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Miami Herald
15-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Miami Herald
An evening of Bomba, Plena and Caribbean hip-hop at the bandshell
The pairing of Puerto Rican 15-piece bomba and plena big band El Laberinto del Coco and Miami-born and raised rapper Marti at the Miami Beach Bandshell Saturday, July 19, at 8 p.m. is a meeting of evolving old and new traditions. 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 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
Yahoo
23-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
How to Watch Marc Anthony & Bacilos' Performance at Viña del Mar Festival
Marc Anthony will kick of the 2025 Viña del Mar International Song Festival, performing Sunday (Feb. 23) at the Quinta Vergara amphitheater in the coastal city of Viña del Mar in Chile. The salsa superstar will perform with his whole band as part of his Historias tour, in what will be his fourth appearance at the festival. Viña del Mar, which is celebrating its 64th edition, previously hosted Anthony in 2009, 2012 and 2019. More from Billboard Shakira's Medellín Concert Postponed Due to Stage Safety Concerns Here's What a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Would Mean to Maná, in Their Own Words Paquita la del Barrio Honored With Mariachi Tribute in Mexico City Farewell Anthony headlines the first of six nights of stacked performances that will be streamed in the U.S. exclusively on and He is slated to perform approximately at 7:45 p.m. ET, followed by pop/tropical duo Bacilos at approximately 11:15 p.m. ET. Both performances are part of the nightly Viña del Mar broadcast, which year after year is Chile's highest-rated television show. Each night features a headliner, a supporting artist, a comedian and an international song festival in folk and pop categories, where contestants compete every night for a winner in each. Sunday's performance will kick off with Anthony, and will be followed by a set from Venezuelan comedian George Harris, the song competition, and Bacilos as the grand finale. Led by Jorge Villamizar and André Lopes, Bacilos gained fame in the early 2000s with a series of hits including 'Tabaco y Chanel,' and 'Caraluna.' With a discography that includes six studio albums, two compilations and two EPs, the Miami-based band has earned a Grammy and five Latin Grammys. Last year, they released their newest album, Pequeños Romances. Viña will continue Monday (Feb. 24) with performances by headliner Myriam Hernández and sibling duo Ha*Ash; Feb. 25 with Colombian's Morat headlining and Sebastian Yatra; Feb. 26 with Carlos Vives headlining and Carín León; Feb. 27 with Incubus, Juan Carlos López and The Cult; and Feb. 28, urban night, with headliner Duki, Eladio Carrión and Kid Voodoo. All nights will be livestreamed in the U.S. on and Performances can be viewed on the player in this story beginning at 7:15 p.m. ET, or throughout and billboardespañ Best of Billboard Chart Rewind: In 1989, New Kids on the Block Were 'Hangin' Tough' at No. 1 Janet Jackson's Biggest Billboard Hot 100 Hits H.E.R. & Chris Brown 'Come Through' to No. 1 on Adult R&B Airplay Chart
