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Bomba NYC

Bomba is a Puerto Rican drum, song, and dance tradition of the African Diaspora, but today it is a communal expression of family, faith, community, and love for all Puerto Ricans. Bomba rhythms mixed with Cuban son into salsa.

In NYC, bomba is performed and taught by folkloric drum, song and dance groups such as Los Pleneros de la 21, BombaYo, Bombazo Dance Co, and Danza Fiesta.

It’s performed at Hostos Center, Bronx Heritage Music Center; and at New York’s summer festivals including: the 116th Street Festival, 152nd St Festival, AfriBembé Festival, Loisaida Festival, and National Puerto Rican Day Parade.

The bomba drum is the bomba barril which used to made from rum barrels. Life has changed, but back in the day the drum never stopped in New York City.

Bom-ba, ta-ba, bom-ba, ta-ba…

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Dance Parade NYC 2023 DanceFest Gets over 10,000 New Yorkers Dancing in the Streets

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Saturday, May 20, 2023

Continue Reading Dance Parade NYC 2023 DanceFest Gets over 10,000 New Yorkers Dancing in the Streets

Bomba NYC Archive

New York Bomba

NY Bomba Artists

Danza Fiesta

Los Pleneros de la 21

NY Bomba Venues

Bronx Music Heritage Center

Hostos Center

Bomba in Puerto Rico

Bomba Musicians

Bomba Puertorriqueña, Ballet Folklorico Hermanos Ayala in Loiza Aldea (Keith Widyolar/New York Latin Culture Magazine)
Bomba Puertorriqueña, Ballet Folklorico Hermanos Ayala in Loiza Aldea (Keith Widyolar/New York Latin Culture Magazine)

Ballet Folklorico de los Hermanos Ayala

La Familia Cepeda de Santurce

Bomba Musicians

Ama Rios

Atabal

Hector “Coco” Barez, El Laberinto del Coco

Bomba Puertorriqueña

Bomba Puertorriqueña is Puerto Rico’s drum, song and dance tradition. Bomba is an African Diaspora tradition that has become a marker of Puerto Rican identity for all Puerto Ricans. There are similar traditions across the African Diaspora (rumba, cumbia, tambor, festejo), but Puerto Rico has its own flavors. The iconic bomba image is a dancer raising her Puerto Rican pollera.

“Bomba” means pump. It doesn’t mean bomb. We pump the barril drum, which used to be made from old rum barrels.

Bomba is a game between the dancer and lead drummer. The drummer follows the dancer’s piques (moves) with the drum. Basically, the dancer plays the lead drummer.

It used to be a flirting game, but today both men and women drum and dance. In Puerto Rico, Ama Rios was the first “prima” or lead bomba drummer. You have no idea how radical that was in what is mostly a machista culture.

Many Puerto Ricans know bomba songs the way Americans know nursery rhymes.

In Cuba, Rumba Columbia is similar, but is mostly danced by men.

[Editor Loko Kiko Keith: I survived the pandemic in the bomba crew of Héctor “Coco” Barez, the former Calle 13 percussionist whose Latin alternative bomba fusion project is El Laberinto del Coco. My drum crew kept me sane during isolation, and I feel most Puerto Rican with a bomba barril in my hands. The drum changed my life.]

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