El Laberinto del Coco is the Afro-Puerto Rican Bomba Fusion big band led by Héctor “Coco” Barez, Calle 13’s former percussionist. Their fusion is Puerto Rican bomba with jazz, rock, and hip hop. It’s really Latin alternative.
The group has played the world’s great stages including Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, SXSW, La Sanse (Puerto Rico’s biggest festival), and more. The group is supported by the NEA National Endowment of the Arts and the Puerto Rican Institute of Culture (Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña).
El Laberinto del Coco isn’t just a bomba fusion big band, they are a force of nature.
El Laberinto del Coco in New York City
Lincoln Center
El Laberinto del Coco plays big band Puerto Rican bomba alternative on Lincoln Center’s Summer for the City Dance Floor; on Saturday, August 2, 2025 at 8:45pm. FREE. 🇵🇷
El Laberinto del Coco Albums
“El Laberinto del Coco” (2017) was the band’s debut. Since then, they’ve been dropping singles.
The opening song “El Laberinto del Coco” sets an almost mystical stage. “Bombuleria” takes us into a bombazo, bomba party. “Plere Maria” stretches a very traditional bomba. Listening to this makes us heartsick for Puerto Rico.
New York Venues
- Drom
- Lincoln Center
Check out El Laberinto del Coco in Miami on Instagram. They are HOT!
Héctor “Coco” Barez
Coco is very modest about this, but he was the percussionist for Calle 13, the Puerto Rican alternative hip hop group that won more Latin Grammys than anyone. He left the group just before they went on hiatus to pursue his own vision which is El Laberinto.
The labyrinth is a metaphor for a soul’s journey. There is an interesting synchronicity with Puerto Rico’s Indigenous Taíno petroglyphs of spirals that look just like labyrinths.
In the manner of Rafael Cortijo and Ismael Rivera, and more recently William Cepeda, Coco is taking Puerto Rico’s bomba tradition out into the world with El Laberinto’s bomba jazz, rock, and hip hop fusions. Our Puerto Rican heart loves his straight-ahead bomba. Someone in the group always dances a few songs. These are crowd favorites.
New York Latin Culture Magazine Editor “Kíko” Keith survived the pandemic alone by drumming in Coco’s bomba crew in Ocean Park at Ultimo Trolley in Santurce, San Juan, Puerto Rico. Since then, Coco’s drumming is part of New York Latin Culture Magazine’s DNA. He taught me to always answer the call of the drum, and I do. The call of the drum is a sacred call.
Puerto Rico has more than its fair share of creative artists and Coco is right in the middle of all that.