In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15th-October 15th), we are focusing on a cornerstone of bomba, the drum. The Yale Latino Networking Group, New Haven Museum, and Peabody Museum are providing barriles de bomba kits and a video tutorial to the first 200 registrants.

Then bring along your drum to the live virtual performance of Bomba, with the traditional drums called barriles, with our friends at Movimiento Cultural Afro-Continental on Saturday, October 2.

Bomba music and dance can be traced to 16th-century West Africa, brought to the Caribbean by enslaved people. Bomba developed as a form of communication and cultural resistance. After the abolishment of slavery in Puerto Rico in 1873, Bomba remained central to Afro-Puerto Rican communities. Bomba and its drums continue to be instruments of social and artistic expression in this tradition.