Juan Gutiérrez
was born March 8th, 1951, in Santurce, Puerto Rico. He grew up in Caparra Heights, a suburb of San Juan. As a boy, he was drawn to the Afro Puerto Rican percussion music that surrounded him. His father bought him a set of timbales when he was seven, and he later went on to study Caribbean percussion at the Escuela Libre de Música.
Gutiérrez learned to play the Plena, but as he started his career as a professional percussionist, he performed many other styles of music as well. After moving to New York City to continue his studies, he felt a need to return to his Puerto Rican musical roots. He took up Plena under the legendary Plenero Marcial Reyes Avelo, who introduced him to other master Pleneros in New York.
Later, Gutiérrez focused his attention on Bomba as an even deeper root of Puerto Rican tradition and sought out elders who were able to teach him. The Bomba had emerged in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century plantation life and exhibited many of the attributes of West African dance ensembles; interlocking drum patterns overlaid by a lead drum that “converses” with improvised solo dancing, a declamatory vocal style, rhythmic patterns, and sometimes spiritual overtones.
As Gutiérrez’s involvement with music grew, so did his vision of what could be done through music for the benefit of his community. Eventually, he decided to devote himself entirely to his passion, Afro Puerto Rican music and culture. In 1983, Juan and Reyes formed the ensemble Los Pleneros de la 21 (The Pleneros of Bus Stop 21), named after a neighborhood in Santurce famed for its Pleneros.
““When I demonstrate bomba and plena music in the schools I ask the students to reach out and take our traditions in.””
Los Pleneros de la 21 has performed throughout the United States and has toured abroad to Puerto Rico and Russia. The group has served as a role model for other Plena ensembles and has made Gutiérrez’s vision a reality by promoting the recognition, celebration, and practice of Afro Puerto Rican music and dance.
