Jazz Articles about Viento De Agua

Viento De Agua: Fruta Madura

by James Nadal
January 21, 2010

Viento De Agua, with the release of Fruta Madura, creates a novel approach to the Puerto Rican rhythms of bomba and plena. Blending vocals, stringed instrumentation, horns and woodwinds with a solid percussive foundation presents a veritable tropical feast.

Bomba and plena, though often mentioned together, are clearly distinctive in the type, size and shape of drums, respective dances, vocal arrangements and structure, and corresponding call and response. Plenas are performed with hand-held panderetas and bombas on barrel-shaped drums called ...