Roberto Cepeda
Puerto Rican
BiographyRoberto Cepeda and Bomba Ashé - A member of the renowned Puerto Rican folklore dynasty La Familia Cepeda from Santurce on the island, legendary dancer Roberto has been carrying on the family’s bomba y plena traditions since he was five years old. Roberto Cepeda Brenes carries forward the renowned Cepeda family legacy of Afro-Puerto Rican bomba y plena, learned from his father, Rafael Cepeda, known in Puerto Rico as “Patriarch of the Bomba,” and his mother, Caridad Brenes de Cepeda, a bomba dancer. Bomba is a form of music and dance that is an interactive communication of the dancer with the drums, part of the artistic legacy of slavery. Roberto grew up in his family’s musical legacy, performing with La Familia Cepeda around the Caribbean. Roberto had a natural gift for dancing, so much so that he upended the traditional method of entry into the bomba tradition through first learning supporting percussion like the cuá, to the more advanced deep barrel drum called the buleador, and finally to the lead primo drum—all before learning to dance with the lead drum in intricate and improvised steps. Instead, Roberto began with dance and worked backward.
As a Puerto Rican cultural leader, he is dedicated to the teaching and preservation of African-based music from Cuba and Puerto Rico. Roberto has toured all over the world sharing both bomba and plena musical traditions, and has been teaching the percussion and dance of bomba for decades. Many of his former students have gone on to begin their own careers in bomba. Currently Roberto leads the group Bomba Ashé and also sings, dances, and plays a variety of drums including the panderos of plena and the barriles of bomba. Based in the United States since 1965 and in Connecticut since 2016, Roberto offers master classes and workshops on drumming and dancing, presents educational programs in schools, and has performed as a soloist with leading Puerto Rican artists such as Los Pleneros de la 21 and Eddie Palmieri. Bomba Ashé includes Roberto’s wife Gloria Lopez, an accomplished bomba dancer and singer herself, and many of the most experienced bomba y plena musicians in the Northeast.
As a Puerto Rican cultural leader, he is dedicated to the teaching and preservation of African-based music from Cuba and Puerto Rico. Roberto has toured all over the world sharing both bomba and plena musical traditions, and has been teaching the percussion and dance of bomba for decades. Many of his former students have gone on to begin their own careers in bomba. Currently Roberto leads the group Bomba Ashé and also sings, dances, and plays a variety of drums including the panderos of plena and the barriles of bomba. Based in the United States since 1965 and in Connecticut since 2016, Roberto offers master classes and workshops on drumming and dancing, presents educational programs in schools, and has performed as a soloist with leading Puerto Rican artists such as Los Pleneros de la 21 and Eddie Palmieri. Bomba Ashé includes Roberto’s wife Gloria Lopez, an accomplished bomba dancer and singer herself, and many of the most experienced bomba y plena musicians in the Northeast.
Person TypeIndividual
