Start the New Year 2012 with joyous music and dance at the Plenazo Parrandero! Bring your tambourine, cowbell, voice and gà 1/4iro and LetÂ’s Plena with Jorge Arce and Raíz de Plena! Dance with Mista B Styles master Salsa dance instructor. Traditional Puerto Rican food will be provided by Norma’s Catering, award recipient for the best food at the 2011 Puerto Rican Festival. This family activity will take place at Spontaneous Celebrations, 45 Danforth St, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130, on Saturday, January 14, 2012 at 7pm. Admission is $25.00 and includes a dinner. Supported by The Talented And Gifted Latino Program TAG/Alerta programs at UMass BostonÂ’s Institute of Learning and Teaching, Encuentros de Amigos, Community Arts Advocates, ABCD, Haymarket PeopleÂ’s Fund, Dominican Development Center, Boston Tenant Coalition, Red Sun Press, and El Centro Latino.
This festive gathering will feature a Tribute to the Legacy of Lucia Mayerson-David by The Talented And Gifted Latino (TAG/Alerta) programs at UMass BostonÂ’s Institute of Learning and Teaching. TAG provides educational and mentoring support for children in the Boston Public Schools since the 1980s. TAG/Alerta and Lucia Mayerson-David were honored and recognized by First Lady Michelle Obama at the White House in 2010. http://www.umb.edu/tag
The «Plenazo» is a community activity that has been celebrated in Puerto Rico, New York, Chicago and Boston. It is framed by the «Plena,» a contagious and appealing Afro-Caribbean music and dance form developed in the working class communities of Puerto Rico. The PlenaÂ’s combination of traditional instruments and its characteristic vocal call and response «sung newspaper» has been carried into United States by immigrants in search for better living conditions. Adapted through the years with the addition of trombone, trumpet, clarinet, bass and the Puerto Rican «cuatro» in dance ballrooms, music clubs and the recordings of the legendary Rafael Cortijo and his Combo and the renown singer Mon Rivera; its energy is comparable to the Cuban compares and the Dominican Merengue «Ripiao.»
«El Plenazo» continues to be celebrated in neighborhoods by a multi-generation community. In Puerto Rico as well as in United States the Plena symbolizes unity, strength and heritage of the Caribbean and Latin America diaspora.
Information, photos and details at Encuentros de Amigos:
617-842-2228
617-447-8844
encuentrosdeamigos@live.com
http://www.encuentrosdeamigos.com
