An evening of Bomba, Plena and Caribbean hip-hop at the bandshell
Led by percussionist and composer Hector 'Coco' Barez, the 14-piece band El Laberinto del Coco updates the sound of Afro-Puerto Rican bomba and plena with elements of jazz, R&B, rock, hip hop, and global influences from the Americas.
Mario Obregon, a.k.a. Rapper Marti, embodies Miami's multiculturalism, performing in both English and Spanish over a sound that seamlessly blends elements of rhythm and blues, NuSoul, and Caribbean grooves. The show is presented by The Rhythm Foundation and Live Arts Miami's MUNDO Series.
'The name El Laberinto del Coco (Coco's Maze) has to do with my entire career,' says Barez in a phone interview conducted in Spanish. 'I worked with William Cepeda (trombonist, bandleader and grandson of folklorist Rafael Cepeda 'The Patriarch of the Bomba and Plena'), I played with Bacilos, a group from Miami, with Calle 13, with (rapper and reggaeton performer) Don Omar, with the Areyto National Folkloric Ballet of Puerto Rico, and all these experiences gave me a certain vision. I kept asking, 'Why can't I hear my music played on the radio or in places where there's salsa, or merengue? This community music has been stigmatized,' he says. Looking for answers 'was like being in a maze.'
Barez recorded his first album, 'El Laberinto del Coco,' in 2017, in part due to a grant from the Puerto Rican Cultural Institute. At the time, he had 'five unfinished songs and was playing with Bacilos. I had to go out and get musicians,' he says. 'There was no band.'
And yet, the result, firmly anchored on bomba and plena rhythms, is an astonishing mix of driving powerhouse drumming, daring horns and brass arrangements drawing from jazz and R&B, rock guitars, and strong vocals. There had been few attempts at exploring the possibilities of the genre with a large ensemble more ambitious or successful. A generation of Puerto Rican jazz artists including Cepeda, saxophonist and MacArthur fellow Miguel Zenon, and saxophonist David Sanchez have called attention, each in his style, to the riches in traditional Puerto Rican music. But Barez´s 'El Laberinto de Coco' evokes the sound and vision of percussionist and bandleader Rafael Cortijo's 1973 masterwork, 'Cortijo y Su Máquina del Tiempo' ('Cortijo and His Time Machine').
Historians date the African-rooted bomba to the 15th century. It emerged along the coastal region and sugar cane fields of Puerto Rico. It features a call-and-response between the lead singer and the group, and a musical conversation between the lead dancer and the lead drummer. The quintessential instruments are the barriles de bomba (the bomba barrels), built from rum storage barrels topped with a goatskin head. The lead drum, called primo or subidor, dialogues with the dancer; one or two buleador drums, which keep the steady pulse, and the cuá, a small, hollow wooden barrel open at both ends, played with wooden sticks, that plays complementary rhythms.
Plena, another major Afro-Puerto Rican genre, originated in the early 20th century as work songs. It features prominently three tambourines, and because of the storytelling in its lyrics, it has been described as 'a sung newspaper.'
But despite their power and depth, these Puerto Rican genres were long overshadowed in the popular music marketplace by Afro-Cuban music in its various manifestations, including salsa.
'The initial spark for me was not hearing Bomba on the radio,' says Barez. 'Why don't people dare to make a whole Bomba album? So, we did. We wanted to show this music's roots and its evolution, to what it can be.'
While Barez is working his innovations within an old tradition, rapper Marti is giving hip hop a Miami accent. He calls his music Caribbean hip-hop.
Born in Miami into a Cuban immigrant family, Obregon grew up 'listening to all sorts of music, but just gravitated to hip hop. I just fell in love with it.' He was especially moved by Tupac Shakur. 'I was young, I didn't know about the specific issues and things he was talking about, but I just felt something, and at that age, it's just about feelings.'
He had heard his parents' and his grandfather's stories about Cuba, 'and Tupac's was a completely different story. Still, it was just a perfect blend of the hip-hop that I loved, plus stories of what was going on in his neighborhood, with his people, and bringing it to people like me who had no idea what they go through.' The leap to adapting the approach to the stories he knew was crucial as he started writing his songs.
'I learned that the majority of people are going through the same things,' he says. 'Even if it's not the exact same way, and they gravitate towards something real, not made-up stories.'
He studied classical piano, then bass, and freestyling for fun with his friend Christian Martinez, an audio engineering student, led to creating a band. 'A drunk night led to an obsession that I can't get rid of,' he jokes with mock frustration. That group became Problem Kids, which was very active in the Miami live music scene and released two albums. Then COVID hit. 'It kind of forced us to do music on our own — and that's when my solo project started taking off.'
Since then, the rapper has released the EPs 'Whispers From a Muse,' (2024) and 'Luck Is for Losers,' (2025), several singles, and created the successful 'Break Bread' music video series, featuring freestyle performances at local eateries such as Miami's Tropical Chinese, Versailles on Calle Ocho, and the upscale eatery in Coconut Grove, Ariete.
'My music was born from what I was raised on, and it just morphed into what it is today,' he says. 'It's Miami, with many different types of sounds and rhythms and the storytelling of hip hop.'
If you go:
WHAT: The Rhythm Foundation and Live Arts Miami's MUNDO Series Present El Laberinto del Coco and Marti
WHERE: Miami Beach Bandshell, 7275 Collins Ave., Miami Beach
WHEN: 8 p.m., Saturday, July 19
COST: $27
INFORMATION: (786) 453-2897 and MiamiBeachBandshell.com
ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music, and more. Don't miss a story at www.artburstmiami.com.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Indianapolis Star
2 hours ago
- Indianapolis Star
Ozzy didn't corrupt America's youth. He exposed the hypocrisy of their elders.
Ozzy Osbourne is dead, and some Christians may believe that the devil ushered him straight to the gates of hell. Few pop culture icons were as important, or as controversial, as Osbourne. The British-born rocker became the avatar of American culture wars more than a half-century ago by attempting to showcase the hypocrisy of modern religion. Osbourne launched his career in the late 1960s. Sensitive to cultural currents, he recognized what was happening not just in music, but also in religion and politics. He used it to build on the image of rock as subversive and countercultural. From the start, Osbourne understood how to bring attention to his art. Calling his band Black Sabbath sent a clear message. He aimed to subvert, not honor, Christianity. He integrated crosses, demonic imagery and symbols of the devil such as bats into his performances to highlight what he saw as the absurdity of organized religion. Osbourne sang lyrics in his first album about a 'figure in black' that directed him, and in another song, he took on the persona of Satan himself: 'My name is Lucifer, please take my hand.' In Black Sabbath's "Paranoid" album, released at the height of the Vietnam War, he sang 'War Pigs,' a song in which Satan laughed and spread his wings as political and military elites led the Western world to the doorstep of the apocalypse. Opinion: How faith becomes a weapon: 'If I can't understand it, it's not Christian' Such allusions to the demonic continued in album after album. Osbourne's career developed parallel to a new understanding of Satan. In the post-World War II era, the devil assumed a more prominent role in American life. Anton LaVey's founding of the Church of Satan in 1966 celebrated Satan as a symbol of rebellion, individualism and secular liberation. In other words, Satan was the opposite of everything anxious Cold War parents wanted to instill in their kids. Artists drew on this revamped Satan in their work. Films like "The Exorcist" (1973) and "The Omen" (1976) brought Satan − and fears of Satan's ability to inhabit human bodies − into the imaginations of millions of people. Osbourne made those themes central to his music. In the 1980s, while Osbourne was still releasing albums, fears of satanic ritual abuse swept across the United States. Christian conservatives fretted that Dungeons & Dragons, Ouija boards and horror films were gateways to demonic influence. High-profile cases like the McMartin preschool trial and the publication of memoirs about escaping satanic ritual abuse fueled widespread panic. Law enforcement agencies conducted seminars on occult crime, therapists uncovered repressed memories of ritual abuse and talk shows amplified claims of underground satanic cults. The panic revealed deep anxieties about child safety, cultural change and the perceived decline of Christian values in American society. Perhaps, parents and religious leaders wondered, was Osbourne driving kids into satanism? Perhaps his music was brainwashing the nation's youth? Conservative Christians − including evangelicals, Catholics and Latter-day Saints − believe in a cosmic battle between angels and demons that directly influences human affairs. They believe that unseen spiritual battles determine real-world outcomes, particularly in culture, politics and morality. Opinion: Kan-Kan Cinema is elevating Indy's cinema culture Many of them also believed they had to protect children from music like Osbourne's. This framework encouraged social conservatives to interpret issues like abortion, LGBTQ+ rights and the de-Christianizing of culture as evidence of demonic influence, necessitating counteraction through prayer, activism and political engagement. Osbourne and the genre of hard rock that he helped to promote contributed to their fears. In their minds, Osbourne was encouraging youth to rebel. And he was. Osbourne's fans understood what the rock star was doing. They loved it. The more angry Osbourne could make their parents, and the more he could rile up moral crusaders, the better. And he agreed. Playing with the devil became a hallmark of his long career. Briggs: Born into Jim Crow, she lived to witness DEI debates From witch hunts in Salem to conspiracy theories driving QAnon, Americans have used Satan to facilitate a politics of fear. They have used him to justify persecution, fuel moral panics, shape political and cultural battles, and assess global crises and war. But there has always been another side to Satan, the one Osbourne captured. His devil wasn't the horned villain of Christian nightmares but a trickster, a rebel, a symbol of freedom from sanctimony. In Osbourne's hands, Satan gave a theatrical middle finger to hypocrisy and lifted up a mirror to a society obsessed with sin, and he laughed. His life reminds us that sometimes, dancing with the devil is really just refusing to march in lockstep with the saints.
Black America Web
2 hours ago
- Black America Web
‘Top Boy' Actor Michael Ward Accused Of Rape And Sexual Assault In UK
Source: SAMEER AL-DOUMY / Getty Michael Ward, the British actor known for his role in Netflix 's popular series Top Boy has been charged with rape and sexual assault connected to alleged events that took place in 2023. The 27-year-old Jamaican-born performer is slated to appear before the Thames Magistrates' Court on Thursday, Aug. 28 to answer to the charges, People reports. He is currently facing two counts of rape and three counts of sexual assault levied by an accuser who remains unnamed by UK police. 'Our specialist officers continue to support the woman who has come forward – we know investigations of this nature can have significant impact on those who make reports,' said Detective Superintendent Scott Ware, whose team is leading the investigation for Metropolitan Police. Ward has not been arrested in connection to the crime and will appear before the court under his own free will. The young actor has been making a name for himself over the last few years appearing in projects like The Book of Clarence, The Beautiful Game and The Old Guard. He also received rave reviews for his work in The A List prior to his breakout role as Jamie on the Drake-produced Top Boy . 'I deny the charges against me entirely. I have cooperated fully with the police throughout their investigation and will continue to cooperate,' Ward said in a statement amid the charges. 'I recognise that proceedings are now ongoing, and I have full faith that they will lead to my name being cleared. Given those proceedings, I am unable to comment further.' Though the allegations against Ward are serious, the deputy chief crown prosecutor for CPS London South, Catherine Baccas, has asked that the public allow the actor his right to a fair trial before rushing to judgment. 'Having carefully reviewed a file of evidence, the Crown Prosecution Service has authorised the Metropolitan police to charge Micheal Ward, 27, with two counts of rape, two counts of assault by penetration, and one count of sexual assault against a woman in January 2023,' said Baccas in a statement. 'We remind all concerned that proceedings against the suspect are active and he has a right to a fair trial. It is vital that there should be no reporting, commentary or sharing of information online which could in any way prejudice these proceedings.' The post 'Top Boy' Actor Michael Ward Accused Of Rape And Sexual Assault In UK appeared first on Bossip. SEE ALSO 'Top Boy' Actor Michael Ward Accused Of Rape And Sexual Assault In UK was originally published on
Newsweek
6 hours ago
- Newsweek
Couple Adopt Puppy From Shelter, DNA Reveals Unbelievable Mix
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. When dog owner Milly, from Ohio, posted photos of her 5-month-old dog Bess online, she wasn't expecting the flood of admiration that followed. "We keep getting asked if she is a 'designer dog' but we really just lucked out with the shelter," the owner said in a Reddit post with thousands of upvotes and more than 100 comments. An unusual mix of Siberian husky and golden retriever, Bess has the classic markings of a husky with unmistakable long fur and floppy ears of a golden retriever. Bess is more than just photogenic. She's the emotional bridge for Ellie, Milly's 6-year-old German shepherd who had suffered years of abuse under a backyard breeder. When Ellie arrived at the family's home in 2024, she had endured multiple litters and was emotionally struggling. "Ellie would howl and cry every time she saw a puppy, so we decided she needed one of her own. We began searching through the local shelter websites and came across Bess' litter in April of 2025," Milly, who didn't give a surname, told Newsweek. Pictures of Bess, the unusual mixed breed who often gets mistaken for a designer dog. Pictures of Bess, the unusual mixed breed who often gets mistaken for a designer dog. OhioIsForCats/Reddit Bess and her litter were born at our local Humane Society and were featured at an adoption event in May. They didn't last long as her entire litter was adopted out within 30 minutes. "We knew from the website that she was a retriever mix, and the coloring showed she was likely some type of husky as well," Milly said. "We did a doggy DNA swab and found that she is 50 percent golden retriever with the rest being mostly Siberian husky and a little border collie, as well." In the comments on Reddit, people couldn't get enough of Bess' unusual looks. "Wow! She's gorgeous!!! Those markings and that face," said one commenter. While another said: "So cute. 50 percent golden, 50 percent husky, 110 percent shedding machine." Beyond the aesthetics, Bess is a sweet soul. She's already mastered five speech buttons to communicate with her humans—and has a penchant for full-body tail wags any time she spots someone new. "She's too cute not to share. The reactions online were very similar to what we see in-person: absolute gushing over her cuteness," Milly said. "It's lovely to see how much people love Bess. She is not only a beautiful puppy, but she is so sweet and smart, too." This isn't the first time a rare dog breed mix has impressed people online. A half basset hound and half English bulldog captured viral attention previously on Reddit, while another unusual breed mix left people guessing after the owner shared pictures on the internet. Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to life@ with some details about your best friend, and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.
