ENCUENTROS DE TAMBORES
“Se me rompió el tambor” is a song built around the symbolic heartbreak of a bombero whose drum has broken. The lyrics follow his search across Puerto Rico for someone capable of repairing it, transforming that search into a tribute to the artisans who build and maintain bomba drums. By naming Wilfredo Morales, Kichi, Jesús Cepeda, Papo del Valle, Emmanuel Martínez, Víctor Vélez, Rafael Trinidad Maurás, and ultimately Alcadio Quiñones—the one who restores the drum—the song memorializes both contemporary and elder builders whose work sustains the tradition. Performed at the 2024 Encuentro de Tambores by the Delegation of the East, the piece expresses the bombero’s sorrow while celebrating the community of makers whose skill and care allow the drum, and the culture it carries, to resonate again. You can read more about these artsanos here: https://nuestrostambores.com/artesanos-y-musicos/
“Mira, mira, mira tú ves,” An original song composed by Jennifer Raul, “Mira, mira, mira tú ves,” performed by the Delegación de Carolina at the 2024 Encuentro de Tambores, offers a compelling example of contemporary musical fusion and the reciprocal exchanges that shape Puerto Rican music-making today. In this performance, the Carolina delegation proudly centers its regional identity while demonstrating how bomba continues to change through intertextuality, mutual inspiration, and the ongoing exchange between popular and traditional musical worlds.
The piece opens with an a cappella invocation of lyrics from Rauw Alejandro’s “De Carolina” before shifting into Raul’s original composition, “Mira, mira, mira tú ves.” This act of musical paraphrasing is significant: it highlights not only how Rauw Alejandro has drawn from bomba communities in songs like “Besito en la frente” and “Carita Linda,” and through his visible engagement with bomba spaces such as El Imán, but also how bomba practitioners, in turn, draw inspiration from his commercial urban sound. By interjecting música urbana and reggaetón into a traditional performance context (specifically the annual encuentros) the Delegación de Carolina expresses regional pride while engaging in a playful, intentional act of musical-cultural dialogue.
The result is a conversation across genres, generations, and communities, reminding us that musical influence in Puerto Rico is profoundly bi-directional..
A further layer of intertextuality deepens this exchange. “De Carolina” itself samples DJ Playero’s 1994 Playero 39 mixtape, the same recording that includes the now-iconic “la gente sabe” lyric. By invoking Rauw Alejandro—and, through him, Playero’s foundational reggaetón archive—the Delegación de Carolina activates a multigenerational chain of citation that links bomba, música urbana, and the early mixtape era. This final loop in the conversation underscores that contemporary Puerto Rican music is built through continual borrowing, homage, and reinvention, where each gesture carries the weight of past innovations while opening space for new creative futures.