Our partner Alberto Pagán-Ramírez of the Instituto Puertorriqueño De Música, http://www.ipmusica.com, introduces us to the basic steps and percussion instruments of Puerto Rican bomba music.

Puerto Rican communities with strong ties to Africa developed bomba music, with its energizing drumming and dancing call and response. Bombz was born in the 17th and 18th centuries, giving enslaved Africans a medium to express both their struggles and triumphs through song. In most genres of music in which drums interplay with dance the drummers set the rhythm and the dancers dance along. In bomba dancers have the power; dancers often determine the pace and spirit of the performance as the musicians drum along.