As in much of the Caribbean, the musical history of Puerto Rico is a complex story of how colonialism, native populations, slavery, and migrations—both to and from the island—collided and culminated in a tremendous diversity of musical traditions and popular genres. From bomba and plena to salsa and reggaeton, music pervades daily life in Puerto Rico. It's the key to the island's cultural identity and is the one thing that binds all Puerto Ricans together.
Not much is known about the musical traditions of the Taíno Indians, the original inhabitants of the island, but they did name the island "Borikén" (Island of the Brave World), which the Spanish spelled "Borinquén"—a name still proudly used today. The Spanish began to colonize the island in 1508, and the following century saw the virtual annihilation of the Taíno. The remnant was absorbed by the Spaniards and later by the slave population imported from Africa, such that their culture and music is only nominally present in current popular traditions. The presence of the guiro (a notched gourd played with a scraper) in many popular genres is traced to Puerto Rico's indigenous population.
During the colonial era, a series of musical traditions based on folk songs and ballads of 18th- and 19th- century Spain evolved, to create the basis of what is today known as jíbaro music (country music). The term Jíbaro today refers to the country folk of the mountains, with their way of life, clothing and music, and the emotional link they provide to a nostalgic rural past treasured by Puerto Ricans. The decima, derived from a poetic form common in 16th-century Spain, is at the root of jíbaro music, a form of song that uses 10 improvised couplets of eight syllables each.
The musical counterpart to the decima is the seis, an umbrella term for a repertoire of different melodic motifs that can be used as the basis for sung poetic improvisation. The seis evolved from genres that migrated from Spain in the 17th century. The accompanying instruments include a guitar or cuatro (a Puerto Rican adaptation of the Spanish guitar that has 5 pairs of strings and is considered the national instrument of Puerto Rico) as well as the güiro, bongo and sometimes a clarinet or trumpet. A traditional jíbaro singer is expected to sing and improvise the many traditional forms both passionately and accurately. There are many recordings of Jíbaro music, with few prolific contemporaries being Andrés Jiménez, also known as "El Jíbaro," the group Mapeyé, and the NY based cuatrista Yomo Toro.
During the 19th century, when a handful of plantation owners in Puerto Rico greatly increased their fortunes and their social aspirations, children who showed musical promise were sent to Spain for further training. By 1850 a group of island composers had adapted the most popular dance of the era, the minuet, into what is known as the danza. Based on a somewhat rigid classical score but with an underlying Caribbean lilt, the danza's most popular early composer was Juan Morel Campos.
While musica jíbara is primarily derived from Spanish traditions, bomba and plena are dance genres with roots in West Africa, sharing an African-based polyrhythmic structure, the use of two or three drums of different sizes and pitches, a soloist and chorus call-and-response formats as well as lyrical content that relates to everyday life of the community. Dating back to the 17th century, bomba was brought to the island by black slaves who worked on the island's sugar plantations. Bomba is played on barrel shaped drums called barriles, and is essentially a sensual dialogue between the drummer and the dancer, in which the drummer appears to challenge the dancer to a rhythmic duel, which lasts as long as the dancer's stamina persists. Plena was born in the late 19th century in working-class neighborhoods. Although rooted in Africa, it incorporates wider musical elements than the bomba, and its rhythmic structure is centered on the panderos, handheld tambourines. Plena dances were events in which the singers provided social and political satire and commentary for the community, creating an oral form of newscasting called el periódico cantado.
Culturally and musically, Puerto Rico has much in common with Cuba and the Dominican Republic. However, at the close of the 19th century, the United States took control over the island, after assisting Puerto Rico in its struggle for independence from Spain. In 1917 the Jones Act proclaimed the island an official territory of the United States, and Puerto Rico has since held a commonwealth status. This arrangement has helped Puerto Rico maintain a higher level of economic development than its sister islands, and it's greatly impacted the island's culture. The Jones Act made Puerto Ricans U.S. citizens, with the ability to travel and relocate to the mainland without restrictions. And with the onset of an agricultural depression, the 1930s saw the first big wave of immigration of impoverished refugees to urban centers in the U.S., followed by the development of large expatriate communities (exceeding the population of Puerto Rico itself) that retain strong ties to the island.
While most music historians credit Afro-Cuban music for providing the foundation for salsa, the Puerto Rican barrios of New York provided early salsa's urban tempos, drive, and jazzy big band arrangements, not to mention many of its players. The music traveled back to the island, where Cuban music already dominated the airwaves, and Puerto Rico became one of the primary producers of the genre. Some of the biggest names in salsa are Puerto Rican, including the great timbalero Tito Puente, the tragic singer Hector Lavoe, the ensemble El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico and contemporary singer Mark Anthony.
The merengue, usually associated with the Dominican Republic, is a two-step dance genre that is typified by a hip movement contrary to the step. As with Cuban music previously, the commercial-music industry in Puerto Rico has also adopted the merengue, and today some of the biggest stars of this genre are from Puerto Rico, including Olga Tañon and Elvis Crespo.
The biggest musical development in Puerto Rico in the last decade is reggaeton, which combines digitized Jamaican dancehall beats with rapid-fire Spanish rapping. Some of the most prominent stars of this emerging genre are Daddy Yankee, Ivy Queen and Tego Calderón. —Nili Belkind
