sent Joe Cuba on tours with the leading funk, soul, and Motown artists
of the time such as James Brown and The Supremes. The song contains a short re-
peated piano vamp, chanting, timbals, and the repeating chorus singing the track’s
title. Cheo Feliciano improvised Spanish lyrics and Willie Torres interjected with
African American phrases in English. Other quintessential boogaloo songs were
“I Like It Like That” by the Pete Rodríguez Orchestra, “Pete’s Boogaloo” by Tony
Encyclopedia of Latin American Popular Music Page 12
