Bomba
Born in the slave barracks of the sugar cane plantations around the second half of the 18th century, Bomba music has been kept alive throughout the centuries in communities like Santurce and Loíza in which the concentration of African descendants and mulattoes has been historically most prominent. The music clearly reflects its deep African roots in the protagonist role of the percussion, especially of the drum barrels (barriles de bomba). Another distinctive characteristic of Bomba music is the fascinating interplay between dancer and lead drummer that takes places in its performance: the two engage in a dialogue in which the lead drummer (second from left to right in orange shirt in the video below) must reproduce on his instrument the moves improvised by the dancer with his or her feet.