Jibaro music of Puerto Rico

Jibaros are small farmers of mainly Hispanic descent that made up the vast majority of the Puerto Rican populace until the mid-twentieth century. Puerto Rico was traditionally celebrated for their self-sufficiency, hospitality and love of song and dance. Their main renowned instruments were relatives of the Spanish vihuela, particularly the cuatro, which is now with ten cords in five double courses and the lesser known triple. A distinctive jibaro orchestra nowadays might feature a cuatro, guitar and drumming instrument such as guiro scraper and bongo. Lyrics to jibaro music are usually in the decima type, comprising of ten octosyllabic tempos in the rhyme scheme abba, accddc.  The decimal type originates from 16^th century Spain. Though it has vastly died out in that country (except the Canaries), it took origin in different regions in Latin America particularly Cuba and Puerto Rico where it is sung in different patterns. A sung decimal might be pre-composed, originated from a book by some intellectuals or ideally, improvised on the spot, particularly in the type of a controversia in which two singer-poets trade humorous insults or argue on some issue. This music type is also called Tipica.

source of picture: www.prfdance.org

The decimas are sung to stock melodies, with normalize cuatro accompaniment methods. About twenty such song-forms are in general use. These are grouped into two large groups such as seis (example, seis fajardeno, seis chorreao) and Aguinaldo (example Aguinaldo orocoveno, Aguinaldo cayeyano). Traditionally, the seis are accompanied by dance, but this custom has vastly died out except in tourist concerts and festivities. The Aguinaldo is usually sung during the Christmas period, when groups of merrymakers (parrandas) go about from house to house, singing jibaro songs and partying.  The Aguinaldo texts are usually not about the Christmas but it is different from Anglo-American Christmas Carlos, they are usually sung by a solo with other merrymakers singing chorus. In general, Christmas period is a period when traditional music of both Aguinaldo and seis are very likely to be heard. Fortunately, many groups of Puerto Ricans are committed to reserve the traditional music by continued practice.

The jibaro music came to be extensively marketed on the commercial recordings during the twentieth century, and vibrant singer-poets such as Ramito (Flor Morales Ramos from 1915 to 90). Though, jibaro itself became a rare species, as agribusiness and urbanization have extremely reduced the numbers of small farmers on the island. Many of the jibaros songs dealt with the changes of immigration to New York. Jibaro music has in general weakened accordingly, but is retains its position in local culture, particularly around the Christmas period and special social occasions, and there are several cuatro players which some of whom have cultivated immense talent.

Historical evidences show that by the years around 1800 plantation slaves were cultivating a music and dance genre known as bomba. At the mid-20^th century, it began to record and filmed. Bomba was performed in local irregular in different parts of the island, particularly in Ponce, Mayaguez, Loiza and San Juan. The history of bomba is not easy to restructure: different features reveal Congolese derivation; however some elements (as recommended by subgenre names like holandes) have clearly originated from elsewhere in the Caribbean. The French Caribbean elements are especially proof in the bomba pattern of Mayaguez and remarkable choreographic parallels can be seen with the bele of Martinique. All of this information where combined into a distinctive beat that indicates the life of the Jibaro, the slaves and the culture of Puerto Rico.

In the call-and-response song, it is set on ostinato-based rhythms which play in two or three squat drums (barriles), bomba resembles other neo-African genres in the Caribbean. In a clear African origin, the pattern in which a single person appears from an informal circle of singers to dance in front of the drummers, engaging the lead drummer in a kind of playful duel; and after dancing for some time, that person is then replaced by another. While different such elements discovered the roots in Africa or elsewhere, bomba must be known as a native Afro-Puerto Rican production. Its rhythms (instances include corridor, lero, seis and yuba etc), dance moves and song lyrics that due mimic farm animals (Spanish, with some French creole words in eastern Puerto Rico) jointly created a distinctive Puerto Rican genre.

The dance-band group of Rafael Cortijo and Ismael Rivera in the 50s performed several original songs which they labeled as bombas, though these bore some comparisons to the sica pattern of bomba in their rhythms and horn display that is also borrowed from Cuban dance music which had long been renowned in the island. Giving rise to the Charanga music during 1980s, bomba had dropped, though it was taught, in a somewhat formal style, by the Cepeda family in Santurce, San Juan and it is still actively done informally, however with much vigor, in the Loiza cities, home to then Ayala family reign of bomberos. Bomba continues to stay there, and has also experienced something of a renewal, being cultivated by folkloric groups elsewhere in the island and in New York City. The all-female women group known as Alma Moyo has also plays an important role in its renewal. Like other customs, bomba is currently well documented on sites like YouTube and also a few ethnographic documentary films.