Plena Libre

"The Latin explosion has been a Puerto Rican Explosion," asserted Gary Núñez, the leader, bassist,and arranger of Plena Libre. "Rocky Martin, Marc Anthony, and Son By Four all come from here." And if Núñez has anything to do with it, his high-energy band, whose new CD is Más Libre, (RykoLatino) will be taking their country's national rhythm around the world.

"It's rich music, with a lot of variety, and it's been a well-kept secret. And it's the perfect rhythm for the outside world to appreciate Puerto Rico. It's very danceable, joyous rhythm."

"It's rich music, with a lot of variety, and it's been a well-kept secret."

The plena began life in Puerto Rico in the 18th century, the music for couples dancing, and the lyrics serving almost as a new medium, like corrido and calypso. Over the course of time, instruments were added, but plena remained largely unknown outside the island. It reached a height in the ‘60s, with " Cortijo and his band, continued Núñez. "Before the mid-‘60s, all popular artists would record plenas. The last artists to be famous with plena were Ismael Rivera, the greatest Latin sonero - Beny Moré called him the greatest sonero. He worked with Cortijo, and they traveled all over."

After that the plena faded into a folkloric form, until Núñez, who'd spent 15 years playing all types of Caribbean music and jazz, decided to revive it in 1994 with Plena Libre.

Their first album, Juntos Y Revueltos was an instant smash at home, spawning hit singles and gaining airplay. But in the seven records since then, the 13-piece band has developed and broadened their sound.

"We try to enrich plena by taking from other types of music, as long as it doesn't clash. We've taken a merengue rhythm and put it on top of plena, and it's sounded great. We've also done a combination with Brazilian music. We all share the same African root. The possibility for combination with other rhythm and melody styles enables us to enrich what we're doing, and the result is that the frontiers for plena are expanded."

While the lyrical content of the old plenas has little relevance for today's population, Núñez has tried to modernize the form there, too, by making " new lyrics that have a sense of today's reality and language all over the world."

Obviously, it's worked. The band has a big enough fanbase to headline San Juan's Roberto Clemente Stadium with their instantly recognizable sound, propelled by the pandeoris and a female conga player, the powerful vocals, and a swinging horn section, all capable of forays into jazz, as on "Tema De Luis Gabriel," "which I wrote for my youngest child, we took the form of Latin jazz, but instead of using the Cuban rhythm as a foundation, I used a specific type of Puerto Rican bomba, the holandes. Then the improvisation is done on top of the plena rhythm."

For Plena Libre, Más Libre, which translates as ‘Freer,' means the musical barriers are down. "We reflect our generation, and the way we see the world," Núñez observed. "We're trying to expand borders, not closing to our minds to anything. As long as it works, and it doesn't interfere with plena, we'll use it."

Plena Libre

"It's rich music, with a lot of variety, and it's been a well-kept secret."

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