Nelly: Paracumbé is a group dedicated to the promotion, preservation, and dissemination of Puerto Rican music; specifically, music with a strong African influence. It is a group that has investigated and rescued genres and musical rhythms from their primary roots and from the traditions of our elders. It is music that otherwise would have been lost in time, because many young people may like it but lack the ability to conduct field investigation and to translate the information into music for the public. This is precisely Emanuel's area of expertise since he is an ethnomusicologist.

Emanuel: It was born in 1979 in the town of Carolina. It was a group in a high school where I worked. After I stopped working there the members continued to play with me. Originally the group had another name. Eventually I gave it the present name.

Paracumbé is the name of a music and dance genre of the 17^th or 18^th century. Manuel Alvarez Nazario, a Puerto Rican linguist, came across a passage in a manuscript that reads like this:

From there I got the name for the group: El paracumbé de Angola. It is like a personification, the dance takes shape and it speaks: "Pues qué, no me conocéis?" There are similar terms in other countries in Latin America. In Mexico they use even nowadays the term maracumbé, in Puerto Rico there is reference to el merencumbé. There is also the la cumbia, la cumbancha, and el cumbanchero (as in the song). La cumbancha is an occasion of fiesta, drums and dance. One can assume there is an African root there.

Clave: We understand that the majority of the group is from the South of Puerto Rico.

Nelly: In the beginning most of the members came from the South of Puerto Rico, but as the group evolved we realized that it was against the group's mission to include only Southerners playing Southern music. Therefore, we decided that being from the South of Puerto Rico should no longer be a requirement for joining Paracumbé. Although its origin is from the South of the island, Paracumbé's music is from all of Puerto Rico.

Clave: Omaira, what do you think is the role of dance is Puerto Rican music?

Omaira: It is very important. Dance offers magic to the music. It is an integral part of our culture, especially in bomba, where dancers have a pivotal role. Bomba has blossomed and I believe that Paracumbé is responsible, at least in part, for this newly found interest in bomba. For example, Paracumbé is currently planning to open a bomba dance school in the town of Carolina, which is in the north coast of the island.

Clave: Why do you think there is a renewed interest in bomba in Puerto Rico?

Nelly: That was the beginning because, when the opposite occurred (when Spanish was discarded as the official language of Puerto Rico), people developed a conscience about what makes them Puerto Rican. People developed an interest in things that define them, that make them different from others, that specifically help to understand the statement "I am Puerto Rican." There is a need for events, things to unite us as a nation, and when events like these take place we need to support them, and be proud of them. Bomba is now danced in discos, in the plazas, it is heard on the radio, young people currently play it, with influences of other types of music such as salsa and reggae, but it is still bomba and plena. It is danced with blue jeans and with nose rings. It is the bomba and plena of the nineties, of the millennium. It is interesting that the events we referred to before take place when our nationality is politically threatened.

Lara Serrano: As young artists, Paracumbé offers us an opportunity to learn about our traditions, our music, bomba, the instruments... It allows us to show others and to reaffirm others and ourselves as Puerto Ricans.

José Aponte: It is one of the Puerto Rican national instruments. The cuatro, not unlike pleneras [handdrums used to play plena] identifies us as a nation.


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