July 31, 2024, 7:30-9pm [Free, donations welcome]

Strathmore: Live from the Lawn Strathmore Music Center, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD 20852

Plena Libre

From the Plena Libre website:
Plena Libre combines the traditional Plena and Bomba rhythms with other Afro-Caribbean styles and jazz to create a contagious dance music that honors the group’s deep sense of the unique indigenous musical traditions, while embracing modern sounds.

The trailblazing Plena Libre has been thrilling international audiences for nearly three decades. Masters of the traditional Puerto Rican plena and bomba styles, Plena Libre fuses well-loved traditions with modern Afro-Caribbean influences, putting a new and always electrifying spin on this scintillating music. With mesmerizing hand drumming, raucous horns, and soaring three-part vocal harmonies, this multi-Grammy Award–nominated band always brings the heat.

Captivating and moving audiences over the course of a 30-year, 15-album career, this fine-tuned, original band of 12 virtuoso musicians has only gotten better with age. The late founder, bandleader and bassist Gary Nuñez and his band have revived the plena sound for a new generation, electrifying audiences with horns, drums and dance.