In MeMoriam

NelliE Tanco

¡Que dificil ha sido para mi escribir sobre Nellie! Solo quiero decir esto: TRASCENDENCIA, en todos sus significados posibles ha ocupado el ámbito de lo que son Los Pleneros de la 21. Nellie Tanco ha trascendido y con ella se ha ido un pedazo de nosotros. Así como en inevitables ocasiones anteriores con la partida de uno de nuestros compañeros, súbitamente se da el proceso de regeneración que cementa y fortalece lo que hemos sido, somos y seremos.

Por supuesto que han habido lágrimas, angustia, dolor, junto a toneles de alegría y gozo. Familia, eso es la sal de la vida!

Nellie Tanco fué, es y seguirá con Los Pleneros de la 21, y me honra reafirmarlo.

A personal note from LP21’s Founder, Juan José ‘Juango’ Gutiérrez Rodríguez

In Memory of Nellie Tanco

We recently lost one of the premier voices of the Puerto Rican plena tradition. Nellie Tanco Ramos (1947-2024) embodied the soul and spirit of Los Pleneros de la 21, Nueva York’s premiere bomba y plena ensemble.

Nellie grew up in Santurce, a San Juan neighborhood rich in traditional music, dance, and holiday festivities. She began singing and drumming at local parties and Christmas fiestas with her older brother, pleneros legend Sammy Tanco. She followed Sammy to New York in 1970 where the two become mainstays in the Lower East Side Latin music scene, singing at local clubs, restaurants, informal street gatherings, and the Fiesta de Loiza Aldea. She was eventually recruited by poet Tato Laviera to perform in two of his musical plays, Here We Come and Piñones (honoring Roberto Clemente).

In 1984 Sammy introduced Nellie to two of his fellow pleneros, Marcial Reyes Arvelo and Pablo “Gallito” Ortiz, who in turn invited her to an LP 21rehearsal in East Harlem. Once he heard her sing and play pandereta, group leader Juan Gutiérrez immediately recruited her. Recalling that moment years later in an interview with folklorist Elena Martinez and me she reminisced “For me, being invited by Juan to join Los Pleneros was such an honor. I learned so much from those people, the elders: dancers Eugenia Ramos, Tito Cepeda, and Paquito Rivera; and of course, the great singer Gallito.”

For twenty-five years Nellie was the featured female singer for LP21, wowing audiences with her impassioned lead vocals while anchoring the coro. Take a listen for yourself. Her soulful reinterpretation of the traditional bomba chant “Campo” is nothing less than spellbinding (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_jyS3xfPGw). Her jubilant voice propels “Somos Boricuas,” Juan Gutiérrez’s joyful ode to Puerto Rican migrant pride (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BpC2W_SvTQ). When Nellie proclaims “Somos Boricuas/De aqui a la luna” (“We are Boricuas/From here to the moon”) you know she is Boricua to the bone.

Nellie helped LP 21 move from neighborhood social clubs, street festivals, and casitas (little houses that served as social clubs) to the formal stages of Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, and the Smithsonian Festival of American Folklife. She globe trotted with them as a cultural ambassador to Russia, Cuba, Mexico, Australia, Hawaii and finally back to Puerto Rico. In 1993 she was part of LP 21’s triumphant return to Puerto Rico as part of a City Lore sponsored program organized by folklorist Roberta Singer. That event was an unforgettable experience for her: “It was such an honor going back home to Puerto Rico to perform in San Juan, Ponce, Peñuelas, and the smaller pueblos. I had left my country, but I came back, bringing the music that I left behind, meaning my roots. No matter where I go, I carry them. And when I went back to New York or to another country I bring them with me.”

In addition to her role on stage, Nellie was a dedicated educator and administrator. She helped Juan Gutiérrez organize the first Children’s Community Workshops, a program that became the foundation of the group’s efforts to bring their music and dance traditions to a young generation of New York-born Puerto Ricans. She oversaw the administration of programs for apprenticeships and public-school performances throughout the city and in New Jersey.

At a 1992 gathering of pleneros at the South Bronx’s legendary casita Rincon Criollo, Nellie explained to NY Times reporter David Gonzalez that the plena was Puerto Rico’s “sung newspaper,” before the days of telephones and televisions. At Rincon Criollo, she exclaimed, “Puerto Rico is still with us because we maintain our traditions with our music.”

Indeed, maintaining traditions with her music was a lifelong mission for Nellie Tanco. Her powerful voice, boundless energy, and alluring charisma will be missed by fans and friends alike. But plena lovers can take solace in knowing that she helped pass the tradition on to new generations of Boricuas in Nueva York and back on the Island. Que en paz descanse!

A note from Ray Allen for City Lore

“Una madre, maestra, plenera, defensora de la cultura, quien con su voz feroz y sinigual creó una marca en la vida de muchos, particularmente en la comunidad de Los Pleneros de la 21. Pero ella era mucho más que eso.

Su huella siempre permanecerá, tanto que las voces abrazándose a la bomba y la plena sin referirse a su legado y libro de cantos, no tendrán referencia completa de las cantautoras de nuestras culturas. Descansa en luz, sumo brillo y siempre al son de tu seguidor y el cántico de la Plena y la bomba que tanto tu amabas.

QDEP Nellie Tanco. Mis pésames a su familia, los abrazamos y endeudados a ustedes nos quedamos.” A personal note from LP21 member, Julia Loiza Gutiérrez-Rivera

Roberta Singer PhD

Roberta Singer PhD, Ethnomusicologist & Folklorist, was a member of LP21's Board of Directors since its beginning in 1992 until her passing in 2022. She researched, wrote about, presented, and produced Puerto Rican and Cuban music traditions for 40 years, including Somos Boricuas, LP21's first tour to Puerto Rico, Dos Alas tour, and Bomba-Dancing the Drum, a documentary film about the Cepeda family. Roberta also presented Puerto Rican and Cuban music traditions for 40 years with City Lore, with a mission to document, present, and advocate for grassroots cultures and ensure their living and traditions. Roberta was a close friend from the beginning, and her place in la familia de LP21 will always remain.

Que descanse en paz, Bobi.

“Now, that the reader has the opportunity to know a bit about the fruitful voyage of Dr. Roberta Singer, perhaps it is the right time for me (Juango Gutiérrez) to mention a few of the many ways, most often personal, in which Bobi impacted and changed the course of what became Los Pleneros de la 21, and particularly, how our friendship of 40 years and counting, changed my life.

Bobi was a mentor, counselor, teacher, colleague, confidante, and above all, a dear friend, to whom I will be indebted for as long as I live. Early in our relationship, she sensed the passion that I had and continue to possess for Los Pleneros de la 21 and the many things that 'junte' meant in my life. Now I can clearly see that she worked tirelessly to make things happen for us, for our public, for our community, and of course, for me. It would not be accurate to say that for half of the things La 21 accomplished, she was a player. On the contrary, because she was a player, a mover, one accomplishment brought another, and so on. And here we are, still going forward while she is now all over the place and around embracing us. We feel you Bobi.

Roberta, mi amiga, te extraño. Por mi familia y por mí, gracias por la amistad y el amor. Hasta siempre compañera, CAMARADA!!!!” A personal note from LP21’s Founder, Juan José ‘Juango’ Gutiérrez Rodríguez