Guagua Boricua: Cantaré mi Bomba

 Comenzó con la Bomba Puertoriqueña.

My vocation as a songwriter began with la Bomba puertoriqueña.

I grew up in a musical environment, including:

-My father Miguel’s hauntingly beautiful voice echoing through the house (He’s an especially formidable interpreter of classic Boleros).

-Bach chorales and Gospel music in church.

-Hip-hop on the streets and in school.

I also had some formal musical experiences from an early age. I was blessed to learn my first latino drum beats from mi padrino, Dr Abe Cáceres when I was seven (Plena, Bolero, Tumbao, y Merengue). There also were voice and piano lessons, and experiences with classical music…

But, I only began to feel that God had given me songs “that the angels cannot sing” after Bomba became the rhythm of my heart. After my semester long sojourn to study the African Roots of our Puerto Rican culture in 2001, me salio una voz… the drum beats and the dances called out songs to me. I started to use every spare moment I could to listen inside my head and scrawl in my notebooks.

Muchismas gracias to my first Maestros de la Bomba puertoriqueña: Modesto y Gladys Cepeda, José Emanueli,  y Dr. Emanuel Dufrasne Gonzalez.

The lyrics of Cantaré mi Bomba tell more of this unfolding story. I'll share them along with a Spanish translation in my next post. And for those of ya'll who came looking for the songs from Sunday's Trinity Cabaret I'll have those up by Saturday.


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