Plena Music of Puerto Rico
Plena music mirrors the combined Spanish and African heritage
of Puerto Ricans. Plenas are frequently performed in a call
and response structure with stanzas and refrains. In their
earliest forms, plena songs were accompanied by percussion
instruments, specifically the panderas. The panderas is a
hand drum similar to the tambourine but without the percussive
metal rings. Its origins are African. Several panderas are
used to provide the rhythm that gives plena music a strong
dance beat.
In the last fifty years, plena musicians (pleneros) have
added the cuatro to the panderas, giving the music a fuller
sound. The cuatro is a ten-stringed plucked instrument of
the lute family. An earlier form of the instrument had eight
strings with pairs of strings tuned to the same note. Thus,
the instrument was named cuatro, meaning "four."
Tuned in fifths, the cuatro evolved from the Spanish vihuela.
It is played as the melodic lead or as harmonic accompaniment.
A plena band will often have more than one cuatro player.
Other instruments played by the pleneros include the congas
(large African drums), guitars, guiros and maracas (vegetable
instruments made by the Taino Indians of Puerto Rico), and
the clave (an African bamboo instrument).
© 2001 On Tour Productions
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