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  Plena Libre
Estamos Gozando! (Times Square Records TSQCD 9039, 2004)
Ten years and as many albums down the line, Puerto Rico's
Plena
Libre continue to champion the musical form their name bespeaks. Plena is
one of the two most prominent African-rooted styles (
bomba being the other) that
originated on the island over a century ago, one that was nearly blotted out by
the emergence of salsa as a more dominant force commercially. Granted, there are
similarities between plena and salsa, but differences are readily discernible.
Plena has a more distinctly folksy edge, looser arrangements that still make you
want to dance your limbs off and a more bottom heavy feel via the use of
panderos (frame drums), richer bass lines and, in the case of Plena Libre,
multiple trombones. These elements were all part of bassist/bandleader Gary
Núñez's original plan to modernize plena without wiping out its origins.
So on this album you still hear traces of plena in its simpler form,
including an accordion sometimes rising to provide some beautiful slip-and-slide
around the horns and the steady scrape of the guiro (ridged gourd percussion).
Yes, it grooves from start to finish, but it's heartfelt in addition to being
hot. These songs are Plena Libre's rearrangements of material by the old masters
of Puerto Rican roots, at least one of whom, Manuel "Canario" Jimenez (whose "Lo
Que a Ti Te Gusta" gets the sizzle here), began his plena mission as far back as
the 1920's. Lovers of both vintage and modern Latin roots music won't want to be
without this disc, since it draws from each in sumptuous equal measure and comes
up short on neither. Sure to be one of the top Latin releases of the year.
Buy Estamos Gozando!.
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