Ritmo de Pueblo: A Festival of Puerto Rican Music and Art


Celebrate the vibrant "Rhythm of the People" of Puerto Rico in a major festival featuring concerts, films, exhibits, lectures and workshops. Highlighting the cultural and artistic contributions of Puerto Ricans as they make their own rhythm in Hartford's cultural and artistic landscapes, Ritmo de Pueblo will link the Trinity College campus and the Hartford community in a lively and educational celebration.
	The festival will showcase three Puerto Rican musical traditions: música jíbara (from the mountain region with strong Spanish influences), the bomba (the island's authentic form of African music), and the plena (a popular form with Spanish and African influences).

The highlight of the festival is two concerts featuring two of the finest Puerto Rican musical ensembles:


Los Pleneros de la 21		The Cuatro Project Ensemble
Los Pleneros de la 21, New York City's preeminent ambassadors of Afro-Puerto Rican bomba and plena music, with its vibrant sound and driving energy rooted in the barrios of the island and The Cuatro Project, featuring Yomo Toro.	Yomo Toro	In what be a unique opportunity, two of Puerto Rico’s greatest cuatro masters – Yomo Toro and Alvin Medina – will join forces in an unforgettable concert celebrating Puerto Rico’s 10-string guitar-like instrument.

	Ritmo de Pueblo also features other exciting events, including:
Juan Fuentes Vizcarrondo	a photographic exhibit titled Puerto Ricans: Images of a Culture, Culture of a People, featuring a selection of the works by Hartford-based Puerto Rican photographer Juan Fuentes Vizcarrondo;


	plus demonstrations of Puerto Rican bomba, plena, and jíbaro music by Los Pleneros de la 21 and The Cuatro Project; and screenings of films and videos on Puerto Rican music, history, and culture, highlighted by the documentary "Nuestro Cuatro" - a film produced by The Cuatro Project that explores the history of the cuatro instrument in Puerto Rican music






Roberto Sierra	Ritmo de Pueblo also celebrates the emergence of the Puerto Rican voice in classical music that draws elements from bomba and plena music. Special guest Roberto Sierra, Associate Professor of Music at Cornell University, is one of Puerto Rico's finest classical composers. (Please read recent article on him in El Nuevo Dia, Puerto Rico's main newspaper.)


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