John Santos presents: Taller de Plena con los Maestros (Plena Workshop)

Admission: $20-$30 Sliding Scale

All levels welcome! (Youth with Plena experience are welcome, too.) 

Please bring panderetas and güícharos if you can! There will be a limited number to share.

The Plena is Puerto Rico’s most popular form of music with a rich history of political activism and documentation of the everyday lives, concerns and humor of working class Puerto Ricans and of every Puerto Rican. Its main instruments are the pandereta, an Islamic-derived frame drum held in one hand and played with the other, and the güícharo, a gourd scraper of indigenous Taino origin.

Three master musicians will conduct this workshop:

Juango Gutierrez is the founder and director of the landmark, Grammy-nominated Pleneros de la 21 (NY 1983) that claims the longest history of presenting traditional Puerto Rican Music in the US among active groups.

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Hector “Tito” Matos is a force of nature as a virtuoso panderetero, founder and director of the powerhouse, Grammy-nominated Viento de Agua (NY/PR 1997), as well as a leader of the movement that has researched and resuscitated the plena among Puerto Rican youth in recent decades.

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Also participating will be legendary Puerto Rican band leader and vocalist extraordinaire, Jerry Medina, who was a founding member of the iconic group, Batacumbele in 1980.