Noche de Trovadores Concert, 2013
Date2013 December 13
Mediumborn digital video
DimensionsDuration: 20 Minutes, 4 Seconds
ClassificationsGraphics
Credit LineConnecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program collections
CopyrightIn Copyright
Object number2015.196.329.5
DescriptionVideo from the event, A Pié Forzao, Noche de Trovadores Puerto Rican Music at the Studio at Billings Forge on December 13, 2013. Video of a musical performance.
NotesSubject Note: In December 2013, Leticia Cotto, Director of the Park St. Branch of the Hartford Public Library, organized a series of events on Puerto Rican poetry traditions. At the Library, poet and singer Marta Soledad and a guest poet instructed participants in the process of creating poetry with the “Pié Forzado” (or Forsao) method, whereby a poet is given a line (pié forzado or “forced foot”), and then not only composes the rest of the poem extemporaneously, but creates the composition in the form of a décima, a strictly organized 10-line stanza set to a song that generally consists of forty-four lines (an introductory four-line stanza followed by four ten-line stanzas). This form of Puerto Rican poetry is used in Concurso de Trovadores contests. Concursos were held in Hartford in the 1990s under the guidance of poet and musician Virgilio Cruz, the founder of La Primera Orquesta de Hartford, an academy for musicians to learn cuatro, other instruments, and Puerto Rican music and poetry traditions. CCHAP and musician Alfred Rivera presented a Concurso de Trovadores in 2003.The instruction was followed a week later with “Noche de Trovadores” - a concert held at The Studio performance space at Billings Forge on Broad St. in Hartford, with a group of musicians providing appropriate accompaniment to the poets who would each come up to perform décimas from a Pié Forzado that was shouted out from the audience. The concert was organized by La Sociedad Puertorriqueña of New Britain and musicians included cuatrista Alfred Rivera.
Biographical Note: Leticia Cotto was born and raised in the north end of Hartford. Out of the need for cultural expression of the Puerto Rican diaspora in Hartford, she, along with her five siblings, co-founded La Paloma Sabanera Coffee House and Bookstore (2004), a bookstore that specialized in the sale of Spanish language books by and about Latino authors and themes and fair trade coffee from Central and South America. She is the daughter of Puerto Rican parents who became part of the growing number of Puerto Ricans in the early 1960's who came to this city in search of a better life. The values of hard work, family, faith, and justice that her parents brought with them, contributed to how she views community engagement and work. Leticia was the director of the Park Street Branch of the Hartford Public Library for many years, and then became the Community Engagement Manager at Hartford Public Library.
Biographical Note: Marta Soledad is a poet, composer, singer, and artist who performs often in the Greater Hartford area.
Biographical Note: Alfred Rivera of New Britain began to play the guitar from age five, absorbing the music from his father Florentin, a well known trovador, and family and friends. He has dedicated his life to learning, performing, and Guajibaromoting música tipica and musica jibara, the folk music of Puerto Rico. Alfred took cuatro lessons from master musician Virgilio Cruz as part of the cuatro academy La Primera Orquesta de Hartford, later playing guitar with the group Canto Isleño under the direction of Virgilio Cruz. Alfred also played cuatro to accompany the folk poets who competed in the Concurso de Trovadores that were organized by Cruz and others in Connecticut during the 1990s. Alfred and other musicians kept this musical tradition alive in Greater Hartford after Virgilio returned to Puerto Rico. He brought popular Puerto Rican trovadores to Hartford, including Mariano Cotto and Miguel Santiago from Comerio, a city from which many of Hartford’s residents originate, in 2001. CCHAP and Rivera produced a Concurso in 2003 on Park Street in Hartford that was attended by over 300 people, with a dozen poets from all over the East Coast competing to compose extemporaneous verse in the décima style, with musical accompaniment. Alfred’s service to his community was honored with a special dinner concert at La Sociedad Puertorriqueña in 2012, with several musicians including his father Florentin Rivera performing. In 2016, Alfred played one of CCHAP’s outdoor concerts at CHS with Amor y Cultura and several trovadores from the community, and in 2019, he performed there with another group, Grupo Guajiba.
Alfred Rivera formed the group Amor y Cultura to perform Puerto Rican música tipica, traditional folk music of the countryside and mountains, featuring bongos, guitar, guiro (gourd scraper), vocals, and cuatro - the signature instrument of this style and Alfred’s specialty. Their repertoire of música jibara is rarely performed in Connecticut, making it an interesting addition to the salsa, merengue, and other popular forms which predominate. They play songs from several important Puerto Rican musical forms, including Trova (rhythms such as Seis and Aguinaldo which accompany improvised sung poetry such as the décima); Danza (a more classical instrumental style), and Plena (an African-influenced form characterized by percussion and verses of commentary on current events). Amor y Cultura has been performing for over twenty years. Early members of the conjunto included Joe Diaz - cuatro, guitar, tiple, bordonua; Milton Rosado - bongos, conga, tambora; Raul DeLeon – guiro; Alfred Rivera – cuatro; Florentino Rivera – vocals; and Ramon Arroyo - vocals (occasional performer). The recent line-up of musicians includes Pedro Alvarez (guitar), Robert Piñeiro (bongos), Edwin Velez (guiro/gourd scraper), Alfred Rivera (cuatro), and Antonio Rivera (trovador).
Amor y Cultura is one of the most popular groups working in this genre in Connecticut. Their mission is to preserve and sustain the folk music of Puerto Rico, which is so important to the history and character of Puerto Rican culture. Amor y Cultura carries on the traditions of the island’s music that have been transplanted to neighborhoods in Connecticut while also reaching general audiences who learn about and appreciate Puerto Rican culture through it. Amor y Cultura is an active group, performing widely across the region at venues including the Hartford Public Library, the Bristol Arts in the Park Fest, numerous Latin festivals, the Hispanic Professionals Network awards ceremonies, and at fundraising events. They were part of the Evelyn Preston Fund Summer Concert Series for many years in the 1990s and early 2000s. As a community-based group, they have performed at Sacred Heart Church Fiesta Pastoral (Hartford), at Centro Civico’s Latino Festival in Amsterdam, New York, at fundraisers for St. Mary’s Church in New Britain, and regular open mike sessions at Los Hermanos and Peter’s Café on Park Street in Hartford. They played often at the Capitol Towers Senior Center in Hartford and collaborated with organizations such as Charter Oak Cultural Center, Park Street Library, City of Hartford Cultural Affairs, and Bulkeley High School to present top musicians from Puerto Rico to the community. Regular performances have taken place at Los Hermanos Café (Hartford) every Sunday evening, at La Fontera every Saturday (Meriden), and at La Sociedad Puertorriqueña on Sundays (New Britain). Amor y Cultura was featured in concert at the Institute for Community Research in July 2003 as part of the Que Bonita Bandera exhibit there, and Alfred organized a Puerto Rican music festival and traditional trovador competition in September 2003.
Additional audio, video, and/or photographic materials exist in the archive relating to this event and these artists.
Cataloging Note: This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services MA-245929-OMS-20.
Status
Not on view
