Photograph provided by Marisol Diaz
MISSION & history
Our mission is to promote cultural celebration, community connection, and accessible arts education, through the knowledge and appreciation of Puerto Rican Bomba and Plena.
Los Pleneros de la 21 (LP21) is the premier East Harlem-based performing ensemble and non-profit community organization. LP21 was founded in 1983 by Juan J. ‘Juango’ Gutiérrez (National Endowment for the Arts’ Heritage Fellow, 1996) and the legendary Master Plenero, Marcial Reyes Arvelo. The ensemble has pioneered the road for Bomba and Plena performance around NYC, and continues to spread it globally for nearly 40 years. The ensemble received a Grammy nomination for their groundbreaking album with Smithsonian Folkways, Para Todos Ustedes.
As a traditional arts and community organization, Los Pleneros de la 21 fosters awareness and appreciation of Afro-Puerto Rican and related cultural expressions, namely Bomba and Plena music and dance, as essential for healthy community life and encouraging people of all ages to create their own bonds through active participation in these traditions. Our landmark cultural arts education and performance programs have served communities for forty years, with an annual roster of accessible workshops and community-based concerts.
The organization aims to present accessible public traditional music programming; expose and encourage the participation of inner city youth and others to the cultural heritage of Puerto Rico; and perform and contribute to a repertoire of works embedded in the rich culture of traditional Puerto Rican music to audiences everywhere. LP21’s community-based cultural and educational programs have created a common space for the recognition, education, and practice of Puerto Rican culture and identity. These programs include Bomba and Plena Community Workshops for kids; Bomba and Plena In the House for NYC school children; and other Cultural Legacy Programs. These programs have educated thousands of individuals of all ages.
Los Pleneros de la 21 remains a dynamic, intergenerational group of musicians and cultural leaders from East Harlem, the South Bronx and many of NYC’s own local communities. LP21’s latest album, Los Pleneros de la 21 Live at Pregones: 35 years of Bomba & Plena (Truth Revolution Records, Nov 2018), is an ode to the group’s long arduous, yet satisfying journey. Live at Pregones represents a lifetime of work, blood, sweat, tears, and laughter of countless dedicated Bomberos, Pleneros, educators, and cultural advocates. Raising their spear in the name of Puerto Rican Bomba and Plena, and the makers of this tradition, this album marks a new era for a younger generation of musicians taking the lead in re-envisioning LP21’s ongoing legacy.
“Their enthusiasm, showmanship, and command of the genre has won Los Pleneros de la 21 a respected place in folk and world music circles, with their performances can be described as magical melting of the invisible curtain between performers and audience and their drumming is incendiary, complex and precise, made the room rock.”
“Cultural critic Juan Flores commends Los Pleneros de la 21 for “innovating within the tradition, rather than superimposing innovations onto the tradition.””
