Eastside Café Echospace

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A night of Afro-Puerto Rican Bomba and Son Jarocho.

Bomba is a musical expression created in Puerto Rico at the end of the 17th century, by West Africans and their descendants from neighboring islands who worked the colonial sugar plantations along the coast of Puerto Rico. It was at "Bailes de Bombas" where baptisms and marriages were celebrated, and rebellions planned. At Bailes the Bomba, the sounds of drums called "barriles," typically made of empty codfish or rum barrels, drew the crowd into a circle. Dancers took turns challenging the drums, creating a dialog with their movements that the solo drummer answered.

Son Jarocho, traditional music of the state of Veracruz, Mexico, represents a fusion of Indigenous (primarily Huastecan), Spanish, and African musical elements, reflecting the population which evolved in the region from Spanish colonial times. The West African influence is characterized by a highly repetitive musical structure, by improvisational lyrics with individual call and response, and by its humor and spontaneity.

BUYA (Chicago)
Atabey (Los Angeles)
Bomberas de la Bahía (East Bay)
Son del Centro (Santa Ana)