Plena is a music genre of music and dance native to Puerto Rico.[ Todo listo en Ponce para recibir a Cheo Feliciano. Inter News Service. 20 April 2014.][ Welcome to Puerto Rico: Music - see La Bomba]
Origins
The plena genre originated in Barrio San Antón, Ponce, Puerto Rico,
[ LEY: Para reconocer al Barrio San Antón, del Municipio de Ponce, como lugar de interés histórico y cultural, y designarlo como “Cuna de la Plena”, y para disponer para la coordinación entre el Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña y el Municipio de Ponce para implementar lo dispuesto en esta Ley, y para la promoción de los valores históricos y culturales de esta comunidad. Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico. 16ta. Asamblea 1ra. Sesión. Legislativa Ordinaria. Camara de Representatntes. Projecto de la Camara Numero 1392. 24 March 2009. Accessed 1 April 2018.] around 1900.
[ La Plena: Nació en Barrio San Antón. El Mundo, 23 November 1971. page 23.] It was influenced by the bomba style of music. Originally, sung texts were not associated with the plena, which was rendered by guitar, accordion and pandero, but eventually, in 1907, singing was added. Plena was often called the
periodico cantado or "sung newspaper" for the lower classes because it spread messages among people.
History
The plena was a result of the mixing of the culturally diverse popular class, where their workplace, neighborhood, and life experiences met to create an expressive,
Satire style of music.
It became a way for the working class to gain empowerment through
parody. Due to originating in the lower social class, it was regarded by the upper class as "a menace to public order and
private property" and was for many years associated with people of
la vida alegre (the merry life), referring to prostitutes, dancers, alcoholics, and moral degenerates. Singing and dancing of the plena often happened in
cafetines, bars that frequently doubled as brothels and where interracial socializing and sexual encounters were free to take place.
According to singers discussing the use of the plena, they stated it was song with lyrics that related to a current event. For example, if someone drowned or was killed, a plena would be written about it.
The eventual widespread acceptance of the plena can be attributed to the increased number of people joining the workforce, which led to a new demand for public leisure. It was still considered indecent by the upper class, who fought against its rising popularity. In December 1917, an ordinance was passed banning the dances from happening inside the city limits. It took another decade for the plena to gain widespread popularity throughout Puerto Rico and cross racial and Culture boundaries. Listening to plena at home and at neighborhood- or municipal-sanctioned celebrations became acceptable and was no longer considered morally tainted by "respectable" white upper class Ponceños. Eventually, with much whitewashing to make it more palatable to the masses, plena was embraced in earnest as a style of music that united Puerto Ricans. However, with the acceptance of the upper class, what began as a vitally important cultural identifier and personal expression of philosophy, community, and self to the lower class became an entertaining spectacle for the white upper class.
By the 1930s, the plena was accessible to all through the radio and record industries.
Genre
Plena music is generally folkloric in nature. The music's beat and
rhythm are usually played using hand drums called
, also known as panderos. The music is accompanied by a scrape gourd, the
guiro.
Panderetas resemble
but without the jingles. These are handheld drums with stretched animal skins, usually goat skin, covering a round wooden frame. Three different sizes of pandereta are used in plena: the
Seguidor (the largest of the three), the
Punteador (the medium-sized drum), and the
requinto. An advantage of this percussion arrangement is its portability, contributing to the plena's spontaneous appearance at social gatherings. Other instruments commonly heard in plena music are the cuatro, the
, and
accordions.
The fundamental melody of the plena, as in all regional Puerto Rican music, has a decided Spanish strain; it is marked in the resemblance between the plena Santa María and a song composed in the Middle Ages by Alfonso the Wise, King of Spain. The lyrics of plena songs are usually octosyllabic and assonance. Following the universal custom the theme touches upon all phases of life—romance, politics, and current events. Generally, anything which appeals to the imagination of the people, such as the arrival of a personage, a crime, a bank moratorium, or a hurricane, can be the subject of plena music.
Spread
Plena is played throughout
Puerto Rico especially during special occasions such as the Christmas season, and as the musical backdrop for civic
protests, due to its traditional use as a vehicle for social commentary. When plena is played the audience often joins in the singing, clapping, and dancing. Plena is also enjoyed by the Puerto Rican diaspora outside of Puerto Rico. Pleneros de la 21, for example, traveled to Hawaii to perform for the Puerto Rican diaspora there which include descendants of Puerto Ricans who immigrated to Hawaii from Puerto Rico in the early 20th century.
Composers
As a folk genre, there have been many good composers, some well known in their day and into the present. Perhaps one of the genre's most celebrated composers and performers was Manuel Jiménez, known as 'El Canario'. Certainly, there were many others, including such greats as
Ramito,
Ismael Rivera,
Mon Rivera (the junior), and
Rafael Cortijo. In 2006, Tito Matos and Los Pleneros de la 21 received a Grammy nomination for their Para Todos Ustedes plena songs recording.
The genre has had a revival recently, as evident by the emergence of many plena bands (such as Plena Libre, Viento de agua and others) and its use in various songs, such as Ricky Martin's recent song "Pégate" and Ivy Queen's "Vamos A Celebrar".
In 1953, Puerto Rican writer, Luis Palés Matos wrote Plena del Menéalo urging the Puerto Rican woman to move it and ends the plena with the line ¡Para que rabie el Tio Sam (to make "Uncle Sam" angry).
See also
-
List of Puerto Ricans
-
Music of Puerto Rico
Sources
