Abstract
In order to bring music of Puerto Rico to the general music classroom, it is important to understand the sociocultural and sociohistorical context of the music. The traditional genre of plena shares cultural threads with West Africa, Spain, and indigenous (Taíno) culture. Commonly known as El Periodico Cantado (the singing newspaper), plena songs give updates on what people are feeling and current events effecting the community. The plena song Que Bonita Bandera (What a Beautiful Flag) is explored for its potential uses in elementary and secondary general music classes.
Keywords
Puerto Rico was brought into the mainstream news cycle due to the devasting hurricanes of 2017. This also highlighted the continuing confusion regarding Puerto Rico’s relationship as a commonwealth to the United States. In order to bring music of Puerto Rico to the general music classroom, it is important to understand the sociocultural and sociohistorical context of the music. The following brief history can help music educators to feel better prepared to present music of Puerto Rico in their classes and ensembles.
Puerto Rico, or Borinquen, its original name, has three important cultural and ethnic threads: Spanish, West African, and Taíno, which refers to the indigenous culture. In the 1500s, Spanish soldiers took control from the Taíno and fought back Caribs—another indigenous group in the Caribbean. During this time, slaves from West Africa were forced to work along the coastal areas. The mixing of cultures over the centuries resulted in half of Puerto Rico’s 500,000 residents having mixed heritages of African and Spanish descent by 1850. Musical influences from all three cultures are apparent in folkloric traditions.
Puerto Rico’s relationship to the Unite States is a controversial topic among Puerto Ricans on both the island and the mainland. Some people support statehood so that Puerto Ricans can receive the same rights as those in states. Others fear the loss of an identity unique to Puerto Rico, including speaking Spanish. Still others have concerns that the local economy cannot survive without support from the United States, and so for now, Puerto Rico’s commonwealth status continues. During the ongoing recovery after the storms, music has been a healing and unifying practice for many on the island and their loved ones on the mainland. Traditional genres such as plena have been bringing people together while the island works to find its way back.
Plena
Plena developed from bomba music (another folkloric Afro-Puerto Rican genre) around the beginning of the 20th century in southern Puerto Rico. Plena was defined by Glasser (1995) as a “primarily Afro-Puerto Rican music that originated in the lower-class neighborhoods of turn-of-the-century Ponce and its outskirts” (p. 171). Plena shares cultural threads with West Africa, even as it represents the hybrid nature of Puerto Rican culture with its indigenous (Taíno), Spanish, and West African roots.
Commonly known as El Periodico Cantado (the singing newspaper), plena songs are call-and-response in structure. The lyrics typically give the latest updates on what people are feeling and on current events effecting the community. In an interview regarding plena’s role in bringing the community together after the hurricanes of 2017, Missy Adamus shared, “Our plena, our song, our music, is stronger—our community is stronger than [hurricane] Maria.” 1
The four-line stanza and refrain in plena songs are broken up into call and response patterns by solo and chorus. Plena typically has one basic rhythm set (Figure 1). Plena instrumentation has changed greatly over the years, but the main element is the pandereta (Figure 2), a round hand drum that comes in different sizes. The smallest of them is the requinto, which improvises over the rhythm of the other drums.
Pandereta and guiro plena rhythms.
Panderetas and guiro.
Que Bonita Bandera
A particularly popular plena song is Que Bonita Bandera (What a Beautiful Flag). At first glance, the tune (Figure 3) seems to simply describe the appearance of the Puerto Rican flag—blue, white, red, with a star in the middle. On further examination, it becomes clear that the song expresses the beauty of the Puerto Rican flag, which was illegal to display publicly from after Puerto Rico’s annexation by the United States in 1898 until the 1950s, and it is a rich source for musical experiences and discussions that “emphasize the musical identity for Puerto Ricans” (Berrios-Miranda, 2013, p. 304).
Que Bonita Bandera.
Spanish English Que bonita bandera (2x) What a beautiful flag
Kay boh-nee-tah bahn-deh-rah
Que bonita bandera es What a beautiful flag is
Kay boh-nee-tah bahn-deh-rah-es
La bandera Puertorriqueña the Puerto Rican flag.
Lah bahn-deh-ra pwehrto-ree-kay-nya
Azul, blanca y colora, Blue, white, and red
Ah-sool, blahn-kah-ee koh-lor-ah
En el medio tiene una estrella In the middle it has a star
Ehn el meh-dee-oh tee-eh-neh
oo-nah-ehs-trey-ya
Compay, que linda es My friend, how beautiful it is.
Kohm-pah-ee, kay leen-dah ehs
Es la bandera Puertorriqueña.
Ehs lah bahn-deh-ra pwehrto-ree-kay-nya
The most well-known version of Que Bonita Bandera was recorded by Ramito, a popular singer of mùsica jibara (traditional music identified with rural people in Puerto Rico). It appears that the basic refrain existed prior to Ramito’s recording, and many musicians have created their own versions over the decades, including Jennifer Lopez, Ricky Martin, Pete Seeger, Pepe y Flora, and José Gonzales y su Banda Criolla. Que Bonita Bandera is heard in schools and cafes, is performed at marches and social actions, and is part of the Puerto Rican political life to this day, on both the island and the mainland.
The song is simple enough to use in elementary music classes, and certainly can advance through secondary general music with increasing complexity in the arrangement. Simple hand drums can substitute for the panderetas, 2 and the addition of maracas, guiro, and congas can enrich the performance experience.
Students in general music class can grow cultural empathy through instruction that includes understanding of the people and sociocultural context of a song. In a study with fifth-grade students (Howard, 2018), the children learned of Que Bonita Bandera and its importance to Puerto Ricans. When asked how they felt about Puerto Rico’s contested status, one boy responded, “Well, I would be pretty mad that we’re not kind of part of anything. It wouldn’t make me feel good that I’m not part of the big organism” (Howard, 2018, p. 270). When asked if they felt it was worth the time to learn of the background of the song, another classmate responded, “Yeah, if we didn’t know how important the song was to people in Puerto Rico, we would probably just sing it and I probably wouldn’t care so much. But since I know now, it makes me feel different about it. Like, it is more important to me.” (Howard, 2018, p. 270)
The flexibility surrounding what constitutes a “general” music class allows music teachers the freedom to construct innovative experiences for their students that may include deep listening, dancing, and playing piano and percussion as found in plena. To explore musical traditions of Puerto Rico, a general music teacher might collaborate with a Spanish teacher to have the classes perform together. A school choir might sing the traditional tunes while the global percussion ensemble provides the rhythmic engine. A piano class might team with the band to play improvisatory solos during the musical breaks of a song. Regardless of the class setting, some basic sociocultural and sociohistorical information goes a long way to helping students and their teachers understand a music culture (Howard & Kelley, 2018).
Suggested Resources for Teaching and Learning Plena
Videos
Hector “Tito” Matos and Members of Los Pleneros de la 21 Demonstrate Plena Music (video)
http://www.folkways.si.edu/drums-plena/latin-instruction-world/music/video/smithsonian
Tito Matos teaching video for panderetas. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/Q6Rk46KJRr0
Michael de Miranda teaching video for plena. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/h_Xb2U8H4lw
Selected Recordings of Que Bonita Bandera
(2018). Edinho Chagas. Royal Music.
(2012). Plena Libre. Corazón. GN Musica.
(2007). Jose Gonzalez & Banda Criolla. Caribbean Fiesta for Kids. Criollo Classico Music.
(1999). Chuito y Ramito. 2 Gigantes de la Música Típica. Disco Hit Productions.
(1998). Tony “Boom Boom” Badea. Simitar.
(1971/2004). Pepe Y Flora. QBB. Tengo Puerto Rico en Mi Corazón. Smithsonian Folkways Recordings/Paredon Records.
Books/Articles
Jimenez, A. (2011). Picante: Salsa music styles for the classroom and beyond. Hal Leonard.
Spotlight on Plenero Tito Matos (Article). Retrieved from https://folkways.si.edu/tito-matos-puerto-rican-plena-drummer/latin-world/music/article/smithsonian
Fieta de plena (Article). Retrieved from
Footnotes
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.