ambience: traditional music
It may be January, but in Puerto Rico, the Christmas season is still in full swing, and traditional Puerto Rican music is at the core of a religious celebration known as “Three Kings Day.” I’m Jim Metzner, and this is the Pulse of the Planet. In the Roman Catholic Calendar, the twelve days of Christmas end with the Feast of Epiphany, also known as “The Adoration of the Magi”. In the Spanish-speaking world, the Epiphany Feast is often called Three King’s Day. In Puerto Rico, the weeks leading up to Three King’s Day are a joyous time of song and celebration.
“The Christmas season in Puerto Rico starts after Thanksgiving and goes on through December 25th, uh, Christmas Day and January 6th – Three king’s Day, and usually after that as well. And it’s, it’s a very unique way of getting together with family and friends with our traditional music, with our traditional customs.”
Pulse of the Planet listener Ramon Accosta and his family return to Puerto Rico each Year to celebrate Three Kings Day, and to join in neighborhood Parrandas — raucous caroling parties where traditional songs are often played well into the early hours of the morning.
“The instruments include Spanish guitar, another stringed instrument called a Quattro’. We use maraccas, we use tamborine, and we use an instrument made out of a gourd… and it has a metal pick that you use to kind of scratch out a rhythm on the gourd… that’s called the Guiro.”
Pulse of the Planet is presented with support provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities. I’m Jim Metzner.
music