Community Resource Library: Bomba
This is a collection of resources shared by and exchanged amongst the members of Raíces Cultural Center’s Community Arts Program. Have a resource to add to the library? Email it to raices [at] raicesculturalcenter.org
A video documentary exploring “la bomba” as a tool of resistance through creative expression among Puerto Ricans. Created and produced by Ángela M. Capeles
Bomba is an ancient genre of resistance from Puerto Rico created by enslaved people on the island over 400 years ago. Recently, bomba music has been a staple of Black Lives Matter protests calling back to its roots as a music of resilience.
Footage from the early 80’s of bomba in Loiza.
From the paseo to the marullo, learn a few basic steps of bomba with Afro-Puerto Rican dancer Mar Cruz in Loíza, Puerto Rico. Mar and her sister María represent a new movement of Afro Latinos who are reclaiming their cultural traditions to celebrate Black pride and acknowledge the island’s complex history of racism.
Witness the unstoppable joy of dancing bomba, Puerto Rico’s Afro-Puerto Rican dance of resistance. Meet sisters Mar and María Cruz who are dedicated to the dance and its legacy of survival, and trace some of the communities where bomba is at its most vibrant, from the Santurce area of San Juan, to Loíza, the bastion of Afro-Puerto Rican culture across the Rio Grande.
Bombazo Dance Co Education – Practice Loop for dance and drum.
Sheila Osorio, maestra de bomba del taller N’ZAMBI en Loíza, presenta las distintas modalidades la cultura de la bomba en nuestra isla.
A Raíces Folkloric Ensemble Production – This pandemic project is our own artistic contribution to our community’s new “digital batey”, created to reflect the spirit of resistance and protest that is so crucial to these folkloric forms, both in Puerto Rico, and here in the diaspora.