Segunda Quimbamba is a Jersey City-based percussion and dance ensemble that performs authentic Bomba and Plena, the drum music of Puerto Rico. The original ensemble was founded by director Juan Cartagena and his wife Nanette Hernández as Los Pleneros de la Segunda (The Pleneros from Second Street) in 1989 during the Christmas season to preserve the Puerto Rican tradition of caroling called parrandas.
Bomba
The drums are Bomba, barriles de bomba, have similar, if not identical, counterparts in other islands of the Caribbean. The songs of Bomba are influenced by the languages and inflections of other islands too like the Dutch, French and English colonies in the Caribbean. And as with everything in the Caribbean, the influence of Haiti, after the Haitian Revolution, is present.
Exciting News!
We are proud that SQFC founders, Juan Cartagena and Nanette Hernández, were selected as Heritage Fellows by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. Their prestigious awards will be featured in an upcoming PBS documentary, Emmy Award-winning State of the Arts Premieres Two-part Special Focusing on New Jersey Heritage Fellows celebrating our lifelong dedication to preserving Puerto Rican cultural traditions. See airing dates at the end of this letter. Here is the video promo now playing on the~
November 13-20, 2024
New Jersey Heritage Fellows – Part II
New Jersey is home to an amazing array of traditional artists–each, a keeper of an age-old art form. In 2024, the New Jersey State Council on the Arts honored ten of them in the first-ever class of New Jersey Heritage Fellows. On this special edition of State of the Arts, we meet five: Afro-Peruvian Cajon player Hector Morales; African-American storyteller Queen Nur; a master of centuries-old Korean dance, Lena Mija Kim; and the percussionist Juan Cartagena and dancer Nanette Hernández. The husband/wife duo combine their passion for social justice with the practice of Puerto Rican Bomba y Plena.
Wed, 11/13 @ 8:30 pm
Thurs, 11/14 @ 11:30 pm
Sat, 11/16 @ 7:30 pm
Sun, 11/17 @ 11:30 am
Mon, 11/18 @ 10:30 am & 3:30 am
Wed, 11/20 @ 10 am & 3 pm
The individual story for Juan and Nanette will appear for streaming on pbs.org and stateoftheartsn.com immediately after the first broadcast next Wednesday.
