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NAME: Los Pleneros de la 21 CULTURE: Puerto Rican GENRE: Bomba y Plena REGION: New York City COUNTY: New York BIO: Los Pleneros de la 21, was formed in the South Bronx, New York City, in 1983 by National Heritage Fellow, Juan Gutiérrez-Rodriguez. The group includes three generations of Puerto Rican musicians, dancers, and artisans dedicated to performance of Bomba and Plena, two styles of Puerto Rican music which spring from deeply rooted African traditions. The group consists of traditional practitioners and professional musicians who have been deeply influenced and trained in the traditional performance and execution of Bomba and Plena, coming together to keep their traditions alive. In addition to performing the songs and dances, they make their own instruments. The name of the ensemble evokes the place of origin of its members, the former Parada 21 (Bus Stop 21), a predominantly Black neighborhood in the Santurce municipality of San Juan, Puerto Rico, that produced many of the island’s most accomplished interpreters of Bomba and Plena. Los Pleneros, which means practitioner-musicians of Plena, were the first New York-based Puerto Rican Bomba and Plena group to perform at world-renowned Carnegie Hall. Though Los Pleneros have performed at Symphony Space, Lincoln Center; the Smithsonian Festival of American Folklife, the International Folklore Festival in Russia; the Hawaiian Tour, University of Hawaii at Manoa; Westcan Jazz Festivals Tour, and New Mexico State Tour and have been featured on the Sesame Street television program, Los Pleneros de le 21 remains deeply rooted in the Puerto Rican community, maintaining an active program of workshops, performances, and lecture demonstrations for children, teenagers, senior citizens, and the community in general. DISCOGRAPHY: Puerto Rico Mi Tierra Natal, (Shanachie Records, 1990) Somos Boricuas: Bomba Y Plena En Nueva York (Henry Street Records 1996) Para Todos Ustedes (Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, 2005) Puerto Rico Tropical with Quinteto Criollo (Latitudes, 1997) LISTEN to a sample: http://www.myspace.com/losplenerosdela21 WEBSITE: www.losplenerosdela21.org CONTACT: pleneros21@aol.com

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