Bomba and Plena with Juan and Julia | Carnegie Hall: Musical Explorers

Introduce your students to Juan and Julia with this “Meet Juan and Julia” video.

Bomba is a traditional style of Puerto Rican music initially growing from African traditions of predominantly enslaved people and their descendants in the context of plantation and post-plantation life in early colonial Puerto Rico.

Plena originated among urban workers of Puerto Rico’s coastal areas, mainly in Ponce and Mayagüez, shortly after Spain lost political control of the island, and thus during the early period of US colonial rule.