A night of Afro-Puerto Rican Bomba and Son Jarocho, in Santa Ana

El Centro Cultural de México & Son del Centro Present: Bombazo-Fandango, A night of Afro-Puerto Rican Bomba and Son Jarocho, on Saturday, September 26, 2009, from 6:00pm to Midnight.

The event will take place at the Fiesta Marketplace, located at 300 E 4th Street, Santa Ana, located near the intersection of 3rd Street and Bush Street.

The event includes Bomba Dancing Workshop and Zapateado Workshop, from 6pm-8pm, and Bombazo-Fandango, from 8pm-Midnight.

Suggested Donation: only $5 to $10 – and no one will be turned away for lack of funds!

Bomba is a musical expression created in Puerto Rico at the end of the 17th century, by West Africans and their descendants from neighboring islands who worked the colonial sugar plantations along the coast of Puerto Rico.

It was at “Bailes de Bombas” where baptisms and marriages were celebrated, and rebellions planned. At Bailes the Bomba, the sounds of drums called “barriles,” typically made of empty codfish or rum barrels, drew the crowd into a circle. Dancers took turns challenging the drums, creating a dialog with their movements that the solo drummer answered.

Son Jarocho, traditional music of the state of Veracruz, Mexico, represents a fusion of Indigenous (primarily Huastecan), Spanish, and African musical elements, reflecting the population which evolved in the region from Spanish colonial times. The West African influence is characterized by a highly repetitive musical structure, by improvisational lyrics with individual call and response, and by its humor and spontaneity.