Traditional Puerto Rican Musicians Present Free Public Performance at Mission San Luis

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. –

Secretary of State Ken Detzner and the Florida Folklife Program invite the public to a free performance of traditional Puerto Rican music in Tallahassee at Mission San Luis next Thursday evening, September 28, 2017 from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. This performance, featuring Puerto Rican musical group Plena Es, is part of the 2017 Folklife Artist-in-Residence Program sponsored by the Florida Folklife Program and the Florida State University Center for Music of the Americas.

"We are very pleased to welcome the public to Mission San Luis for this free performance to experience traditional Puerto Rican music," said Secretary Detzner. "Plena Es is a group of talented musicians whose dynamic music exemplifies the diversity and depth of Florida’s cultural heritage.”

Plena Es during their 2014 Artist Residency at HistoryMiami. Photo by HistoryMiami.

In South Florida, Plena Es has carved out a space for Puerto Rican music by presenting the island’s distinctive rhythms and percussion-driven music known as bomba y plena to new audiences. Plena music, derived from the African bomba rhythms, was originally forged under colonial conditions in early 20^th-century Ponce, Puerto Rico, where African and indigenous rhythms mixed with folk and chamber elements, vocal satire and storytelling to create a new form of urban music.

Founded by Pierre Ramos in 2004, Plena Es features African percussion, trombones, piano, drums, bass and a vocal chorus in an exciting orchestration of Latin dance music with powerful lyrics. As Ramos states in an interview with HistoryMiami about the group’s namesake, “Plena is Puerto Rico.”

During the three-day residency in Tallahassee, Plena Es will present their music for students and the community at Florida State University School, Tallahassee School of Math & Science, Legacy School of Performing Arts in Quincy and Florida State University at the Westcott Building on FSU’s campus.

For more information about the residency and public activities, visit flheritage.com/preservation/folklife/outreach.cfm.

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About the Florida Department of State’s Florida Folklife Program

The Florida Folklife Program, a component of the Florida Department of State's Division of Historical Resources, documents and presents Florida’s folklife, folklore and folk arts. The program coordinates a wide range of activities and projects designed to increase the awareness of Floridians and visitors alike about Florida’s traditional culture. Established in 1979 by the legislature to document and present Florida folklife, the program is one of the oldest state folk arts programs in the nation. For more information visit dos.myflorida.com/historical/preservation/florida-folklife-program/.

About Mission San Luis
Florida’s Apalachee-Spanish Living History Museum was the western capital of Spanish Florida from 1656 to 1704. Today, the Mission brings the early 1700s to life with living history interpreters in period dress, reconstructed period buildings, exhibits, and archaeological research. The site is managed by the Florida Department of State, Division of Historical Resources, Bureau of Archaeological Research, and support is provided by the Friends of Mission San Luis, Inc. Mission San Luis is Tallahassee’s only National Historic Landmark. Mission San Luis is located at 2100 West Tennessee Street in Tallahassee, Florida, and is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mission San Luis is pet-friendly to animals on leashes all year round. For more information visit www.missionsanluis.org/.