Puerto Rican ensemble Plena Libre performs a unique mix of Afro-Puerto Rican plena, salsa, bomba, jazz and other Afro-Caribbean genres.
“Más Libre,”(Freer) was released in October 2000 on RykoLatino. Their eighth recording and third for RykoLatino, came a year after their critically acclaimed “Juntos y Revueltos”. Más Libre drew from an even wider sonic vocabulary – jazz, reggae, salsa, samba, songo, bomba, merengue, and cumbia.
Since their inception in 1994, Plena Libre, led by bassist, arranger, composer and producer Gary Núñez, has become a strong force on the musical scene of Puerto Rico.
Plena Libre was born out of plena jam sessions in which Gary Núñez participated. In those sessions Gary began to focus on this rhythm that had been brushed aside by the more popular salsa and merengue. He also decided to break this genre out of its folkloric mold. Since then, Plena Libre band has been expanding the borders of plena music.
“When I was 20 years old,” remembers Gary, “I met Noel Hernandez, who is now my compadre. He opened my eyes to my Puerto Rican heritage, got me into studying my history and my musical roots. I realized then that, as much as Puerto Rican musicians were known worldwide in many fields of music, the music that was truly traditional to Puerto Rico was hardly known. I wanted to change that, to devote myself to the music that is based on our African heritage, the plena and the bomba. Up to then they were relegated to holiday get-togethers and in danger of disappearing entirely. That’s how Plena Libre, or ‘free plena’ was born.”
Plena Libre has performed hundreds of shows in Puerto Rico, and has toured in the U.S., receiving extraordinary reviews for their performances and for their recordings that have generated over 15 hit songs and sold over 150,000 copies in Puerto Rico alone.
Plena Libre became the first group to hit the charts with a plena tune in almost 15 years with “El Party” from their first recording “Juntos y Revueltos” (1994) that was re-released by RykoLatino (RLCD 1005) for the international market .
In May of 1999 Plena Libre became the first plena group to perform at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum with their unique presentation “Puerto Rico Sabe a Plena”. A crowd of over 5,000 and the critics applauded Plena Libre’s performance that was later broadcast on commercial TV.
Their list of accomplishments includes an award by the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico’s Legislature (1999), “Fundación Rafael Cepeda” (1997), and an award given by Loiza, the town known as the birth place of the bomba y plena, (1995).
In 2023, Plena Libre celebrated its 30th anniversary with the release of Cuatro Esquinas and a worldwide tour. The album features a mix of traditional and original songs, highlighting the band’s signature sound of hand drumming, horns, call and response vocals, and three-part vocal harmonies. The addition of piano and keyboards, electric bass lines, salsa-style brass, and Spanish-influenced guitar in two of their compositions adds a unique and creative dimension to their overall sound. The album title, “Cuatro Esquinas,” which means “four corners,” was inspired by bandleader Gary Núñez’s childhood memories of a Puerto Rican neighborhood meeting point. The album content spans a diverse range of topics, including love, national identity, politics, American colonialism, and firearm violence. The band thanked all their supporters, musicians, and Núñez’s wife, Valerie Cox, for their support over the past 30 years.
Discography
Juntos y Revueltos I (1994)
Cógelo que Ahí Te Va (1995)
Plena Pa’Ti (1996)
De parranda (1997)
Plena Libre Mix (1998)
Plena Libre (1999)
Juntos y Revueltos II
Más Libre (RykoLatino, 2000)
Estamos Gozando! (Times Square, 2004)
Evolucion (Times Square, 2005)
Plena Al Salsero (Times Square, 2008)
Corazón (Gn Musica, 2012)
Amores en el Camino (Gn Musica, 2017)
Cuatro Esquinas (GN Música, 2023)
Web Site: www.plenalibre.com
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.