Created on Puerto Ricos colonial sugar plantations by African slaves and their descendants, bomba is the most purely African music genre of Puerto Rico and one of the oldest, dating back to the 1680s. Bombas roots may trace back to the Akan people of modern Ghana, the original ancestors of much of the black population of Puerto Rico. Performing and dancing the bomba provided a social and political outlet for a people burdened with the hardships of slavery; bomba was danced at the sugar plantations on Saturday nights and holidays, usually in open areas in the sugarcane fields or in the plazas of the town square. Although the bomba developed as a secular dance form, it provided an outlet for spiritual expression and release as well. Forbidden from worshiping their ancient African gods,
Posted on: Mon, 15 Dec 2014 15:44:45 +0000
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