{"id":65,"date":"2009-05-11T15:30:00","date_gmt":"2009-05-11T20:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/philvelez.com\/blog\/?p=65"},"modified":"2009-05-11T15:30:00","modified_gmt":"2009-05-11T20:30:00","slug":"yerbabuena-at-the-nuyorican-poets-cafe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/philvelez.com\/blog\/?p=65","title":{"rendered":"YERBABUENA at the Nuyorican Poets Caf\u00e9"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last Saturday my sister and brother-in-law invited me to see Tato Torres<\/a> and YERBABUENA<\/a> at the Nuyorican Poets Caf\u00e9<\/a>. I hadn\u2019t been to the Nuyorican Poets Caf\u00e9 in years and felt it was the right time to revisit the legendary stronghold of the Nuyorican art movement in New York City. The Nuyorican Poets Caf\u00e9<\/a>, a non-profit organization in Alphabet City, has become a forum for poetry, music, hip-hop, video, visual arts, comedy, and theatre. <\/p>\n

I learned of YERBABUENA<\/a> (which means \u201cgood herb\u201d) a few months ago from reading blog posts but did not know much about the group. YERBABUENA plays Boricua (Puerto Rican<\/a>) roots music and is composed of musicians, singers, and dancers from the New York City area who share an intense passion for the musical traditions of Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. <\/p>\n

A new Boricua generation is embracing the group\u2019s music that promotes the Puerto Rican musical traditions of bomba<\/span>, plena<\/span> and m\u00fasica j\u00edbara<\/span>. Seeing and feeling YERBABUENA for the first time at the Nuyorican Poets Caf\u00e9 stirred a strong sense of cultural pride. It was like being around family you hadn\u2019t seen in a long time. People danced in the aisle and I could not help but move to the music. I\u2019m now a fan. If you get a chance, check out Tato Torres and YERBABUENA. <\/p>\n

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