JORGE ARCE COMPARSA BORICUA
JORGE ARCE COMPARSA BORICUA
Puerto Rican parade tradition
Boston, Massachusetts
Jorge Santiago Arce was born in Bélgica, a working-class neighborhood of Ponce, Puerto Rico, a city well known for its rich cultural traditions and characterized by the emergence and evolution of important Afro-Caribbean music and dances such as bomba, plena, and danza.
Bomba is a heavily percussive music and dance form that emerged during the late 17th century among enslaved West Africans on Puerto Rico’s sugar plantations. Primary bomba instruments are the barriles, large drums originally made from pickle, codfish, or rum barrels; a maraca crafted from a gourd, and a pair of sticks called cuá.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 developed in the 20th century, mixing bomba with indigenous Taíno music and jíbaro, the Spanish- and Arab-influenced music of the rural highlands. Among many subjects that plena songs embraced, it also heralded both the history and day-to-day news of the people and community, and became known as el periódico cantado (“the newspaper in song”).
Half of Jorge’s family comes from San Antón, mainly a Black community known for bomba. This experience, among other things, has contributed to his creativity and curiosity. In addition to being an actor, dancer, singer, and performer, he is also a cultural historian and researcher.
Since 1983, Jorge Arce has spread bomba and plena through workshops, classes, residency programs and performances. Arce has become one of the most important cultural liaisons to the Puerto Rican community in the United States. After completing his education at the Boston Conservatory, he decided to share his experiences with children, and to learn more from the community of people who best knew the traditions of his native culture.
Arce continues educating and performing in schools, universities, festivals and community events with his show, the Afro-Cuban Workshop; his band Raíz de Plena; and his bomba dance and music ensemble, Bombazo Boricua.
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