LP21 offers music that reaches out

By Keith J. O'Connor

SPRINGFIELD - The musicians, dancers and artisans who make up Los Pleneros de la 21 appearing at the Greek Cultural Center on Sunday say they do more than just perform bomba and plena - two styles of Puerto Rican music which springs from deeply rooted African traditions - they "live it" by taking it into communities such as Springfield then bringing it back to their own homes.

"The music is all about perceptions, about all kinds of human feelings, and it's not just lively sounding with an infectious beat, but sad, too, and aggressive like hip hop," said group founder Juan J. Gutiérrez.

The free concert, set for 3 p.m., is presented by the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC), Springfield Public Schools and the Spanish American Union.

Based in East Harlem in New York City, LP21 preserves the musical traditions of Afro-Puerto Rican culture through performance and community outreach.

Their music has roots hundreds of years old from the days when Spanish colonists brought West African slaves to cultivate Puerto Rico's sugar cane. Group members - spanning several generations - meld European, African, and Native Taino musical traditions. Together for 25 years, they have toured more than 100 cities worldwide and in 2006 received a Grammy nomination for "Para Todos Ustedes" on Smithsonian Folkways Records.

LP21 was founded in 1983 by Gutiérrez, a NEA National Heritage Fellow, whose goal for the performing arts organization was to foster an appreciation of Puerto Rican traditional expressions, particularly those of bomba and plena, as fundamental to a healthy community life.

We understand what we do is part of the cultural dynamics of our community, because as Puerto Ricans here in the States we have struggled for generations because of the political status of Puerto Rico and its relationship with the United States," Gutiérrez said.

And the practice of celebrating with our traditional music is something that makes us proud of ourselves and our heritage, in particular for the younger generation, some of whom do not have the opportunity to learn about these traditions in their own family circles. So, we act as extended family most of the time for youngsters to understand, enjoy and learn about our traditions," he said.

Their local appearance is part of the Massachusetts Cultural Council's Explorations in Puerto Rican Culture, an educational program for teachers from grades three through eight in Springfield whose goal is to incorporate aspects of Puerto Rican culture into their students' educations.

The sounds and rhythms we play are not complicated, but reachable to people. And that is part of what our performances are all about, reaching out to people through the music we play," Gutiérrez said.

© Copyright 2008 The Springfield Republican