Plena
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
'Plena is a traditional form of Puerto Rican music, otherwise known as Reggaeton. However, Plena actually originates in Panama. It is a blend of African and Spanish influences. The music is related to similar music in Trinidad and Barbados.
The music's beat and rhythm are usually played using hand drums called panderetas or panderos (also called Pleneras by LP[1]) and a guiro. Panderos resemble tambourines but without the cymbals. These are handheld drums with stretched animal skins covering a round wooden frame. There is disagreement on whether the panderetas typically used in Puerto Rico today are adapted from instruments known in Spain from the time of the Moors known as an "adufe", or from similar African instruments. An advantage of this percussion arrangement is its portability, contributing to the plena's spontaineous appearance at any social gathering. Other instruments commonly heard in plena music are the cuatro, the maracas, requinto, and accordions.
The fundamental melody of the plena (a dance difficult to classify), as in all regional Puerto Rican music, has a decided Spanish strain; it is marked in the resemblance between the plena Santa María and a song composed in the Middle Ages by Alfonso the Wise, King of Spain. The lyrics of plena songs are usually octosyllabic and assonant. Following the universal custom the theme touches upon all phases of life—romance, politics, and current events—in fact, anything which appeals to the imagination of the people, such as the arrival of a personage, a crime, a bank moratorium, or a hurricane.
The rhythm itself was reportedly created by a black couple who were originally from Barbados and who lived in the Joya del Castillo section of Ponce, Puerto Rico, probably occurring as early as 1919. There is some speculation that "plena" is a corruption of "Play, Anna", the alleged initial call used by the husband to ask his wife to assist him in his drumming by playing the counterpoint that characterizes plena. However, Puerto Rican historians such as Ricardo Alegría have debased this as an urban legend, since the name plena had been used to depict the danceable part of traditional merengue as early as the 1850's. There is also some speculation that plena derives from the "holandé(s)" bomba rhythm, also native to Puerto Rico.
Plena quickly became a "singing news paper" for the lower classes, and used to spread messages among people, similar to the corridos in Mexico. The traditional center of plena was probably San Antón, a barrio of Ponce, although the black neighborhood of Loíza aldea is also mentioned as the heartland for the genre. Its popularity peaked in the 1920s.
Plena is played throughout Puerto Rico especially during special occasions such as the Christmas season, and as the musical backdrop for civic protests, due to its traditional use as a vehicle for social commentary. Whenever plena is played the audience also joins in the singing, clapping, and dancing. This is an African characteristic.
As a folk genre, there have been many good composers, some well known in their day and into the present. Perhaps one of the genre's most celebrated composers and performers was Manuel A Jiménez, known as 'El Canario'. Certainly, there were many others, including such greats as Ismael Rivera, Mon Rivera (the Younger), Daniel Santos and Rafael Cortijo. The genre has had a revival as of late, as evident by the emergence of many plena bands (such as Plena Libre) and its use in various songs, such as Ricky Martin's recent song "Pégate".
