El Laberinto del Coco

Percussionist Hector “Coco” Barez created the genre-bending group El Laberinto (“the labyrinth”) del Coco around the folklore and rhythmic styles of the Puerto Rican folk art of bomba — “pump” in Spanish. Unique to Mayagüez, this drum, song, and dance tradition has both African and Indigenous origins, and it’s a spirited expression of contemporary Puerto Rican identity. The group digs deep into the African roots of call-and-response, “with four vocalists and four horn players to remind us throughout its performance of the power of bomba to create community” (Felix Contreras, NPR). Be ready to dance, sing, and shout in the labyrinth.