Dancing Bomba: A Diasporic Context for Social Change and Meaning in Los Angeles
Daryl Adkins California State Polytechnic University, Pomona Ethnic & Women Studies Senior Project 13 June 2013
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Table of Contents:
Abstract ……………………………………………………………….. pg 3 Proposal ……………………………………………………………….. pg 4 Introduction……………………………………………………………. pg 8 Methodology…………………………………………………………… pg 10 Literature Review……………………………………………………… pg 11 Research Findings …………………………………………………...... pg 23 Analysis and Discussion……………………………………………..... pg 29 Reference……………………………………………………………….. pg 32
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Abstract
This qualitative study explores the performance of Bomba and its historical evolution from the rural regions of Puerto Rico to the urban spaces of Los Angeles. Bomba is the name of a dance and a group of related dances that evolved in the 17th century in Puerto Rico. I have investigated the social reasons for the changes and how different social contexts - urban Puerto Rico, New York, and Los Angeles – have changed the way the dance is understood and performed. Additionally, I have examined the extent to which dance performances, such as Bomba, have the potential to affect and change context and social dynamics where they are performed. Specifically, this research explores the perforrmance of the dance in Los Angeles largely by Afro-Latino performers to bridge the divide between African American and Latinos communities in the area.
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Proposal
In Spring quarter of 2012, the Black Student Association and MecHa invited a Bomba dance group to campus in a collaborative effort to bring the two student groups together. The African American Student Center and the César E. Chávez Center for Higher Education cultural centers are located right next to each other, but it seems that both centers and communities here on campus live in two very different worlds, despite the fact that both communities have an abundance of shared culture and history together. I became intrigued by the dance performance and its ability to bring students from the so-called “brown” and “black” communities together in one cultural space, dancing to rhythms that were recognizably “African”. Before the performance began, African American and Latino/Chicano students sat in their self-segregated corners of the room. When invited into the performance space, however, social boundaries were dismantled as the pleasures associated with the dance drew students out of their comfort zones. As an African American, I was also surprised to see that the professional performers of Bomba were “brown” and self-identified as Latino. This experience piqued my curiosity about this Puerto Rican dance and its potential T for bridging the social divide between African Americans /Blacks and Chicano/Latinos living in the Los Angeles urban community.
I propose to do a qualitative study of this dance phenomenon that emerged in Puerto Rico in the 17th Century. My study will involve participant observation, interviews with professional performers, surveying audience participants, and historical literary research. Participant observation enables me to participate in the dance-event with a view to gaining an “insider” perspective on the meanings and pleasures associated with the dance. This method also allows me to observe the performing dancers as well as the reaction of the audiences to the dance event. Interviews will give performers an opportunity to provide a narrative about the social and personal meanings of the dance for them and a short anonymous survey of individuals in the audience will provide a spectator perspective. My research on the written documentation of Bomba will give me a much needed historical perspective on the development and evolution of the dance from rural Puerto Rico to the U.S.
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I plan to conduct participant observations and interviews on Bomba performances in the Los Angeles area between January 2013 and April 2013. I will contact the Bomba groups via email . If group members wish to participate in this research, I will inform them that I would like to digitally record their interviews; however, if they choose not to be recorded, I will respect their wishes and I will send them a follow up email on the further steps needed to complete individual interviews.
A semi-structured interview will be used to collect information on the participant’s experience as a Bomba performer, its personal meanings for him/her, and his/her perception of the impact of the dance event on the wider community. The duration of the interviews will vary with participants, but each interview is expected to last no more than 60 minutes. At the end of the interview session, the subjects will have the opportunity to ask questions regarding the study. If it becomes necessary to collect additional information and/or seek clarification on points made, follow-up interviews may be scheduled. I will also ask permission to travel with the Bomba groups to their various performances and document their experiences as an Afro Puerto Rican performance arts group educating and showcasing their culture in the city of Los Angeles, California. I have determined this sample size due to the 3 or 4 Bomba performances I will be attending throughout the year.
Aside from the Bomba performers, I will be studying the audience make-up at the actual Bomba performances. What I am looking for in my subjects is their age, gender and racial/ethnic group. I am concentrating on ethnic make-up or ratio of African American/Black and Chicano/Latino population during the Bomba performances. As far as the audience participant survey, I will only ask willing individuals from the audience to fill out and complete the survey. I plan on gathering around 30 to 40 willing participants from the audience to complete the survey for this study. In relation to recruiting and gathering information of the audiences’ reaction and experience of the Bomba group performance. I plan on recruiting willing participants soon after the Bomba performances are completed. I will have simple questions on a short anonymous paper survey, written in English and Spanish.
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The purpose of this qualitative study, therefore, is to explore the performance of Bomba and its historical evolution from the rural regions of Puerto Rico to the urban spaces of Los Angeles. Bomba is the name of a dance and a group of related dances that evolved in the 17th century in Puerto Rico. I plan to investigate the social reasons for the changes and how different social contexts - urban Puerto Rico, New York, and Los Angeles – have changed the way the dance is understood and performed. Additionally, I want to explore the extent to which dance performances, such as Bomba, have the potential to affect and change context and social dynamics where they are performed. Specifically, I will explore the performance of the dance in Los Angeles largely by Afro-Latino performers to bridge the divide between African American and Latinos communities in Los Angeles.
Semi-structured interview questions
1. What is your name? 2. How do you self-identify? 3. How long have you been dancing Bomba? 4. How long have you been a member of this particular Bomba group? 5. How would you describe and define Bomba? 6. Tell me about what attracted you to this dance and to this group? 7. What does dancing Bomba mean to you personally? 8. Do you think it Bomba has social meanings beyond the feeling of personal pleasure? 9. Who attends the Bomba events? What ethnic/racial group is predominately present? 10. Bomba originated in Puerto Rico and has a distinctively African beat – how do the African American and Mexican American populations in Los Angeles respond to your performances? 11. From your perspective, how do audiences in LA react to the performance of Bomba? 12. To what extent Bomba in LA resemble Bomba performances in Puerto Rico and New York? Has there been any changes? 13. What potential do you think Bomba has for bringing Black and Brown communities together in LA? Adkins 7
14. What are the challenges your group faces in continuing these performances? 15. How do you suggest these challenges be met?
Survey Questions for Audience (English) 1. Identify your ethnic background. 2. Please write 3 words or adjectives that described your bomba experience. 3. How important are such performances in your community? Very important Important Somewhat important Not important Explain: ______4. How did you hear about this performance? a. Family/friend b. Social media (facebook, twitter, instagram, artist website, etc.) c. Newspaper, newsletter d. Bomba performance group e. Other (specify______) 5. Do or did you have prior knowledge of the culture or history of bomba prior to this performance? a. Yes b. No 6. Would you identify bomba as an African rooted dance/performance? 7. Would you come out to another performance?
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Introduction
In spring quarter of 2012, the Black Student Union and MecHa invited a Bomba dance group to campus in a collaborative effort to bring the two student groups together. The African American Student Center and the César E. Chávez Center for Higher Education Cultural Centers are located right next to each other, but it seems that both Centers and communities here on campus live in two very different worlds, despite the fact that both communities have an abundance of shared culture and history together. I became intrigued by the Bomba dance performance and its ability to bring students from the so-called “brown” and “black” communities together in one cultural space, dancing to rhythms that were recognizably “African”. Before the performance began, African American and Latino/Chicano students sat in their self-segregated corners of the room. When invited into the performance space, however, social boundaries were dismantled as the pleasures associated with the dance drew students out of their comfort zones. As an African American, I was also surprised to see that the professional performers of Bomba were “brown” and self-identified as Latino. This experience piqued my curiosity about this Puerto Rican dance and its potential for bridging the social divide between African Americans /Blacks and Chicano/Latinos living in the Los Angeles urban community. The purpose of this qualitative study, therefore, is to explore the performance of Bomba and its historical evolution from the rural regions of Puerto Rico to the urban spaces of Los Angeles. Bomba is the name of a dance and a group of related dances that evolved in the 17th century in Puerto Rico. I plan to investigate the social reasons for the changes and how different social contexts - urban Puerto Rico, New York, and Los Angeles – have changed the way the dance is understood and performed. Additionally, I want to explore the extent to which dance performances, such as Bomba, have the potential to affect and change context and social dynamics where they are performed. Specifically, I will explore the performance of the dance in Los Angeles largely by Latino performers to bridge the divide between African American and Latinos communities in the area.
My research questions for this project are as follows:
1. What is the significance of Bomba to its performers and audiences? 2. How has Bomba changed and transformed over time and space? Adkins 9
3. Does Bomba have the potential to transform race relations between Black and Brown communities in Los Angeles?
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Methodology
I used a mixed qualitative methodological approach to study this dance phenomenon that emerged in Puerto Rico in the 17th Century. My study involved participant observation, interviews with professional performers, surveying audience participants, and historical literary research. Acting as a participant observer enabled me to participate in the dance-event with a view to gaining an “insider” perspective on the meanings and pleasures associated with the dance. This method also allowed me to observe the performing dancers as well as the reaction of the audiences to the dance event. Interviews gave performers an opportunity to provide a narrative about the social and personal meanings of the dance for them, and a short anonymous survey of individuals in the audience provided a spectator perspective. My research on the written documentation of Bomba gave me much needed historical perspective on the development and evolution of the dance from rural Puerto Rico to U.S. I was able to interview six Bomba performers from the only currently existing Los Angeles Bomba group. Even though, I gave interviewees the option of not being identified by their names in my paper, they opted to be identified and quoted in my study. I, as the primary investigator, transcribed the oral interviews. The transcribed interviews were analyzed and the data was stored in my computer. I administered surveys to willing audience members after the performances. Forty two audience members participated in the survey. All subjects (performers and audience) were over the age of 18. Members of the audience were randomly chosen and were a cross-section of those present based on ethnicity, gender, and age.
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Literature Review
The purpose of this study is to explore the performance of Bomba and its historical evolution from the rural regions of Puerto Rico to the urban spaces of Los Angeles. Bomba is the name of a dance and a group of related dances that evolved in the 17th century in Puerto Rico. I investigated the social reasons for the changes and how different social contexts - urban Puerto Rico, New York, and Los Angeles – have transformed the way the dance is understood and performed. Additionally, I wanted to explore the extent to which dance performances, such as Bomba, have the potential to affect and change context and social dynamics where they are performed. This project includes the disciplines of history, anthropology/ethnography and performance studies.
There are not many studies on the Bomba performance complex, which was first documented around 1790 in Puerto Rico. The few scholarly works in English, e.g. Ferreras (2005), Cartagena (2004), and Flores (2000), have traced the history of Bomba from its African roots in rural Puerto Rico to urban New York. They have analyzed Bomba using the theoretical frameworks of performance as sites of identity formation and resistance.
For more than two hundred years, the Puerto Rican Bomba has maintained an effervescent presence on the island of Puerto Rico and within the diaspora (Ferreras, 2005:2). Cartagena (2004) examines the multifaceted musical art form of Bomba, which incorporates dancing, drumming and singing and celebrates the interplay between lead dancer and lead drummer (Cartagena, 2004: 17). The term Bomba derives from an ancient Ghanaian term describing the drum. Contemporary researcher, Jose Manuel Arguelle, notes that the term Bomba has been traced to the Akan language and the Bantu of Africa where the word Bomba relates to the spiritual atmosphere of gathering (Cartagena, 2004: 17). The evolution of Bomba in Puerto Rico was influenced by African slaves and freed blacks from neighboring Caribbean Islands (Cartagena, 2004:17). Bomba originally developed within the coastal regions of Puerto Rico predominately populated by African enslaved communities then moved north to the mountains. The mountains provided a safe haven space for African slaves and freed blacks to escape the Adkins 12 harsh realities of exploitation (Cartagena, 2004: 17). According to Cartagena, Bomba originated as a music and dance of rebellion and resistance. Bailes de Bomba served as safe spaces for slaves to plot their escapes.
Two of Bomba’s unique qualities are the multiple rhythmic patterns and regional distinctions throughout the island. Cartagena examines two major components of Bomba music, the organic and the commercial aspects of Bomba. Cartagena defines Bomba’s organic component as an expression “with all its colors and manifestations…of ‘folkloric’ expressions” (Cartagena, 2004 18). According to Cartagena, commercialized Bomba, popularly performed by entertainment groups, has reduced Bomba to a one- dimensional musical genre (Cartagena, 2004: 18). By the 1950’s, Bomba music reached its highest peak of popularity within the entertainment market. Bomba’s popularity in Puerto Rico, New York and throughout Latin America is attributed to Bomba artists like Rafael Cortjo and Don Rafael Cepeda Atiles (Ferreras, 2004: 43). It is important to note that Cortjo and Cepeda were of working class, Afro-Puerto Rican heritage and this type of Afro based Bomba music was responsible for Bomba’s popularity during the 1950’s. Rafael Cortjo’s version of Bomba music, Seises de Bomba, became known throughout the island as “generic bomba” (Cartagena, 2004: 18). It is generic Bomba that Cartagena attributes to the flattening of Bomba’s various distinctions, and this made it easier to succeed in a commercialized market (Cartagena, 2004:19).
One of Cartagena’s main concerns in his article is the separation of the concepts of Bomba y Plena. He claims that “the incredibly rich musical art form known as Bomba suffers from its own identity crisis among Puerto Ricans” (Cartagena, 2004:19). Cartagena argues that Bomba needs to be separated from Plena in order for Puerto Ricans to appreciate the African roots of Bomba. Where Bomba musical origins are derived from Africa, Plena music is an infusion of African, Spanish and Taino musical elements (www.topuertorico.org). Plena music appeared on the music scene during the early 20th century on the southern coast of Puerto Rico (www.folkways.si.edu). One of the major differences between Bomba and Plena is that Bomba has sixteen rhythms when compared to Plena which only has one (www.folkways.si.org). Unlike the Bomba, the Plena was quickly adopted by the Spanish and its popularity soared over Bomba (www.topuertorico.org). According to Cartegena , the racialization and marginalization Adkins 13 of Bomba has contributed to the lack of scholarly research on the Bomba experience. Because of the “identity crisis” of Puerto Rican scholars, Cartagena claims they are unable to allow Bomba to stand alone and separate from Plena since most scholars tend to write out the African roots of Puerto Rican history and consciousness (Cartagena, 2004: 19).
Another concern of Cartagena is the re-emergence and contemporary revival of Bomba. Although originating from African traditional music and style and later from Spanish artistic traditions, the contemporary practice of Puerto Ricans singing and dancing Bomba in New York involves the crossing of borders and the inclusion of various styles of Latin music that did not originate in Puerto Rico (Cartagena, 2004:23). However, with Puerto Rican youth taking matters into their hands in Puerto Rico, the resurgence of Bomba on the island is an attempt to restore bomba’ s traditional roots of liberation and resistance (Cartagena, 2004: 29). As a result, a new name has emerged within the Bomba community, namely the Bombazo. The Bombazo focuses on the efforts to revive the communal and participatory elements of the Bomba experience. Leaving behind the Eurocentric elements of grandiose costumes and stage performance, the Bombazo seeks to regenerate the African traditions of the Bomba culture (Cartagena, 2004:29). Cartagena’s article, “When Bomba Becomes the National Music of the Puerto Rico Nation”, explores the development and practice of Bomba from the perspective of a liberating form of contemporary cultural resistance, revolution, and identity. Cartagena (2004), as well as Flores (2000), traces the development of the dance to New York where it was brought to the city by migrating Puerto Ricans. They argue that the transformation of the Bomba performance in New York can properly be understood as a dance of resistance and revolution among the youth and shows how it has influenced the resistance culture of hip hop.
Ferreras (2005) examines Bomba within a historical framework as well. He claims that as an established Spanish and slave colony in the late 15th century, Puerto Rico remained under Spanish control until the Spanish American War of 1898. During the mid-late 18th century, Bomba originated as a variant of African musical practices in the West Indian European colonies. As the years progressed, Bomba transformed and evolved in performance and style. A second significant period in the development of Bomba was after the abolition of slavery. Freed blacks moved out of rural coastal regions of Puerto Rico and populated urban spaces in order to Adkins 14
find work; during this period, performers of Bomba took on elements of European aesthetic sensibilities and practices in an effort to its distance themselves from Bomba’s African connections and roots (Ferreras, 2005: 34). The third significant period of Bomba history was its transformation caused by the impact and growth of technology during the 20th century. Radio players, tape recorders, and television contributed to the commercialization, availability, and popularity of Bomba music, specifically Afro-working class Bomba artists and music.
According to Ferreras, then, Bomba, like all cultural performances, must be understood in its historical context. He argues that it originated as an expression of freedom that could be understood as an act of resistance against the system of slavery and the influence of the Catholic Church. He also argued that a transformation occurred after slavery when Black Puerto Ricans moved from rural to urban areas. Here the dance lost elements of “African” resistance as Puerto Ricans sought to establish “respectable” identities linked to their European colonizers. Later on, it became symbolic of a Puerto Rican identity distinct from Spain.
Ferreras also highlights the ‘intra’ national identity political issue mentioned by Cartegena . He argues that many Puerto Ricans do not self-identify with their African/Afro- descent heritage and prefer to self- identify as “white”. Some even go as far as to reject the “mestizo” label (Ferreras, 2005:53). Since many Puerto Ricans erase the African presence and culture from their heritage, a significant obstacle is therefore created in trying to symbolically adopt Bomba as a musical genre representative of the entire Puerto Rican “nation”. Ferreras identifies the influence of the bourgeois and ruling elite as critical to denying Bomba its place as the national music of Puerto Rico (Ferreras, 2005: 53). Despite the issues related to the politics of identity on the island, Ferreras asserts that Bomba serves as a representation of the island in the Puerto Rican diaspora. Since Puerto Rico has Commonwealth status in relation to the United States, Puerto Rico is not an ”independent nation” compared to the neighboring islands. The search for what uniquely separates Puerto Rico from its previous and current colonizer is of national concern. For Ferreras, Bomba possibly symbolizes for some Puerto Ricans a distinction from Puerto Rico’s European and American colonizers because of its heavy African influence and heritage. “The absence of an independent nationality…intensifies the Adkins 15 attachment to music, especially African-derived music, and enables people to imagine an identity distinct from that of its former colonial overlords” (Ferreras, 2005: 259).
Ferreras also addresses the issue of gender in his article. The emergence of women assertively taking on the role as drummers in a traditionally male-dominated performance is one factor among others that contributed to the evolution of modern Bomba culture (Ferreras 2005: 54). Also, the role of Puerto Rican youth, with their generational differences from their elders, is another significant factor that has impacted the evolution of the art form. Ferreras argues that youth are mainly concerned with issues involving the politics of patriotism, individual expression, and identity, and are not closed off to including and mixing new cultural forms into the Bomba performance. These new participants to the Bomba performance contribute to the continual growth and socio-development of the bomba musical community (Ferreras, 2005: 260).
Both Cartagena and Ferreras examine Bomba from a historical perspective, situating its origins within the enslaved African community of Puerto Rico and tracing its evolution to the present time. They argue that the performance of Bomba today must be understood as responses to Puerto Rico’s colonial and diasporic realities. They focus on Bomba as a performance weighted with historical, political and social meanings. Their analytical frameworks, therefore, fit into the body of work known as “performance studies”, which examines performances in their various forms, e.g. sports, concerts, drama, rituals, and the arts. Generally, performances are treated as “texts” from which can be read “the expressive culture of the people” and “the mediated culture for the people” (Flores, 2000:18). To put it simply, performances can be seen as reinforcing the hegemonic social order and/or undermining the status quo. Cartegena and Ferreras suggest that Bomba can be interpreted in both ways depending on the historical and social contexts in which they are performed.
While not focusing on Bomba , or dance for that matter, Jill Lane (2002) and Guillermo Gomez-Pena (2001) provide useful theoretical frameworks for understanding the purpose and meaning of Bomba. They seem to suggest that performances have the power to create a potential space for “disturbing” and “countering” hegemony. In her work, Lane looks at the street Adkins 16 performer, Reverend Billy Talen, and his “preaching” performances. Lane argues that Reverend Billy uses his preaching as a “calculated disturbance” to disrupt the powers of commodification and commercialization within a globalized culture and economy. Although not a “religious” figure, Reverend Billy has managed to mobilize communities with his “televangelist satire” to spark social activism by speaking out against the harmful effects of capitalist globalized culture on communities and individuals (Lane, 2002: 300-301). Lane argues that Talen’s “theatrical performances” contest urban spaces that have been commodified and commercialized (Lane, 2002: 300). “Like Adorno, Talen reminds us…that consumer culture cannibalizes public culture and reproduces us all as consumers, duped into imagining that we exercise the free choice for individuals” (Lane, 2002: 307). Rampant capitalism and globalization, according to Reverend Billy, has diminished the creativity of social and personal imagination (Lane, 2002: 302). Revered Billy’s performance, according to Lane, could be understood as both causing “disturbance” in the status quo and creating a space for the re-narrating of the hegemonic narratives.
Performance artist, writer, educator and activist Guillermo Gomez-Pena understands his art as disrupting the present-day hegemonic “order” of cultural separation between groups. His artistic performance is meant to encourage modes of cross-cultural dialogue, collaboration, and hybridity with its focus on the imaginative and unsuspected possibilities of cross-cultural alliances (Gomez-Pena, 2001: 11). Gomez-Pena introduces the idea of the “Fourth World” where nationalism, purity, and “sacred cultural traditions” are no longer relevant and have no space to develop. He envisions members of this community living in a world where the crossing of various cultures and societies is part of everyday life. In his art, he opens up a hybrid space to counter the current trends in global trans culture and ultra-nationalism (Gomez-Pena: 2001, 10). Global trans culture speaks to “total culture” and creates an illusion, according to Gomez-Pena, of sameness and homogenized identities in which the end result rests on challenging political wills of marginalization (Gomez-Pena:2001, 10). At the opposite end of the global transcultural spectrum is neo-nationalism. For Gomez-Pena, neo-nationalism or ultra-nationalism reinforces the hegemonic discourse of separatism and cultural autonomy. Neo-nationalism creates an unwillingness in people to spark change because of an overstated belief in differences (Gomez- Pena: 2001, 11). To break away from becoming an apolitical global trans-culture or radical neo- Adkins 17 nationalistic state, Gomez-Pena imagines an alternative space, the hybrid, through his art. According to Gomez-Pena, the hybrid culture is an “experimental, radical” community that is neither static nor dogmatic. In this community, elements of fluidity and openness are generated to disrupt current hegemonic practices and concepts. In response, re-imagined new possibilities become constructed (Gomez-Pena, 2001, 18). Gomez-Pena professes that artists, who are able to understand this notion of hybridity can be viewed as “experts in border crossings” (Gomez-Pena, 2001: 12). According to Gomez-Pena, this artist assumes multiple roles, is a cross-cultural diplomat, a media pirate, and an intercultural translator. S/he has the responsibility of trespassing, bridging, interconnecting, interpreting, remapping and defining the outer limits of culture and crossing them (Gomez-Pena, 2001: 12). “The presence of the hybrid denounces the faults, prejudices, and fears manufactured by the self-proclaimed center and threatens the very raison d’être of any monoculture, official or not” (Gomez-Pena, 2001: 12). In this way, art as performance becomes a vehicle for disruption and subversion.
All performances, however, are not disruptive of the status quo. As John MacAloon notes in his article, cultural performances are “ occasions in which as a culture or society we reflect upon and define ourselves, dramatize our collective myths and history, present ourselves with alternatives, and eventually change in some ways while remaining the same in others” (MacAloon, 1984:1). For Flores, understanding the role and function of a performance requires it be situated in a social and historical context. He gives examples of specific performances that reinforce the hegemonic status quo, while appearing to undermine it.
One example he cites is the Smithsonian Institution’s Arts and Industries Building which featured the inaugural exhibit “Las Casitas: An Urban Cultural Alternative” on February 2, 1991. It was advertised as a display in their “experimental gallery” to expand their museum’s “knowledge by encouraging risk-taking in exhibition technique and style” (Flores, 2000:63). Present at the grand opening of the casita event, Flores recalls his “uncomfortable presence” and the “awkwardness” he felt witnessing the festivity and performances in the Museum. Although the casita music, musicians, dancers and people were all present at this inaugural exhibit, and therefore, potentially “disruptive”, the museum environment, he argues, re-established cultural Adkins 18
hierarchies and a cultural discourse by highlighting the distinction between the New York elite and “cute” Puerto Rican performers, between the “elite” and the “primitive” (Flores, 2000:76).
In rural Puerto Rico and working class Puerto Rican communities in New York, the casita is a symbolic representation of architectural, musical and cultural expression (Flores, 2000:69). For rural workers and peasants in Puerto Rico, who were displaced by economic changes under U.S. industrialization, the casita became a homegrown and moveable performance space; despite high rates of displacement, the casita gave an “illusion of permanence”. For residents of the New York inner-city South Bronx, the construction of casitas served as community settlements, although the realities of displacement from housing projects and apartments were constant threats to some Puerto Rican residents (Flores, 2000:72). The casita phenomenon in South Bronx, as a symbol of permanence, could be seen as an expression of resistance and freedom to U.S industrialization and economic strain felt by Puerto Ricans. However, lifted out of its rural and working class NY communities, where the casita serves as an all-inclusive communal, homegrown performance space with possible “disruptive” possibilities, the casita in the Smithsonian, according to Flores, was reduced to a show for the benefit of Museum observers. The display of the “Las Casitas: An Urban Cultural Alternative” was not a cultural performance disrupting the status quo. Flores makes the argument that although not exactly a commodity, the casita in the museum became an “an artifact, an object, and in any case no longer a process and ongoing expressive and representational practice” (Flores, 2000:76). At the Smithsonian, the casita culture became co-opted and commodified, which reinforced notions of the “primitive” versus the “civilized”. Using this example, Flores asserts that understandings of popular culture must be viewed in their historical and social contexts.
In his article entitled, “pueblo pueblo: Popular Culture in Time”, Flores discusses his understanding of the concept of “popular” culture. For him, the concept is only useful if understood to mean the expression and display of “moments of freedom…local plays of power and flashes of collective imagination” (Flores, 2000:17). According to Flores, the reason why these “moments of freedom” are “popular” is because these performances make-up the culture of “the people”, the common folk and represent the lives and traditions of the powerless resisting Adkins 19 social domination (Flores, 2000:17). Flores calls into question the assumption that all “popular” cultural performances are expressions of resistance, however. He suggests that what we call “popular culture” today is often not a representation of peoples’ resistance to social domination, but expressions of original “moments of freedom” that have been co-opted and now controlled by the social elite. Prior to the late eighteenth century, the idea of popular culture was understood as “traditional, collective creativity commonly called ‘folklore’ ” (Flores, 2000:17). With the rise of industrial commercialization, especially during the 1940s and 1950s, the concept of popular culture as ”the expressive culture of the people” was replaced and shifted to become known as “the mediated culture for the people” with the help of the mass media culture and technical reproduction era (Flores, 2000:17-18). Social theorist Nestor Garcia Canclini, drawing from his theory of cultural hybridizations, asserts that the pressures of homogenizing popular culture have been developed by global consumer culture (Garcia Canclini, 1989).
In the past several decades, debates of whether to continue or abandon the term “popular culture” have been considered by several scholars. Some scholars and social theorists, such as Nestor Garcia Canclini, have argued that academics should get rid of the term because of its complicated and misleading connotations. With the advent of television and advances in commercialization, mass culture has displaced the concept of the “people’s resistance” in popular culture; this is why many scholars have proposed dispensing with the category altogether (Flores, 2000:18-19). Flores, however, borrows ideas and concepts from scholars like Johannes Fabian who argues for keeping the “historical sense of popular culture as ‘folkloric’ while recognizing the role of the media in the twentieth-century culture” (Fabian, 1998). Despite political and economic changes, “popular culture of the vernacular, community-based kind will continue to be present as a mode of social relations, not to be wished away or analyzed out of existence in response to pervasiveness of media consumption” (Flores, 2000:28). Flores argues that, “in time popular culture/ ‘moments of freedom’ are always now, always contemporary although drawn from a historical past time and tradition” (Flores, 2000:29).
My literary research on the Bomba performance complex was drawn from two bodies of work, namely, work on the Bomba performance itself and work on performances in general. Adkins 20
While there are not many studies available in English on Bomba, the ones that exist are largely historical and tend to focus on the origins of Bomba in rural Puerto Rico and its spread and development in urban Puerto Rico and New York. There seems to be a consensus by these researchers that the meaning and function of this dance complex depend on the social and historical context in which the dance is performed. Whether it is understood as an expression of freedom, act of resistance, assertion of identity, or commodified entertainment, the social context and historical moment are critical in understanding the dance’s impact and meaning. These works are part of a wider body of performance studies, examples of which are given above, that interpret the meaning and function of cultural performances of various kinds in society. I have included these studies in my review as the insights into the theoretical frameworks used to analyze a whole range of the performance arts, including dance, will be useful in helping me analyze the Bomba performance in Los Angeles. Broadly speaking, the theorists in performance studies that I have reviewed above suggest that performances can be disruptive of the hegemonic order of society (Gomez-Pena, 2001) and/or a space for creating disturbance and counter-hegemonic practices (Lane, 2002). While agreeing that performances can serve these disruptive purposes, Flores (2000) show how performances can be co-opted and reinforce hegemonic practices and ideas, even if they are considered part of “popular culture”. My research contributes to the study of Bomba by looking at the performance of Bomba in Los Angeles. No academic work that I know of exists on this topic. I will use the theoretical frameworks cited above to understand and analyze my data.
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Literature Review Bibliography
Cartagena, Juan. When Bomba Becomes the National Music of the Puerto Rico Nation (2004): 14-35. City University of New York. Web. 09 Oct. 2012.
Fabian, Johannes. Moments of Freedom: Anthropology and Popular Culture. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1998.
Flores, Juan. "’pueblo Pueblo’ Popular Culture in Time." In From Bomba to Hip Hop: Puerto Rican Culture and Latino Identity. Juan Flores. New York: Columbia UP, 2000. 17-29.
Flores, Juan. "Salvacion Casita: Space, Performance, and Community”. In From Bomba to Hip Hop: Puerto Rican Culture and Latino Identity. Juan Flores. New York: Columbia UP, 2000. 63- 77.
Garcia Canclini, Nestor. Hybrid Cultures: Strategies for Entering and Leaving Modernity. Mexico City: Grijalbo, 1989.
Gomez-Pena, Guillermo. “The New World Border: The Free Trade Art Agreement/ El Tratado De Libre Cultura”. Guillermo Gomez-Pena. San Francisco: City Lights Publishers, 1996. 5-18.
Ferreras, Salvador E. Solo. Drumming in Puerto Rican Bomba: An analysis of Musical Process and Improvisational Strategies. Dissertation. The University of British Columbia, 2005.
Lane, Jill “Reverend Billy: Preaching, protest, and postindustrial flanerie” in The Performance Studies Reader. Ed. Henry Bial, London: Rout ledge. 2002, 299-308.
MacAloon, John J. “Introduction: Cultural Performances, Culture Theory”. In Rite, Drama, Festival, Spectacle: Rehearsals Toward a Theory of Cultural Performance. Ed. John MacAloon, Institute for the Study of Human Issues, 1984, 1 – 15. Adkins 22
"Puerto Rico's Culture: Music." Welcome to Puerto Rico. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2012.
Smithsonian Institution. "Puerto Rican Bomba and Plena Shared Traditions Distinct Rhythms." In Smithsonian Folkways. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2012
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Research Findings
I. Performance Observations/ Audience Perspective
One of the methods I used in my research was participant observation. In order to better understand Bomba, I attended five Bomba performances in the Los Angeles area and in Orange County. My very first experience with Bomba occurred on May 2nd 2012 on my college campus, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. At this performance, and at subsequent performances, I observed that the audiences were made up largely of people from the Mexican/Chicano(a) and/or of Latino communities. At every performance, I was one of the very few African-American/Black or Afro descent individuals present. I found the lack of a large Black/African American presence at these performances rather interesting, as the music and dance movements can clearly be identified as African-derived.
Atabey, the Los Angeles Bomba group, typically performed in small and quaint spaces that were primarily located in densely Mexican/Central American communities. These venues were community spaces that used art as a vehicle for bringing people together. The linking of art with community development seemed to be the reason why the Bomba performers were invited to perform. The venues were “artistic spaces”, combining music, paintings, murals, artistic sculptures, books, handmade jewelry and bags in one location. These venues also included the serving of vegetables and fruits from family or community operated farms, and various food trucks/carts that sold foods of Greek, Mexican and American origin.
I closely observed the reaction of audiences in these “Latino” spaces to the Bomba performances. The initial reaction of audiences can be best described as subdued, yet attentive. I surmised that the incorporation of the African elements (i.e. drumming, call and response, hip- hop influence choreography) in the performance did not evoke instant recognition. There was one event in particular, Ritmos de Amor, which showcased the musical and artistic talents of Las Cafeteras and Atabey, the Bomba group. Las Cafeteras is an experimental and politically charged musical group based on the East side of Los Angeles that infuses the sounds and rhythms of Afro-Mexican, Afro-Caribbean and Son Jarocho music sung in the Spanish, English Adkins 24 and Spanglish languages (lascafteras.com). On this night, Las Cafeteras was the headliner for the event. Over 150 fans watched and sang along with their music. However, the energy in the crowd shifted when Atabey took the stage. It was clear from the audience’s response that this was unfamiliar and different for those present. I noticed the same reaction at all the other performances I attended. It seems that people were trying to make sense of what they were listening to – songs sung in the familiar Spanish language to the beat of unfamiliar African rhythms. Here was the co-mingling of sounds that are usually heard in two distinct and separate performance spaces. This co-mingling seemed to have caused “a psychic disturbance” in the audience as it combined both the familiar and unfamiliar in one performance. Audiences’ initial responses, therefore, were muted. However, by the third or fourth song, the audience was drawn into the performance, with the majority of them (mainly women and children) singing and dancing along to the music. One notable feature of the Bomba performances I observed was the way African performative elements were incorporated and “used” throughout the performance. Elements such as “call and response”, drumming rhythms, and the blurring of lines between performer and audience clearly identified the performance as African derived. Compared to the Las Cafeteras performance, where “artist” and “audience” were separated by an invisible line, Bomba blurred the line as Bomba performers regularly invited their audience to share the performance space with them. The Atabey singers did their best to engage the audience in every aspect of the performance. For example, members of the audience were encouraged to repeat and sing the lyrics of particular songs. Also, the performers routinely invited audience members to the stage to dance with them.
Soon after Atabey concluded their last song and dance, I asked volunteers from the audience to complete a survey that asked questions about their Bomba experience. The common themes/adjectives that the audience used to describe their Bomba experience were the following: fun, healing, amazing, inspiring, enriching, energetic, and communal. From the audience perspective, at least for those who filled out the survey, Bomba seems to generate unity, energy, and a sense of togetherness within community spaces. Audience members volunteered the following comments on their surveys: “[Bomba] brings traditions to a variety of communities….it expands, enriches and empowers”, “[Bomba] serves as healing spaces” , Adkins 25
“helps community evolve and appreciate others”, “these cultural performances are essential to become bicultural”, and lastly, “culture is very important in the community, it creates diversity.”
II. Performers Perspective a. Personal Meanings
The second method I used for my ethnography was interviewing and documenting the meanings of the Bomba performance for the Atabey performers. I interviewed six Atabey performers, four women (Soraya, Mayda, Kelly and Maritxell) and two men (Jose and Hector). Two of the six performers, Soraya and Maritxell, were born in Puerto Rico and the other four were born in the United States. Five of the interviews took place at their dance studio in Los Angeles and one at Jose’s house. Whether born on the island or in the United States, all six of the interviewees claimed a Puerto Rican ethnic background. Aside from Hector and Maritxell, who identified as Puerto Rican, the other members claimed multiple ethnic backgrounds. Mayda self-identified as “Puerto Rican [artist] from the Southside of Chicago”. Kelly stated that she was a “woman, white and Puerto Rican. I have used multiracial, bi-racial.” Soraya self- identified as a “Puerto Rican, Filipina, Chicana cultural worker”. Jose identified as an American “ ‘Ecuarican’, half Puerto Rican and half Ecuadorian’’.
When asked to state the reasons for their involvement in Bomba, the performers identified several, both personal and social. In analyzing my interviews, three themes emerged related to the personal meaning of Bomba for the performers. Healing, community, and an opportunity to express African cultural identity were the recurring refrains I heard in the interviews related to this question. Hector, for example, stated “…it’s important for our healing and for other peoples’ healing and the dignity of the dance and the movement…that moment is a healing-ness that is happening right there when you are daring to express an emotion with your whole body and that’s healing already…” (Feb. 5, 2013).
Despite being 3,000 miles away from the island, as children of the diaspora, the performers saw Bomba as providing an outlet for them to connect with their Puerto Rican or Afro-Puerto Rican roots and culture while living here in the United States. Kelly claimed that “It’s a way for me to connect with Puerto Ricans and learn about our culture” (Feb. 19, 2013). Similar to Kelly, Adkins 26
Bomba for Maritxell provides an avenue for her to be connected to her roots. “It was a connection to my roots, a way of keeping them alive” (Feb. 19, 2013), she says. Maritxell also states that it is her “responsibility to conserve my roots and to show it to my kids and keep it going….I feel like it is my duty to connect to the island” (Feb. 19, 2013). For Jose, Bomba personally means “…community, roots, ancestors, identity, and a way of expressing myself and my culture. To me, it’s a part of my being….It’s a roots thing (Jan.26, 2013). Bomba is not only seen as a vehicle for expressing one’s personal identity, but a means of connecting with and networking with people living on the island and throughout the Puerto Rican diaspora, “More now than ever we created links with the island, the people outside, and the island is now much more open to the people outside. There are links being created through Bomba” (Feb. 19, 2013), says Maritxell.
According to Maritxell and Soraya, who were born and raised in Puerto Rico, Bomba was not popularly practiced or valued by many Puerto Ricans on the island. Soraya states that, “I didn’t learn about it [Bomba] on the island and I lived on the island when I was little and didn’t know anything about it when I was there. And if I saw anything that looked like Bomba, my family would say that’s Dominican stuff ” (Feb. 19, 2013). For those performers, who were born in the U.S., they were not taught about Bomba from their Puerto Rican parent(s) when they were growing up. Bomba music and culture, or anything related to Afro-Puerto Rican history for that matter, was not a part of their childhood experience. Recalling her childhood “history” lessons from her parents, Mayda states, “…for my experience I wasn’t taught about my African roots, I wasn’t taught that my culture was African and Indigenous. I was taught my culture was Puerto Rican! And that’s mostly white, mostly Spanish colonizers of Europe” (Feb. 5, 2013). Like Maritxell and Soraya, the other four performers, Jose, Kelly, Mayda and Hector first heard and learned about Bomba in the United States. On the island, Bomba is popularly considered to be the “music for the blacks”. For an extended period of time, it was viewed in a negative light, a reminder of the African in Puerto Rican culture, which many sought to purge from Puerto Rico’s history. All the performers I interviewed mentioned that the performance of Bomba was a way for them to reclaim and connect with the African roots of their Puerto Rican cultural heritage.
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b. Social/ Political Meanings
While the performers spoke in great detail about what Bomba meant to them personally, they were also very conscious of the social and political dimensions of their performances in Los Angeles. They saw their performances as making social/political statements in two areas: privileging Blackness in a hegemonic culture that denies or negates it and overcoming cultural and racial divisions that separate communities. Mayda articulates this awareness as follows:
“The very fact that we are practicing it and doing it in this space is a political act, it’s an act of resistance, and preserving culture under any circumstances is a political act especially when looking at the history of Puerto Rico and how repressed the culture and people have been over hundreds of years, that’s a political act, that’s an act of resistance” (Feb. 19, 2013).
Mayda, who is light skinned, states that, “I wouldn’t racially identify as a black Puerto Rican, I mean look at me, but there is something very powerful in saying that I am in a sense” (Feb. 19, 2013).
Hector and Mayda claim that Bomba has the potential to start a discussion about how to heal the divisions between black and brown communities. According to Hector, Bomba is essential not only to the healing of the Puerto Rican, but also to the healing of all people who come into contact with the movements and emotions of Bomba. In regards to the power of Bomba, Mayda eloquently states:
“That’s the power of music, that’s the power of art, you get to re-create, you get to remix your identity with other peoples identities and out of that space comes out a whole new identity and a whole new ability to connect with people beyond borders, race, class and boundaries and beyond on all that stuff and that’s what is healing” (Feb. 5, 2013).
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In February, Atabey was invited by a high school in Perris, California to perform at a black and brown unity assembly, in the hope of restoring black and brown student relationships on the campus. Reflecting on that experience, Mayda claimed that the power within Bomba music creates safe spaces to “really open the discussion to heal that relation between black and brown communities [in Los Angeles]” (Feb. 5, 2013). She further states that Bomba is “powerful and healing and as children, as the new world, as children of the diaspora, people who come from this really deep history of all these cultures and intermingling in the new world, its real healing to say, oh this is a part of who I am” (Feb. 5, 2013).
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Analysis and Discussion
To help in my analysis of Bomba, I draw on the works of Cartagena (2004), Ferreras (2005), and Flores (2000) , who argued that the meaning of Bomba can only be understood in its historical and social contexts. All three authors demonstrated that at different times in Puerto Rico’s history, for example, when performed by enslaved Africans, Bomba could be considered a performance of resistance and liberation. Later on, when Bomba moved from rural Puerto Rico to urban Puerto Rico, it became a socially co-opted form of community entertainment controlled by the social elite. Based on my research findings, I suggest that Bomba in Los Angeles could be understood as a performance of resistance as it is disruptive of the status quo and displays what Flores terms expressions of “moments of freedom…local plays of power and flashes of collective imagination” (Flores, 2000:17). This is evident in three areas: the transformation of gender roles, the inclusion of the African in mestizo Latino identity, and its potential to undermine the construction of “black” and “brown” communities as separate and distinct from each other.
Traditionally in Bomba culture, males have performed the dominant role of drummer in performance spaces. However, in Los Angeles and San Francisco, women such as Mayda, and several all-female collective groups have emerged as drummers on the Bomba scene. The disruption of gender roles in the modern evolution of Bomba culture can also be seen in dancing. Traditionally, women were the lead dancers while men controlled the drumming. In the performances I observed, Hector and Jose led some of the dances. One video of an Atabey performance in Santa Ana captured a female dancer executing movements that are typically associated with male dancers. It seems that while the performers of Bomba in Los Angeles are intent on expressing a version of Puerto Rican cultural heritage, their concern is not with an exact replication of “tradition”, but with the spirit of resistance in that tradition.
The performers of Bomba in Los Angeles also seem to be intent on creating a safe space for the Puerto Rican and Latino communities to discuss and express “blackness” within Latino culture. Atabey makes a conscious effort to include the African into the definition of “mestizo” as applied to Latino peoples and cultures. This is certainly a very “disruptive” idea as this term is popularly understood in Los Angeles to include only the indigenous and Spanish roots of Adkins 30
Latino culture. This, in spite of the fact that originally the concept of La Raza Cosmica in Mexico included all races, including the African. To privilege, claim, and value “Blackness” by ‘brown’ performing bodies is certainly very subversive.
The performance of Bomba in Los Angeles, therefore, seems to have the potential to disrupt the narrative of “over-stated differences” (Gomez-Pena, 2001) when applied to the “black” and “brown” communities in Los Angeles. However, I have no evidence based on my limited research to conclude that Bomba is in fact a real factor in bridging the divide between “black” and “brown” communities in LA. From my observations, there was not a large African American presence at the Atabey Los Angeles community performances. Given that Los Angeles is divided into ethnic enclaves, it is likely that the absence of African Americans can be explained by the fact that these performances were held in predominately Latino/Mexican- American communities. African Americans, however, were present when schools and universities invited Atabey to perform at “black” and “brown” unity assemblies. It seems as though school teachers reached out to Atabey because they [teachers] saw the potential for Atabey to bridge the divide between “black” and “brown” students.
The artist, Gomez-Pena, claims that the upholding and internalizing of “over-stated differences” or neo-nationalistic tendencies among groups prevent people from changing the status quo (2001). He argues that art and performances have the potential to challenge people and communities to re-imagine new possibilities of understanding identity and culture, where continuous border crossing and hybridity are a part of everyday life. Bomba, as performed by Atabey in Los Angeles, is a good example of what Gomez-Pena calls a “Fourth World”, a space where hybridity and cross-cultural dialogue can occur. Atabey is clearly taking steps to build cross-cultural alliances and create new/(re)imagined possibilities of identity. As a performance, therefore, it has the potential to both disrupt and create new ways of thinking and being “black” and “brown” in Los Angeles.
In conclusion, my research has shown that Bomba is more than entertainment for its audiences and performers. It has deep personal and social/political significance for those who perform and those who view the performances. Bomba has been changed and transformed over time and space because Bomba is intimately connected to its social and political contexts. This Adkins 31 change is evident when viewed from its beginnings in rural Puerto Rico to urban Los Angeles. Bomba does have the potential to transform race relations between “black” and “brown” communities in Los Angeles as evidenced in performers being invited by teachers to schools to help deal with conflict between both groups. However, I have no hard evidence that Bomba is in fact transforming relations between “black” and “brown” people within the broader Los Angeles community.
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Research Findings References
Carrero, Maritxell, Kelly Archbold, Soraya Medina, and Mayda Del Valle. "In-depth Interviews." Personal interview. 19 Feb. 201
Cartagena, Juan. When Bomba Becomes the National Music of the Puerto Rico Nation (2004): 14-35. City University of New York. Web. 09 Oct. 2012.
Flores, Juan. "’pueblo Pueblo’ Popular Culture in Time." In From Bomba to Hip Hop: Puerto Rican Culture and Latino Identity. Juan Flores. New York: Columbia UP, 2000. 17-29.
Flores, Juan. "Salvacion Casita: Space, Performance, and Community”. In From Bomba to Hip Hop: Puerto Rican Culture and Latino Identity. Juan Flores. New York: Columbia UP, 2000. 63- 77.
Gomez-Pena, Guillermo. “The New World Border: The Free Trade Art Agreement/ El Tratado De Libre Cultura”. Guillermo Gomez-Pena. San Francisco: City Lights Publishers, 1996. 5-18.
Ferreras, Salvador E. Solo. Drumming in Puerto Rican Bomba: An analysis of Musical Process and Improvisational Strategies. Dissertation. The University of British Columbia, 2005.
"Las Cafeteras Biography." Las Cafeteras. Web. 2 May 2013. http://lascafeteras.com/
Luis Ortiz Rivera, Hector, and Mayda Del Valle. "In-depth Interviews." Personal interview. 5 Feb. 2013.
Rodriguez, Jose. "In-depth Interviews." Personal Interview. 26 Jan. 2013.