Plena Libre

Before reggaeton, before salsa, plena music was the most popular urban music of Puerto Rico. Dubbed “el periodico cantado”(“the sung newspaper”), the music provided commentary, satire, and insight on current events and the human condition in general— underpinned by blistering Afro-Puerto Rican percussion. For over 30 years, Puerto Rican ensemble Plena Libre have dedicated themselves to the revival and preservation of this unique, homegrown style. As four-time Grammy nominees, the 12-piece ensemble has pushed this sound forward onto international stages and new sonic spaces.

Plena emerged in working class barrios of the city of Ponce in the late 19th and early 20th century. The music is rooted in bomba, an earlier sound performed by enslaved Africans who once worked Puerto Rico’s sugar plantations. While bomba was based on African instrumentation—including the barriles, large drums originally made from pickle, codfish, or rum barrels; a maraca crafted from a gourd; and a pair of sticks called cuá—plena brought in wider variety of instruments such as guitars, accordions, and the indigenous güiro. The heartbeat of plena is the pandero, a handheld frame drum that comes in various sizes (seguidor, punteador, and requinto). Together, these drums pound out plena’s polyrhythms and punctuate its call-and-response vocals.

Plena Libre first came together in 1994 under the leadership of bassist Gary Nuñez, who was inspired to dig deeper into Puerto Rico’s musical roots by jam sessions in his hometown of Ponce. Nuñez steered the group to international acclaim for three decades until his passing in 2023. In that time Plena Libre released 15 albums, beginning with their breakout debut, Juntos y Revueltos I, which laid out the template for their modern take on bomba and plena—adding electric bass, keyboards, timbales, congas, a salsa-style horn section, and their signature three-part vocal harmonies. Their impact on the island was immediate, and Plena Libre scored their first hit with “El Party,” a joyous, raucous banger that was the first plena song to chart in Puerto Rico in over a decade.

From there Plena Libre took their sound stateside and went on to receive four Grammy nominations. Three of their albums were nominated for a Latin Grammy for “Best Tropical Traditional Album,” while one was also nominated for a Grammy in the same category. The group continued to expand its sonic palette as well, using traditional bomba and plena as a springboard to explore related African diasporic sounds, such as salsa, jazz, samba, and even reggae.

While Nuñez’s 2023 passing came as a blow to Plena Libre, its fans, and the music itself, the group he founded—now ably led by his son, LuisGa Nuñez—continues to perform his songs as a celebration and tribute to the man and his vision, ensuring that bomba and plena remain vital in the 21st century.