flores- the cultural expresion of pr in ny

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The Cultural Expression of Puerto Ricans in New York: A Theoretical Perspective and CriticalReviewAuthor(s): Felix Cortes, Angel Falcon, Juan FloresSource: Latin American Perspectives, Vol. 3, No. 3, Puerto Rico: Class Struggle and NationalLiberation (Summer, 1976), pp. 117-152Published by: Sage Publications, Inc.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2633204 .

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THECULTURALXPRESSIONFPUERTO ICANSINNEW ORK: THEORETICALERSPECTIVENDCRITICALEVIEWbyFelix Cortes,AngelFalc6n,andJuanFlores

I am Puerto Rican. I came to thiscountry n 1952with my threebrothers nd one sister.My father nd motherwere here already working nd savingmoney to send for us. Myfather,who is dead now, was a mechanic buthad to do work n a plastic factory o earna living.He earned extra moneyby fixing ars inhis improvised hop right n the street.Mymotherwas a seamstress n the garment istrict,nd when she came home she wouldpreparedinnerand afterwardsdo part timework sewing women's hats in a shop thatoperatedout of a small store front cross the streetfromwhere we lived.In 1969 I was very much influencedby the takeoverof City College by a thirdworldstudentcoalitionwhich was demandingPuerto Rican Studies and other relevantpro-gramsgeared to their needs. Rightthen and there and withthe direct contactof othermusicians such as myself, realized for thefirst imethat wanted to play a music thatrelatedtotoday's realities,notyesterday's. was concerned in reachingan audience thatrelatedtotheseexperiences.The music thatgrewout of thisexperience became hard, violentand heavy with resist-ance. It was rarelyperformed. t just got stored up - so when it came out, it soundedmore like one bigmass noise of incoherent ound. It was a dual process - on the onehand itserved as a cleansing process and on the other t did away withantiquated pat-terns and built new ones to take its place. New musical ideas were forged, ntegratingitselfwithknownpopular forms. t renewed the process of music playingand made itvital and importantgain.Music to me thenis more than just performing.t's studying, rganizingaround youngmen and women musicians such as the LexingtonAvenue Express Percussion Work-shop whose conceptis to help develop better earningproceduresand healthy attitudes,to earn through hehistory f musicwhat we, as thirdworld people, have in commonand by nourishing romothermusics,we enrichall. That is whythehistory f thispro-cess is thekeyto knowledge, ducationand real proletarian ulture.

JoeFalc6n, StreetMusicianNew York City

THEORETICAL THESES ON NATIONAL CULTUREThis preliminary urveyand commentary n the cultural world of PuertoRican people in New YorkCity, specially itsappearance inmusic,theater nd

LatinAmerican erspectives:ssue 10, Summer 976, Vol. III,No. 3 117


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118 LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVESpoetry, s intended as a step in developing a historicalmaterialist nalysis onthis question. Such an analysis calls forfurther heoreticalrefinement nd ex-haustive empirical investigation nto each corner of the vast, oftenmysticallytreated, ield of culture as pertinent o Puerto Ricans. Concentrationsof PuertoRicans under differing onditions - labor contractfarms,smaller cities andtowns, suburban settings give rise to particular cultural phenomena thatmustbe takeninto considerationspecifically.PuertoRican cultural manifesta-tions n theUnited States cannot be lumped intoa simplifiedgeneral analysis.Music, theater, nd poetry comprise thegenresmost extensively experiencedand created in the Puerto Rican community nd give fullestexpression to itssituation nd outlook. Music in particularoccupies a centralplace insofar as itrepresents, f all artisticmedia, the one that is most replete in tradition andhighlydeveloped and commands thewidest appeal and greatestparticipation.The technicaland political fashioning fthese threegenreshas proceeded une-venly. Each blends a particular combinationof Island and New York elementsand a unique integration fmaterialfrom thercultures.The thrust f theprogressivecultural movementunderway among PuertoRicans in New York arises fromtheir national and class realityand is histori-cally connectedto thepervasive backdropof the dominantand familiarcultur-al forms, hat s, imperialistbourgeoisideology, ncludingthe arrayof culturalcommodities ailored fornationallyoppressed workers nd surviving radition-al expressions fromthe national culture. The growing movement, n effusionof democraticsentiment, ngages thepeople's interpretationf their ifesitua-tion into an intricatepatternof forceful ssociations. Formative mages of theclass situationsurface at moments, thoughtheyoftenescape the eye amidstthecomplex arrangements f national motifs.This process requires consciouscriticalselectionfromthe national tradition nd rulingcultureduringthe his-toricalcourse of theclass conflict. n thisrespect,an important askfor PuertoRicans is therecoveryof theproletarianmusic, theater,poetry, nd essay sub-merged n thehistoryof our workingclass struggles hat is now beginningtobe told Campos, 1974).

1) The fundamentalvariables which underlie all theparticularities, elf-definitions,and mysteriesof a people's cultureare the indices of a nationaland class analysis. Culture conveys the world in which a people live as it isrepresented n theirminds, fantasies,and habits. Whatever its intentions, ul-ture s located against thebackdropoftherealitywhich itrepresents.The stu-dyofculturalrepresentations a work ofreference, relentless back and forthbetweentheworld as culturewould have it and the world as it really is, as atotality fhumanexperience.But the"ensemble ofthesocial relations" Marx,1967:198) s not ust the conglomeratesum of man's activities, ndependent ofcognitivedifferentiation.n fact, we can really discern the totality nly by as-certaining hedynamic process of interaction nd relative determinacy f eachaspect of social realitywithrespectto all others. n general,thefactorsof his-toricalobjectivity xisting ndependentlyof the will of men conditionthe ex-pressions of human subjectivity n the form of institutions, aws, customs,ideas, and works ofart. Specifically, t is theposition of people withrespect totheexisting rrangement fclasses and nations whichgoes to definethe quali-


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CORTEZ-FALCON-FLORES: CULTURAL EXPRESSION OF PUERTO RICANS IN N.Y. 119ties and potentialitiesof their cultural life. Both of these planes of analysiscorrespond objectively, in turn, to the state of development of social pro-duction.

2) The national attributes f a culture comprisethe distinct oncreteness nthe expressive ife of a cohesive, historically volved community fpeople. Onthe one hand, every nstance of cultural expression on the part of any memberof the nation may be viewed as a componentof the national culture and theaggregateof such utterances and patternsas the "culture" of that nation. Onthe other hand, it is clear that each such cultural unit,takenby itself, s almostinvariably present, o one degree or other, nd often n virtual replica, in cor-responding details of other cultures. Furthermore, o construe the compositenational culture as the mere accumulation of all existing samples of culturalactivitymeans to remain blind tothe contradictions nd developingtendencieswhich are at theheartof the culture.The national culture of any people is thecomplex networkof interacting raditions and representationalmodes func-tionally available to thepeople to give expressionto theirparticularrelationtothe historical developmentof production.As such, it exhibits strains of uni-formity nd internalreferencewhich may endure centuries and epochs ofhis-torical change, encompass layers upon layers of ethnic interpenetration,ndlend a common voice tothe psychic experienceofa variety f social classes. Atthe same time,the national culture contains radically divergentfeaturesandfunctions; ts seeminglybinding and predoininantelementsmay recede in fa-vor of substantiallynew ones, and the very concept of a national culturemayassume an entirelydifferentmeaning and power to differentmembers orgroups withinthe same nation. In all its aspects, its unityand diversity, tscohesion and innertensions,the existence of a national culture testifies o thevitality, spirations,and strugglesQf n existingnation,that s, of a given peo-ple constituted s a nation by the objectivecourse ofhistory.

3) Men choose to group together n countless differentways, as religioussects, political parties, nd cultural clubs. Classes, however, the most universaland essential form of human association, are entered into involuntarily, e-gardless of whethermen want to or not. "Classes are large groups of peopledifferingrom ach other by the place they occupy in a historicallydeterminedsystem of social production,by their relation in most cases fixed and formu-lated by law) to the means of production,by their role in the social organiza-tion of labor, and, consequently, by the dimensions of the share of socialwealth of which they dispose and the mode of acquiringit.Classes are groupsofpeople one of which can appropriate the labor of another owing to the dif-ferent places they occupy in a definite system of social economy" (Lenin,1965:421). Every given level of the development of production has a corres-pondingcultureexpressive of it. Yet each class, each group differentiatedromothersby its position relative to the means of production,has a culture corres-pondingto and expressive ofthis position.The dominantculture of any socialsystem s that of the class which owns and controls the means of productionand is thereby nabled to appropriate the labor of other classes. The cultureofthesubject classes, which, under capitalism, survive only by selling theirpow-er to produce, s a subject culture n that tis necessarily obstructedfrom nde-pendent expression by the influenceof theruling ulture.The moredevelopedthe difference nd antagonism between the classes, the more articulate andLatinAmerican erspectives: ssue 10, Summer 976, Vol. 111, o. 3


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120 LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVESself-conscious the subjected culture. The dominant culture serves to explain,and is increasinglyforced to justify, he existing social systemof productionwhich more and more obviously stands in the way of the thrust fproductivedevelopment.The cultureof the producers takes on an independentexpressionof its own when the class of producers associates consciously witha historicalpurpose independentof that of the rulers.

4) "The elements of democratic and socialist cultureare present, fonly inrudimentary orm, n everynational culture,since in every nation there aretoiling nd exploitedmasses whose conditionsof life nevitablygiverise to theideologyofdemocracy and socialism. But every nation also possesses a bour-geois culture and most nations a reactionaryand clerical culture as well) intheform,notmerelyof elements,'but of thedominantculture.Therefore, hegeneral 'national culture' is the culture of the landlords, the clergy and thebourgeoisie" (Lenin, 1968:17). Nations and classes are objective,"involuntary"formsofhuman association in that theyresult from hehistoricallynecessarydevelopmentof social production. n theage ofimperialism nd the division oftheworld into oppressor and oppressed nations,there s a significant verlapbetween the two, there developing, as Marx and Engels already observed, adivision between "bourgeois" and "working-class"nations. There can be no"pure" class culture nwhich all national attributes nd specificcharacteristicsare absent, either in historical reality or as the programmaticrevolutionarygoal. In fact,the national situation of any cultural event, whetherfrom n im-perialist or a colonial nation, may reveal a great deal as to its overall classperspective.However, the reinforcing nd perpetuationofnational differencesdo correspond ultimately o a bourgeois formof rule, the rule ofprivate prop-erty,while the unfolding nd conscious recognition f class division representthepreconditionforthe eliminationof both class and national oppression.Thecontradiction mong nations is "essentially a class contradiction" Mao Tse-Tung),that s, itcan only be grasped in its actual dynamicfrom he standpointofthe international lass struggle.Therefore, o elevate the defense of the na-tional culture of even the mostoppressed peoples to a slogan is a reactionarystep. From an analytical pointofview, emphasis on the internalcohesion of agiven national culture erves only to obscure the real class differentiation ith-in it, whereas the dissection of all cultures according to their political, classcontenthelps to illuminatecritically he familiarfeaturesoftheculture of eachnation. "In advancing the slogan of the international ulture of democracyandof the world working-class movement,' we take from each national cultureonly itsdemocratic and socialist elements; we take themonly and absolutelyin opposition to the bourgeois culture and the bourgeois nationalismof eachnation" Lenin, 1968:17).

5) The most definitive actof life of PuertoRicans in the United States istheirclass placement withinthe NorthAmerican relations of production; ntheiroverwhelmingmajority,migrantsfromPuertoRico over several genera-tions continue to comprisean acutely oppressed sector of theNorthAmericanproletariat nd industrialreserve army. Generally,the migrationhas had theeffectof altering sharply the specific national settingof the class struggle sexperienced by the migrant population froma movement of national inde-pendence conducted by a varietyof class forcesto direct class antagonisminwhich the subject class is composed of a varietyof nationalities.The context


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CORTEZ-FALCON-FLORES: CULTURAL EXPRESSION OF PUERTO RICANS IN N.Y. 121of Puerto Rican culturalexperience has changed accordingly.On the Island,the main frame of reference nd source of wealth of the cultural struggle rethenational tradition nd, especially, thepopular, class roots,the "democraticand socialist elements," ofthat tradition. n theUnited States,the cultural ifeofPuerto Ricans is defined ncreasinglybythe nevitable process of interactionand amalgamation with othernational sectors of the workingclass. Thoughtraditions run deep and endure, and the dominant "national culture" of theNorthAmerican bourgeoisie ncludes an entirewardrobe specially tailored forits local Puerto Rican clientele, there s nevertheless a growingdistance fromthe familiar features of Puerto Rican culture, both popular and official. Thisprocess of cultural malgamation s as yet n an early,formative tage, with theforceful trains of the national culture, however diverse and in the throes oftransformation,tillprevailing as the most impressivesource of spiritual andsocial identity.Because theworking class is comprised of different ationali-ties,one oftenfinds thegeneral class exploitationmanifest s national oppres-sion. For thisreason,PuertoRicans in the United States commonly respond totheir conomic subordinationbymeans ofnational resistance. n fact, n indis-pensible device of mperialist ontrolconstitutesprecisely"cultural amalgama-tion," that s,enforced ubordination nd assimilationof thecolonial culturetothe modes and standards of that more "civilized" culture of the oppressingnation. The upholdingand revitalizationof the national traditions, therefore,particularlywith a view toward theirpopular historical sources, remains anintegralfrontwithinthe overall battle for national independence and social-ism. But the latentrevolutionary ossibilitiesof culturalreality, s it is experi-enced, tend to elude our conditioned observations and assumptions; whatmeets the eye and commands our interestmay serve to blur the most repre-sentativeand germinalprospectsofculturalmovement.Such is mostevidentlythecase whenevera defensive "fearofassimilation" and culturalnostalgiabe-come thetouchstonesofour criticalapproach.

When viewed from primarilynationalperspective,withthe culturaltrad-itionsand expressionrootedon theIsland as an explicitor implicit tandardofvalue, purity nd authenticity,heresulting dmixture of Puerto Rican culturewith strains of othernational traditionsmust invariablybe considered a lossand contaminationof culture as such. What is implied in such an estimate,toone degree or another, s a sense of degradation and betrayal of the nationalideal, howeverdefined, nd a denial of thevery ife situationof Puerto Ricansin the United States. From the vantage point of the workingclass movement,on the otherhand, the blending of Puerto Rican culturewith the strains ofothercultural traditions s,first fall, an appropriate expressionofsocial reali-ty and thereforenot subject to normativevaluation relative to otherequallyappropriate cultural experiences. Furthermore,nsofar as "the internationalculture of democracy and the world working-classmovement" is not only atendency within each national culture but the complex of interacting"ele-ments" of all existing ultures, heculturalexpressionofPuertoRicans migrat-ed to theUnited States represents n unfolding, xpansion and enrichment fwhat has been known,historically, s theculture of PuertoRico.

6) The culturalexpression of PuertoRicans in the United States containstheseeds ofa proletarianculture.Corresponding o theirhistoricalposition atthe uncture between the movementfor national independence and the risingLatinAmerican erspectives:ssue 10, Summer 976, Vol. III, No. 3


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122 LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVESstruggle orproletarianrevolution n NorthAmerica,therepresentative ultureof themassive migrantpopulation abounds in the elements of resistance,de-mocracy, nd socialism which form hebasis ofworking-class ulture. Experi-ence has shown, and Marxist analysis confirms, hat proletarian culturenei-ther pringsup in a vacuum,as thenegationof all previous traditions,nor is itthecompositeofwhateverculture s produced by workers. n fact,proletarianculture as a social institution annot develop and flourishuntil t is guided bythe necessary political apparatus, that s, until theworking class has assumedstatepower and theapparatus ofthe dominant,officialculture has been over-thrown.Prior to this crucial historical break, proletarian culture exists only as"elements" and anticipations,as a vaguely circumscribedaspect of popularmass culture,and is subject to the inevitable subversions and cooptations ofthe official ulture. No matterhow revolutionaryn tone and radically innova-tive in formaltechnique,the main tendencyof popular culture s directedto-ward accommodation with the dominant, bourgeois environment.The onlypopular culturalthrustwhich can growto challenge the officialculture direct-ly and absolutely corresponds to the development of proletarian class con-sciousness, whereby the "socialist elements" come to articulate the "demo-cratic elements" mostforcefully nd in sharpesthistoricalcontour.The deter-mining actor s not whethereverysample of this culturalstruggles composedby and forworkers,but whether cultural expression representsconsciouslythe overall perspectiveof the proletariat, ncludingits critical assimilation ofprogressive raditions nd its need fornew creativetechniques. In spite of theoverwhelming mpact of imperialistpropaganda in concertwith the most re-trograde nfluencesof PuertoRican "national culture," hegerminalfeaturesofsuch a development re evident nthecultural ife of Puerto Ricans in theUnit-ed States.

7) To assert that culture s a complex, dynamic process expressive of thecontradictory ature of lifein societyis no more than a first tep in overcom-ing the metaphysical approach to culturalreality.As such it remains a plati-tude, ncapable ofcounteracting he sheer relativism nd categoricalnorm-set-tingwhich make up the interlocking alternatives" of official criticism.Therevolutionarydialectical method beginswith the need to grasp culturepoliti-cally, which means to rub it against the grain of its own internalprocess ofdevelopment.Culturealways exists in a specific period of time and is alwaysundergoing hanges in a varietyof directions.Given a calculable level ofprod-uctivedevelopment,given a distinctconfiguration f class arrangements, ndgiven a correspondingpolitical conjuncture,culture should change in a cer-tain direction.The keytask in the theoreticalstruggle s to insistmost persu-asively and authoritativelyhatthe recognition f thistendency, nd the fightfor tsrealization, s not the resultofprophetic peculation ormechanical pres-criptionbutrestson scientific nalysis, culturalsensitivity,nd political deter-mination.Amidst thegreatdiversity nd complexity, nd as a signal of its re-markablevitality, he cultural ife of Puerto Ricans in the United States is de-veloping n the directionofproletarian nternationalist ulture.At present, ndforsome years to come, thisgeneralprocess may remain obscured by thepre-vailing particularities f national traditions nd class alignments.But withoutholdingthisbroad, objectivethrust oremostnmind,and applying t as a criti-cal tool validated by political consciousness, we will be unable adequately to


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CORTEZ-FALCON-FLORES: CULTURAL EXPRESSION OF PUERTO RICANS IN N.Y. 123appreciate the fascinating rhythmsand textures of our specific culturalpresence.

CRITICAL REVIEW OF PUERTO RICAN CULTURAL EXPRESSION:MUSIC, THEATER, AND POETRYPuertoRicans migrate o the United States as workers.Withinthe UnitedStates Puerto Rican workers constitutea nationally oppressed sector of theNorthAmerican proletariat nd a significant orcewithin the reservearmy oflabor. This class situation ies at the heart of the PuertoRican culturalexperi-ence. It impliestwo sources and complexes of conditionsactingon the PuertoRican's culturalformation: hehistorical roots n and continuing ies to PuertoRico and thepresent context of a multi-national, dvanced capitalist setting ntheUnitedStates. The daily inequality suffered n everysphere of life and thehardships engendered by acute class exploitationmotivate the central senti-mentsgiven life in the arisingcultural forms the condemnationof oppres-sive and alienating conditions and the desire and will to fightfor equality.While stillpreliminarily apturedin themass consciousness, these sentimentsrepresent n outcry gainst capitalism and a demand fora new societyled bythe proletariat. n the poems, songs and music, and theaterprojectingthe de-veloping cultural expression of the Puerto Rican people within the UnitedStates, we discern elements that will contributeto the forging f proletarianculture.The waves of PuertoRican migrants o the industrial centersand contractlabor farms of the United States have borne the rich traditionalculture, withpopular and classical expressions,to which the people refer s a basis of na-tionalculture. Within the communities stablished,thistradition s partof thepeople's culturalformation.However, the traditional modes of expression inthe Island itselfhave undergone severe changes and even receded to the back-ground.These modes have givenway to new formsand outlooks thatreflectthe profound transformation f the society,especially in the past three dec-ades, through ndustrialization,the advancement of capitalist relations andproletarianization, nd the development of a sophisticated bureaucracy and

capitalistsuperstructure. he continuous nteractionbetween thePuerto Ricanpeople in the United States and in Puerto Rico also transports o the new set-ting henewlyformingmodes in the Island culture, ncludingthe early indica-tions ofproletarian xpression.This relation between thePuerto Rican popula-tion in theUnited States and in PuertoRico constitutesone vital factor of theculturaldynamics n theNorthAmerican communities.Otherparticulareconomic and political conditions of the NorthAmericanindustrialheartlandoperate on thePuerto Rican's developingperspectives,as-pirations, nd culturalexperience.These conditionsrangefrom heconglomer-ation of productiveforces thatprovide the framework nd tools forpossibleartisticproductionto theconvergenceof diversenational cultures.Evidence ofcultural ingredientsfromotherworkingpeoples' expression, engaged at thepointof production, n the schools and universities, nd in the multi-nationalworkingclass neighborhoods, ncreasinglyappear in the Puerto Rican's ownnational forms.This germinalfusion is not only,or even mainly,reflected nartisticproduction, he focus of thepresentpaper, butalso in the language andlifestyles f thepeople. Thus, a complex dynamic is at work in the PuertoRi-LatinAmerican erspectives:ssue 10, Summer 976, Vol. 111, o. 3


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124 LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVEScan community,mbedded in the national and class reality, n which linkswiththe Island persistwhile thegrowing, bjective threadsconnecting o other sec-tors of the NorthAmerican proletariatbecome moremanifest,despite the of-ten mperceptible nd subconscious course ofthis process.Puerto Ricans become moreand more aware of theirobjective interests swage-laborers. These interests, hat implythe "democratic and socialist" na-tureoftheir spirations, have an impact on theircultural movement.The newartists rising within the Puerto Rican experience proceed fromworking classbackgrounds. Their audiences are workers,the unemployed, students fromworkingclass families, and youth. (The median age among Puerto Ricans inNew YorkCity s 19 years.) The new forms mergingn music,theater,poetry,and graphic and plastic arts in fact coincide with the political upheavalssweeping the late sixties and propellingforward the period of organization,and theoretical nd ideological refinementhat follows: thestruggles orequal-ity and decision-makingpower in the schools and universities, specially forPuertoRican Studies, forbilingual education, fordecent housing notably man-ifested n the squatters movement),forfreedom of political prisonersand anoverhaul of the criminal ustice system,and so on; the growthof nationalistand Marxist organizations based in workingclass communities and movinginto thepointofproduction; nd thedevelopment of class analysis and revolu-tionary trategy.n great part,these struggleshave taken form onsciously as amovementofnational contention the fight orsurvival of a national collec-tivity nd thesecuringofnationaldemocraticrights. he primarypoliticaltaskof the PuertoRican movementtoday lies precisely in bringing o the people'sconsciousness an awareness of the economic interlock between national op-pression and its class basis. As this task is advanced, an appropriate culturaltheoryand new artisticpossibilities emerge. Today, glimmersof such con-sciousness shootthrough he culturalmoldbeing forged.Even thespontaneousculturalsurge,dramatizing hepopular emotionmilitating gainstnational op-pression and supporting he battle fornational redress, n essence reflects hemotion ofa class phenomenon.The rootsof thisbattle are ultimately uriedinthe PuertoRican's condition of super-exploited worker. To respond to it ade-quately and promote ts further evelopment requires organizationand leader-ship of theworking lass.Music

A musical storehouse, bundant in traditionalforms nd new rhythms ndmelodies, s an intimatepartof thedaily lives ofPuertoRicans. Music, coupledto dance and song, has a long history s a primaryvehicle ofexpressionwithinPuerto Rican culture, retaining his place in the Puerto Rican community o-day. However, this culturalmode, extremelypopular while easily and cheaplyreproduced, s also well-suited forproductionas a commodity. n its familiarcapacity as cultural commodity,music has also been a central carrierof therulingculture.Popular and national appeal on the one hand, and commercialsuccess on the other, togethercharacterize the musical world of the PuertoRican.The traditional nd well-knownrhythms ftown and countryside bom-ba, plena, seis, aguinaldo, and so on - moved at the centerof the peasant'sand urban laborer's culture.These rhythmspresented the peasantry's com-


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CORTEZ-FALCON-FLORES: CULTURAL EXPRESSION OF PUERTO RICANS IN N.Y. 125plaintsagainsttheirplight, heswindlingsuffered t thehands ofthe andown-ers and merchants, hehopelessness felt n the face ofnatural disaster and anantagonistic "destiny."They summed up the working people's vision of life'scircumstances.The firstcolumns of new migrantsat the end of the SecondWorld War maintained this musical tradition. Two recordings of typicalrhythms, seis chorreao and a plena, demonstratemusic in PuertoRican cul-tureas an expression that captures the people's sentiments nd reflects heirdemocratic aspirations. n "Yo me Vuelvo a mi Bohio," recordedabout 1951,ElJibarito e Adjuntas articulatesthe perceptionand reaction of the migratingmultitude o conditions n the new drama. The song representsa rejectionofthe hostileenvironment,ulturalalienation,and economic oppression encoun-tered n theUnited States. In "Alo! ,Quien Nama?," a commercially uccessfulrecording n Puerto Rico and New York duringthe late 1950s, Mon Riveradramatizestheexperienceofstrikingwomen in a small ironing hop in Maya-guez. The phone call represents he boss' search for scabs. In simple termsandthrough n appealingmusic,thepopular form vokes the reasons forthe strikeand theworkers' attitudes.

From "Alo! ZQuienNama?"Alo! ZQuienNama?Maria Luisa Arcelayconectando con JohnVidal.Dicen Las planchadorasque si no hay plata no van a planchar.Que sera, que pasara, que el taller de Ma' Maryque pide gente pa' trabajar.Empez6 la huelga.Dios mioque barbaridad.Las trabajadoras,comenzaran a bembetear,que si cuchicu- que si cuchicci.Petraapaga esa plancha,no trabajemosna'.ZQue se cree esta gente?No nos tienenpiedad.La lana que aqufnos paganAy,no nos da pa' na',Ay que si cuchicu . . .A la vueltade la esquina .(trabalengua)"Yo Vuelvo a Mi Bohfo"Si yo vine a Nueva York/conel finde progresar,si alli lo pasaba mal/aquf o paso peor.Unas veces el calor/yotras el maldito frfo,a veces parezco un lio/por a nieve patinando,eso no me esta gustando/yome vuelvo a mibohfo.Fui porel Parque Central/me stuvomuy divertido,ymepregunt6un amigo/quesi sabia caminar,"yo estoy aprendiendo a andar," le conteste, amigo mio."Per6 me sientoaturdido/oyendo anto alboroto,y porno volverme oco/yome vuelvo .

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126 LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVESAy, no sigo de esta manera/porque no me esta gustandode estar subiendo y bajando/las malditas escaleras.No se que suerte me espera,/cuandosaldre de este ifo.En ver donde estoy metfo/no uedo hablar con certeza.Esto es un rompecabeza/yo me vuelvo . . .Ay, iega el dia de cobrar,liega el dia de cobrar,/mepongo a sacar cuenta.Despues de pagar la renta/,cudntome puede sobrar?Y el resto se va en pagar/lo poco que me he comfo.Con el bolsillo vacfo/no 6 a d6nde ire a parar.Si nunca a mi me sobra un real/yo me vuelvo . . .Compadre Ladf,yo me vuelvo a mi bohfo.

Music served as a cohesive culturalforceamongthemigrants, einga rec-ognized national form round which Puerto Ricans gathered n homes,home-townclubs, and at cultural and social events. The traditionalrhythms ecamea tool of culturalsurvival,a carrierof national identity nd unity against theopposing conditions. These rhythms re presentlykept alive within the com-munity, aithfully eproduced by community-basedgroups (Grupo Loiza, Ple-nerosde la 110,CuartetoYali de Corozo), consciously passed on in workshops(LexingtonAvenue Express Percussion Ensemble), and newly adapted to con-temporary hythmsn the commercialfield Willie Col6n, Mon Rivera, GrupoFolkl6ricoy Experimental Nuevayorquino). However, the music of the pre-capitalist peasantryand townworkersofprimarily panish and Africanslaveorigins, music forsimple hand-made musical instruments nd of value as atool of communicationand education, is no longerthe dominantgenre in thepopular and commercialmuisic f PuertoRico and New York. New social andproductiveforcesprevail thatact on music.These are the dominance ofwage-labor, accessibilitytomanynational cultures and musics,advanced technologyand sources of acoustic power,universaleducation and literacy.The musical experienceof the PuertoRican inNew Yorktoday is dominat-ed bythecommercial music controlledbya corrupt,multi-million ollar indus-try, he music produced on records for sale and proliferated hrough adio anddancinghalls. The industry aters to the divergentgenerationsand nationali-ties of Latin American origins living together n the city.We hear in manysettingsMexican rancheras, Colombian cumbias, Dominican meringues,Ar-gentinian tangos, traditionalPuerto Rican rhythms, he well-known bolero,and the fashionable rhythmsof the moment everywhere, ncludingthe un-ending parade of sentimental balladeers from Latin America. The principalmusical formdeveloping in New York among the Puerto Rican population,however, s salsa, thepresentmode of Latin (basically Cuban) rhythms lour-ishingfor thepast fourdecades. Radio programs n Spanish and countless so-cial clubs and largerdance halls address thediversity f musical tastes amongthe LatinAmerican communities, pecializing in salsa or in adaptations of thetraditionalmusic. (The traditionalmusic brought o the commercialdance hallis produced by largerdancingbands with standardcontemporarynstrumenta-tion. t is depurifiedof basic elements n thetraditionalexecution ofperform-ance and divorced from heoriginalrole of transmission ffolkculture.)Salsa, the catchall denominationfor the commercial and popular rhythmsof Latin music, developed in New York. It stems from Cuban music with its


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CORTEZ-FALCON-FLORES: CULTURAL EXPRESSION OF PUERTO RICANS IN N.Y. 127wealth of African elements, recorded here by RCA since the mid-1920s andvigorously alive for the Puerto Rican and Latin American community n theuptown clubs, which have been central community enters since the 1930s.This music was modified for the elite downtown clubs of the 1930s ballroom"rhumba" that excluded Black musicians. The danz6n, son, guaracha, rumba,mambo, guaguanc6, son montuno, charanga rhythms danz6n-mambo, cha-cha-chaj, achanga) were and continue to be performed n large part by PuertoRican musicians who took them over and adapted them as theirown. The bigbands of the 1940s,most notedly Machito, were influencedby the brass ar-rangementsof the bebop era in Afro-Americanmusic. Noro Morales, TitoPuente,and othersalso incorporated his and otherelementsfromazz. On theotherhand, Chano Pozo, duringthis same period, initiatedthe flow of Latinpercussionists nd rhythmsnto azz. And todaythe Latinrhythmection s animportant artofmany azz, soul, and rock ensembles. This crossingover at asignificantevel of elementsamongdiversenational musics is characteristic fthe advanced movementof productiveforces under capitalism. The New Yorksetting lso allowed forotherchanges in the originalCuban rhythms. he mostsignificantnnovation n the ast tenyearshas been the almostcomplete ampli-fication of the musical instruments roducingthe large, at timesoverwhelm-ing, sound characteristicof rock and soul. Just s significant, lthough alsocharacteristicof the popular music in Cuba, has been the increasing tempogiven to the original Cuban music. Other particular features of salsa wereintroducedby Puerto Rican musicians the central role given tothetromboneby Eddie Palmieri and Willie Col6n's integration f traditional Puerto Ricanand otherCaribbean rhythmswith thismusic.Salsa is a powerfulculturalforce with two sharp edges: one, theobjective-ly progressiveeffectof representing oth national and internationalexpres-sions, acting as an instrument f cohesion for oppressed people; the second,dominant ide, the reactionary oleofserving s a medium ofbourgeois deolo-gy and carrying ll the corrosive featuresof a bourgeoisculturalcommodity.These two aspects of salsa do notexist as mechanically separate forces.Theyare interlinked y capitalism tself nd bycommercialspeculation.The histori-cal evolutionof salsa under these conditions n turngives rise to a strong ndgrowingmultinational eature,which also is contradictorynnature.As the mostpopular form f thecentralcultural diom in the Puerto Ricancommunity, alsa music inspires greatmasses of young working-classPuertoRicans as an expression considered theirown. PuertoRicans born or broughtup in New Yorknaturally ppropriatedtheCuban rhythms heydaily enjoyed.Latin music attractsand brings togetherPuerto Ricans much as the rhythmsimported n the early migrations erved as familiar signposts unitingthe mi-grants. ts appeal, includingthe aesthetic elements thatPuerto Ricans find at-tractive n therhythmicmovement nd well-knowntunes, ies precisely n itsbeing recognizedas a cultural formreadily adaptable as a national expressionby the community. Of course national origin s not always the underpinningof aestheticpreference.However,the fact of national oppressionand a hostileenvironment, ulturaland otherwise, ngendersa turning owardthe nationalroots.)The rise of national consciousness and political activity mong PuertoRicans duringthe late 1960s had to be reflected n thismusic, albeit in a wa-tereddown and politicallyconfused manifestation.Eddie Palmieri's Justicia,Tony Pab6n's Bandera, Willie Col6n's turn to traditional Puerto Ricanrhythms,ven thenames adopted bycertaingroups Revoluci6n 70,La Protes-LatinAmerican erspectives:ssue 10, Summer 976, Vol. 111, o, 3


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128 LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVESta, Conjunto Libre and others) occurred in this context. The rhythm t theheartof thismusic, inclusivelycarriedby "non-rhythmic"nstrumentsbrass,flute, tringnstruments),races a dialectical movement,which when executedwell,reaches an all-embracing nity hatyoungPuertoRicans love.From"Justicia"

Justicia endran,usticia veranen el mundo los discriminados.Con el cantodel tamborla justicia yo reclamo.Si no hubieratiraniatodosfueramoshermanos.Dulce paz yarmonfa,alegrfa, u o veras.ZCudndo legara la justicia?Justicia a' los boricuas y los niches.From"Bandera"(Note reference o Puerto Rican Nationalist & patriotPedroAlbizu Campos)Un campesino muri6enterrado n el presidio.A mimipadremedijo,el Presidentemuri6.ZPorqu6,si era unpobremendigo?A mfmipadremedijo,porque bandera pidi6.Bandera,banderahecha de tela ycolores.Vale mas que las floresy todos los profesores,mi bandera.

Salsa also contains a multi-nationalor internationalaspect increasinglysignificant nd, in the long run,harboring ts deepest progressivethrust. ni-tially,and predominantly, his cultural idiom attractsLatin Americans whorelate to salsa in similarways as do Puerto Ricans. Puerto Ricans and LatinAmericans fromNew York enjoy and respond to salsa as a group.More andmore it has begun to appeal to Afro-Americans,Anglo-Americans and otherpeoples as it extends beyond its original restricted udience, propelled by theneed ofthe music industry o expand and conditioned bytheobjectivepositionfromwhich it stems.While having a cohesive effect n the Puerto Rican com-munity, alsa approaches being a unifying actorfor the workingclass. Thisemergent rendcontainsthepotentialfor Latinmusic, givena progressivecon-tent, o emanate and join theculturaldynamicofthe entireclass, appropriatedand enjoyedbyall workers. n a similar way, azz came about as an expressionborn fromthe struggling evelopment of the Afro-Americanpeople, spreadwithintheUnited States beyonditsregionalorigins, nd swept throughout heworld, recognized and used as a fresh, iving expression by many nationaltraditions.


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CORTEZ-FALCON-FLORES: CULTURAL EXPRESSION OF PUERTO RICANS IN N.Y. 129The present back and forth xchange between salsa and musical idiomsbased on other national culturesevidences its multi-national ontent and ef-fect. We have already notedtheincorporation f Latinrhythms nto azz, soul,and rock. The emergence of young commercial groups that infuse into Latinmusic elementsof jazz (e.g. Bobby Paunetto), soul (e.g. Ricardo Marrero andthe Group), and rock e.g. Seguida) testify o the elaboration of salsa beyond itsoriginalcultural formulations.These groups consist of large ensembles withprominentpercussive sections and instrumentation nd innovative techniquereflective f experimentationwith diversenationalmusics. While the definingmusical characteristic emains the Latin rhythms,hese new ensembles rangebeyond those of their predecessors, such as Machito, who took similardirections.The reactionaryside of salsa takes on a sharp cutting edge through ts

main function s a commodity.Salsa is an entertainmenttem, packaged forsale by a multi-million ollar music industry n New York. This industry, edby the Fania recording ompany,securelycontrolsproduction and, indirectly,the quality and ideological thrustof Latin music. In addition to the acute ex-ploitationofmusicians, big business approaches to thepromotionof salsa arethemselvescorrupting nd destructiveof the cultural value of this music. Allthe hideous featuresof the largerworld ofcommercial music come intoplay: adestructive ompetitiveness hat nfects he relationsamongmusicians and theexploitative cultivation of musical idols. In its thirst for sales, throughthemonthly tagingof salsa festivalsat sports arenas, stadiums and concerthallsin the United States and the Caribbean, through he exploitationof anythingwith mass appeal, the commercialproductionof salsa stiflesthe artisticquali-tyof themusic.This fact is evident from hehost of salsa extravaganzas andoutpouringof "big name" releases. When viewed collectively,this musicalpackage evokes the impressionof a damaged record thatrepeats the same lineoverand overagain, becomingmonotonousand empty.The corrosiveeffect fcommodityproductionon thequalityofmusic,andartin general, s also pervasive in their social and ideological aspects. Salsa isincreasinglydivorced fromthe concerns of the masses of youngand workingpeople. The lyrics depart further way froma true reflectionof the people'slives, from a true expression of their sentiments and thought, ven from anapproximatestatement f and commentary n the events that affectthe livesof its audience. These were preciselythe roles played by the traditionalmusicdisplaced or coopted by commodityproduction. Significantly,hevocal partofsalsa, which had commanded equal attentionwith themusical aspect in tradi-tional music and in early popular recordedmusic, seems to be recedingfromits centralplace. One or two words or a repeated, meaningless phrase oftencomprisethe lyricsof songs. The economic crisis acutely affectingNew YorkCity, nd mostdamagingfor tsyouthand oppressed minorities, oes not existas far as the most far-reaching ulturalexpression experienced in the PuertoRican communitys concerned.

Salsa on Women:From"Quftate a Mascara," by Ray BarretoMe diste a comerpescao,sin tu quitarle a espina.

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130 LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVESDe postremediste astrinina,con tu sabor a melao.From "Juana Pefia," byWillie Col6nElla era una mujerque a muchos hombreshabia engafiado.From "Carmen la Ronca," by Grupo Folkl6rico y Experimental NuevayorquinoYo conozco a una mujerllamada Carmen la Ronca.Que se pasa todo el dfametiendo a genteen bronca.Ella todo lo averiguacon mucho lujo y detalle.From "Dale Jam6n la Jeba,"by MachitoDale jam6n a la jebaque es comelona.In measuringthe conflicting rends within salsa music, one mustconsiderthe role of coercion at the center of the contradiction.The national aspect ofsalsa is progressive nsofar as it supports the Puerto Rican's struggle gainstenforcedcultural assimilation. On the otherhand, the commercialization ofsalsa, precisely as a nationally-orientedmusic, represents a backward step,makingof a workers' music a bourgeois statement. n regardto the multina-tional aspect, the voluntaryextraction frommany national musics to enrichLatin music and vice versa makes for a mutual revitalizationof musical idiomsofvalue to the entireworking hss. Conversely,the forced, uperficial adapta-tionof trivial, cosmetic" rock, soul, debased jazz, and salsa - brought boutby commercial speculation - degenerates the music in quality and contentand precludes its real value forPuerto Ricans and the rest of theclass.In oppositionto theprevailingcommercialization, music grounded n thePuerto Rican's living reality also continues to grow. This music has diverseforms:the natural, almost spontaneous expression of drum rhythms daily

created n thestreets; heconsciously innovative, nti-commercialmusic of na-tional and multinational lements exemplified n theConjunto Uni6n; and thepoliticallymotivatedmusic and songs givenvaried directionsby ensembles as-sociated withpolitical organizations.Until the middle of the1950s,theregularpracticeofdrummingn Spanish-speaking communitieswas mainly engaged in ritesof santerfa, primarilybyCubans. Otherpercussive music importedfromthe Caribbean was performedby a few in closed sessions and festivities. he release of several recordingsonAfro-Cubandrumrhythms,solatingthepercussion section ofthe well-knowndance tempos,e.g. the guaguanc6 and other rumba forms, rovidedthemod-els for earningtheir xecutionand gave an impetusto theirdissemination. Theimprovised drum sessions quickly moved from he homes, rooftops, nd base-mentsto the streetcorners,playgrounds,parks, beaches, and whereverPuertoRicans congregated. The energy of the movement swept over the resistanceoriginallyput up against this mediumof national assertion. Much like theout-lawing of the plena in Puerto Rico, public gatherings round the drums andchants were not allowed in New York.) Drumminggrew into the cultural ex-


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CORTEZ-FALCON-FLORES: CULTURAL EXPRESSION OF PUERTO RICANS IN N.Y. 131pression of Puerto Ricans. And it goes on as a Puerto Rican expression, a formappropriated by Puerto Ricans, while themusic industrv ppropriates salsa.The streetdrum music presents a culturalmixing of national and multina-tional significance. t arose as a culturalvehicle for young Puerto Ricans feel-ing the weight of national oppression, thedistance of traditionalforms, nd theabsence of "high" culture and other creativemedia. The drum music, encom-passing channels of creativity nd energywith familiar antecedents in PuertoRican and Caribbean cultures,constitutes n instrument or national survivaland expression.At the same time, t draws togethermembersof diverse mig-rant communities, specially Caribbean peoples who share common sources inthe formation f their national culture,but also in greater numbers, of Afro-American and otherpeoples. On any given summer night,Puerto Ricans, Do-minicans, Cubans, Panamanians, Haitians, and Afro-Americansdrumtogetherin a city park, exposing and exchangingtheirrespective rhythms, pening thepossibilityfor theirmutual enrichment. uch activityformsa basis in the cul-tural front orthe unionofdiverse national sectorsof theworking lass.However, the powerful popular expression of drummusic accompanies atotal ifestyle f theyouth and permanently nemployedsectors.Energy, rea-tivity, nd national aspirations transformnto divisive and destructiveforces,into the escapist, umpenized culture ofdrugs, treetrivalry, nd the hustle fordaily survival.As in all popular culturewithinclass society,the infiltrationfthe values and habits which emanate from hesocial base penetratesdeeply. Inthe absence of class consciousness, this aspect of popular culture can gaindominance.To counteract his tendency, nd to further evelop the spontaneous musi-cal mode developing in the street,workshops such as the Lexington AvenueExpress Percussion Ensemble have been organized. The Lexington Avenue,made up of youngmen and women from East Harlem, combine learningandpractice of traditionalCaribbean and new streetrhythmswith study and dis-cussion of their ocial origins nd theirrelevance today. The question ofdevel-oping songs reflective f the Puerto Rican reality s taken up, along with on-going criticism fthe negative practices associated with the music. The Work-shop goes out intothecommunity operform nd discuss theirview of music.A different elationto the streetmusic existswithin theGrupoFolkl6ricoyExperimental Nuevayorquino,a large ensemble of professionalmusicians reg-ularly workingwith salsa bands. As with mostmusicians in Latin music, themembers of the Folkl6rico's rhythm ection in the main acquired their firsttrainingndrummingn the streets.The large rhythmection including batadrums, timbales, two or three congas, and bong is the base of theFolkl6rico's sound. The group combines musical instruments nd styles ofexecutionfromPuertoRican, Cuban, and other Caribbean traditionwith con-temporaryLatin music. The Folkl6rico allows more room for improvisationthan is normallypermittedn salsa. While notpolitically tuned,and oftenfall-inginto the ideological pitfallscommonin salsa music, such as the stereotypeof thenosy, gossipingwoman in "Carmen la Ronca," the Folkl6rico's blendingof traditionwith the most appealing music of the moment is a guide for theprogressof the Puerto Rican musical form.Non-commercial collectives of musicians have also emerged which areconcernedwithmaintainingnational PuertoRican rhythmswhile drawingonLatinAmerican erspectives:ssue 10, Summer 976, Vol. III,No. 3


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132 LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVESthe ever-presentmusic of otherpeoples. In contrast to the invisibility f themusicianswho have not achieved starstatus and the focus on the leading mu-sician that occurs in most commercial music-, he progressivePuerto Ricangroups provide ample room for the development of the individual musicianwithin n ensembleconcept.The ConjuntoUni6n (1972-1975) s an outstandingcase in point.This groupingof five or more musicians joined Puerto Ricans,Blacks,and Anglo-Americans.They soughtmusical innovationand theintegri-tyoftheartist.Developingthroughnteractionwiththe Puerto Rican commun-ity,the Conjunto turnedfroman outpouringof chaotic and emotional spon-taneity, nfamiliar nd withoutappeal to thePuertoRican audience, to a solidbase ofLatinrhythmsnd popular tunes on which new musical elementswerebuilt. The Conjunto managed to keep a grounding n jazz and improvisationthroughout nd introducedsinging nto its performance, ookingto verbalizeits outlook on music and its relation to the audience: "La universidad de lacalle/dondese estudia/comoen otra escuela."Music as a front n the political strugglehas been engaged by several en-sembles supportedbysocialist organizations.El Grupoand SangreJoven n thepast and Tarraya in the presentperiod (associated with the Puerto Rican So-cialist Party)merge popular and protestmusic of Latin America and PuertoRico, looking to the Cuban groups of this genre as a model. Guitar, cuatro,otherstring nstruments, lute,conga, and bongo make up the typical instru-mentalaccompaniment.The lyrics nclude songs ofprotestfromLatinAmeri-ca and Puerto Rico and songs on the situation of Puerto Ricans within theUnited States. The latter centeron the theme of interconnectionbetween thestruggle or national liberationon the Island and the political emancipationofPuerto Ricans on themainland. The Socialistics, on theotherhand, an ensem-ble offouror five voices harmonizing o familiartunes fromrhythmnd blues("du-bop"), practicedbymanyPuertoRicans broughtup in the United States,make class strugglewithinthe United States their basic theme. The Socialis-tics,sponsored by the PuertoRican RevolutionaryWorkersOrganization, ayemphasis on class solidarity gainst imperialism NorthAmerican and Sovietin theirview). Althoughbothmusical modes takenup by these political artistsrelyon aspects of Puerto Rican expression, as artisticprogramsmeetingthepoliticalneeds of Puerto Rican people in the United States theyfall short.Onemode,based on tradition n the Island and LatinAmerica,fails to take up theculturalforms hat touch base with the Puerto Rican experience in New York;theother,based on one aspect ofPuertoRican culturalexperience in theUnit-ed States, gnorestheoriginaland still mportant oots of Puerto Rican culturein the colony. Neither can fulfill the political and cultural requirements ofPuerto Ricans withintheUnitedStates.The question arises ofwhat road to take in developinga music responsiveto theculturaland politicalneeds ofPuertoRicans as workingpeople. Musicalcreationas an expression of an oppressed people cannot occur in a vacuum.F6rPuertoRicans itneeds to take cognizance ofthemainstreamoftheirmusi-cal reality,referring o its most prevalentmodes, the traditionalrhythms swell as thedominant salsa, while recognizing he diversity f the richmusicalworld PuertoRicans enjoy.To eitherobliteratenational form, r to ignore thenew elementsand impactof othernational formson thePuerto Rican's cultur-al experience, s notadequately to address through familiarand moving me-


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CORTEZ-FALCON-FLORES: CULTURAL EXPRESSION OF PUERTO RICANS IN N.Y. 133dium the questions and problems uppermost n the experience, thought, ndsentiment f an embattledpeople.Theater

While not as extensive as music, the dramatic world Puerto Ricans enjoyreaches back to a full tradition n "high" theater nd popular theater and deepinto the daily modes of interaction nd expression, pregnantwith the elemen-tal drama of mimeticgestures and casting of roles. The overriding xperiencewith theater n New York, however, s the Spanish-language network telenove-la, a cultural nstitutionn'Puerto Rico and many Latin American countriesdeveloping from the magazine and print novela and its radio counterpart.While music, even in its commercializedform,may convey protestand indi-vidual outcriesofcriticism nd satire,thetelenovela is a morethoroughly on-trolled deological medium and most markedly o in its Spanish-languagever-sion. The contending heatricalform n thecommunity over againstthe tele-novela and official theater grows with the resurgence of popular theater,based among workers,whose incipientproletarianexpressionfirst ccurred nthe sland at the turnof the century.In addressingthe question of theater n a people's culture,one must notlose sightof its basic common form. A dramatic quality that is found, withdiffering istinctivefeatures, n the cultures of many peoples pervades themodes of everydaycommunicationamong Puerto Ricans. Any account of anevent or incident, movie or baseball game, an attitudeof the boss at work orthe workingsof the welfare office, s accompanied by explanatory gesturesand mimicking hat serve to dramatize the point being made. This dramaticelement s given structured ultural form n the controversia of PuertoRican,musical tradition.A battle of musical dialogue, repletewith meaningfulges-tures and improvisation n a given theme, s carried out between two contes-tants.The singercasts a role orplays out a situation,providing n explanationaimed at outdoing n wit and spontaneitythe abilityof the opponent. In factthetheatricalityn everyday ife and in popuilar ulture s the essence of dramaand is thePuerto Ricans' most mmediateexperience of "theater." tgoes on asa formal ource,alive and dynamic,forthecreationof theaterclose to the ivesof ts audience.The theatricaltradition n Puerto Rico originated duringthe seventeenthand eighteenth enturies.This traditionfound initialexpression in the biblicaland moral dramas and processions of the church. Dramatizations of Spanishclassical theaterwere also performedduringcelebrationsof signal ecclesiasti-cal orpolitical events, uch as the arrivalof an archbishopor the coronationofthe Spanish monarch. The nineteenth entury aw the emergence and, duringits second half, the spread of theaterthroughout he Island. A professionaltheaterviewed by the Spanish and emergingnative elite was established inSan Juanand major towns,and foreign raveling ompanies touredthe Island.Spanish drama was staged, as was the work of native dramatists,who ap-peared with the emergenceof a national bourgeoisie. An "amateur theater"reproducingthis established drama emerged in every corner of the Island.Even the smallest towns had a theater house by the central plaza. The za-guanes (the interiorpatios of city tenements) n the workers' quartersweretransformed ntostages for a theaterof charlatanerfa buffoonery) eforetheend ofthecentury.LatinAmerican erspectives:ssue 10, Summer 976, Vol. III, No. 3


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134 LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVESWith the organization of the evolving working class, late in the century,and thefoundingof its leading trade union and political arms,the Federaci6nde Trabajadores Puertorriquefiosnd theearlyPartidoSocialista, a proletariantheater emerged,directedat workers and dramatizingthe themes of conflictwith the hacendados and othersectors of the national bourgeoisie. EduardoConde, a leading organizer of the Federaci6n, referred o his participation nthe zaguan theaterof Old San Juan that provided a referencepoint for build-ing a proletarian heater.Magdaleno Gonzailez,a tobacco worker and followerofthe Federaci6n,was a leading dramatistwho later emigratedto New York.Little s known, however, of this workers' theater and traditional"amateur"stagecraft.Their history,buried in the documents of municipal governmentsand town churches and in the newspapers and publications of the workers'organizations,needs to be reconstructed. he demise oftheFederaci6n and the

radical transformation f the social structure upportingpopular theater eftthis traditionbehind without a visible connection to the present. ts rescue isan urgent asktoday.Here lies a reservoirofculturalmaterial and an essentiallink in Puerto Rican historyand expression on which to draw for the newbuildingofproletarian heater oday.The dramaticexperienceof thePuerto Rican in New York is dominatedbythe melodramas,the telenovelas daily occupying nearlyten hours of viewingtime overtwo Spanish-language stations."Exciting" morous intrigues, tense"battles between honest, manly, upper class heroes (or lower class heroes withmarkedly bourgeois aspirations) and absolutely evil, conniving villains,"pathetic" situations for defenseless passive heroines, "moving" displays ofnoble virtues on the part of the underdog- worker, peasant, Black, Indian,woman - are standard ingredients f thedrama fed to the Spanish-dominantaudience, in its majoritywomen. The virtues displayed are extracted frombourgeois moralityand frombourgeois prescribedrules of conduct for hiredlaborers: honesty, resignationto fate, chastity, oyaltyto husband or master,faith n moving up thesocial ladder under certainconditions, nd so on. Theseprograms erve as pacifiersand a principal injectorof class propaganda,muchas theEnglish-language oap operas do forthe NorthAmerican housewife.Pacification in the telenovelas, however, differsfrom that of the English-language melodramas, where the characters and the problemstreated belongto sectors of the middle class. Social inequality and injustice lie at the core ofthetelenovela's problem. n the tradition fbourgeois tragedy, he "moving"or"sentimental" tear-jerkerdrama of the late eighteenthand early nineteenthcenturies, he root cause of the conflicts encountered in the telenovela is theclass stratification f the society.Haves and have-nots and the privilegedandunderprivileged re cast in dramatic tension, where sympathy s evoked forthose at thebottomof the adder. The grain of reality ontained in the telenov-ela, that of social inequality, s the point of attractionfor its viewers, them-

selves membersof an exploited class and its mostoppressed sectors- womenand the nationally oppressed. Its connection withreality,of course, is totallydistorted. The solution to the conflict is the triumphof right and justicethrough he actions of the upper class hero, which restricts ll perspective tothe set of relations that is actually the source of conflict.Pacification in thetelenovela consists precisely in this falsely comforting imitationof alterna-tives.


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CORTEZ-FALCON-FLORES: CULTURAL EXPRESSION OF PUERTO RICANS IN N.Y. 135Despite its deplorable artistic uality and, in the finalanalysis, itsreaction-ary mission, the telenovela needs to be seriouslycontended with by progres-sive artists.Clearly, ts sheer popularitymeans that to ignorethe telenovela isto lose touch with the most familiar nd attractive heaterfor n enormous andavid audience. (The English-language ector of the Puerto Rican community,on the other hand, does not have a comparable far-reachingdramatic form.This predominantly oung groupfinds ts "entertainment"n the "action" net-work serials and in cinema.) Furthermore,he social natureof the telenovela'stheme, he undercurrent f class divisions, represents real revolutionarypo-tential.To poke funat thetelenovela,to parody (witha play within a play) itscliches and stereotypeswhile pointing ut the real interestsbehind class align-ments as in Brecht'streatment fGermanpopular opera), or to create a seri-ous telenovela where genuine, revolutionary olutions are indicated (as in the

democratic nd proletariantheater n Europe that reversed the themes and so-lutions of bourgeois "sentimental"drama) are roads open to Puerto Rican art-istsworking n this field. The drama of themigration nd theenormouslyvar-ied and complex experienceof the PuertoRican's history n New Yorkprovideall thematerialnecessaryfor telenovela serving he nterest f workers.As in music, a recently merging heater has arisen that serves as a politi-cal and aesthetic response to the telenovela's reactionarypolitics,poor quality,and divorce fromthe Puerto Rican's real life. A variety of directions are evi-dent: a conventional theater n English and Spanish presents the work of Puer-to Rican dramatists and other established playwrights, specially from Spainand LatinAmerica; a somewhat less conventional theater n English composedofyoungPuerto Rican playwrightsdramatizes the conflicts of particularsec-tors of the community; nd an experimental treet heater,with orientations nNew York and in Puerto Rico, treats the central problems of the communityfrom radical perspective.In 1953,a groupof actors produced and staged La Carreta by the promi-nentPuerto rican author,Rene Marques, in the community-basedHunts PointPalace. The best accomplishment of conventional Puerto Rican theater,inmany respectsfull of lifeand capturingmuch ofthereality t seeks to portray,good theaterwith a popular essence in so far as the Puerto Rican audienceimmediately ecognizes a great part of its own experience within t, La Carretasets a standard forPuerto Rican drama. Equally important,t has been to datethemostsignificant ramatic statement n the ourney and impact ofthepost-war migration.Marques perceived the voyage "from the Island countrysidethrough he urban slum to the New York ghetto" primarily s one of disinte-grationof the Puerto Rican family causing lamentable cultural disorder anddegeneration. ts final resolution, nostalgic return o the farm, s a symbolicgesture f ts backward perception.Lacking nhistoricaldimension,presentingno real indication of the underlyingforces generating uch social dislocationand human trauma,La Carreta n the end evokes the defeat of the Puerto Ricannation. The suffering nd loss sustained by the Puerto Rican people fails tofind n its dramaticrecreation the combative response given in real life. Thislack of historical nd political perspectivemars a workthattherefore ltimate-lyremains withinthe realm of the "official"culture.Miriam Col6n, the well-known Puerto Rican actress, produced a secondstaging f La Carreta in 1965.This effortet thestagefor theidea of a theatri-LatinAmerican erspectives: ssue 10, Summer 976, Vol. 111, o. 3


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136 LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVEScal companydedicated to the supportand developmentof Puerto Rican thea-ter in the community. n 1967, Ms. Col6n organized the Teatro RodantePuertorriquefnoPuerto Rican Traveling Theater), "a bilingual, professionalcompany," that bringsthe work of established and new Island dramatists,poets,and writers nd, lately,of PuertoRican writersformed n New York tothe Puerto Rican community nd, in translation,to a NorthAmerican audi-ence. The Traveling Theater also presents Latin American and, periodically,samples of European and North American theater in both languages. It hasprovideda theaterofqualityand relevance to PuertoRicans, such as La Carre-ta,thedramatization of shortepisodes of the New York experience by PedroJuanSoto, and thetheatricalpresentationofpoems byNew York writers uchas Pedro Pietri, Papoleto Melendez, and Piri Thomas. The need to criticallyassess much of this theatrical productionand to press beyond the limits ofofficial r "professional"theater,however,remainsunanswered. It is preciselythis theater that distorts through ts narrow, ahistorical vision - all themajorthemes such as the dislocation ofthefamilyor theconflicts f"ghettoculture" - and falls short of transforminghe theaterinto a livingmediumcapturing he dramaticelement of strugglesn people's lives.In the recentpast, two youngplaywrights romNew Yorkhave portrayed,from heirown experience, the lifesituation and tensions ofparticular sectorsof thecommunity.Miguel Pifiero, n ex-inmate at Sing Sing forfive years, andPapoleto Melendez, a poet born and formed n the Puerto Rican community,have produced plays on the conflictsofprison life, PuertoRican streetgangs,and drug addiction.Short Eyes, Pifiero'scommerciallyacclaimed work, dramatizes the de-pendentand tense relationsamongan inmategroupthat ncludes Blacks, Puer-to Ricans, and one white. The play reflects he basic inhumanity, onditionedbytheprison system, hatheightens hemostdestructive eaturesof "normal"society in sexual relations,national divisions, ndividual self-interest,ocialalienation - even in the face of attempts o create a community. n the play,thissystemultimately eads to thetotaldistortion fhuman relations for mostof tsparticipants.

Melendez' The Junkie tole the Clock crystallizes a view of the personalinteractionswithina juvenile gang in "ghetto"conditions,typically eading toaddiction, pettycrime,and psychic desperation. The play's symbolic messageis carriedbythetransformation f thegang's youngestmemberfromhis initia-tion n dope to theoverdose, accompanied by glimpses of theaddicted couple'shustle and attempts o detoxicate, the poet's pessimisticcontemplation of the"ghetto," he hustler'sabusive relationswithothergang members, nd so on.In the finalanalysis,theworld captured s a dead end.ShortEyes and The Junkie . . come closer to aspects of the PuertoRi-can reality nd theantagonistic onditions n which it s set thanthetelenovelaand much of the established "professional" theater.They offermoments ofreal conflict risingfrom lienating nstitutions hat bolster thegeneral condi-tions of oppression. Short Eyes, in particular,reflectsthese momentsin itsdynamicmovement nd gives life to the appropriate stylesand patternsof ex-pression. As impressionsfrom an oppressive situation and its dehumanizingand destructivempact,these dramas represent n themselves a condemnation.But they ose much of the potentialforceof this progressivestance precisely


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CORTEZ-FALCON-FLORES: CULTURAL EXPRESSION OF PUERTO RICANS IN N.Y. 137because of theirconcentrationon moments, mpressions,and crystalizationslifted rom livingdramawithgreathistoricaldepth.Wheredo theprisoners and junkies come from?Why are so many PuertoRicans in ail and on drugs?What are their inks to thedominantsystem ofthewhole society?The theater thattakes a stillphotographfrom a drama in mo-tion lacks the perspective forproviding clues in response to these questions.ShortEyes and TheJunkie . . take a microscopic ook at a largereality ndcan only capture,as a complete statement, hat unkies overdose, thatprisondestroysover and over again, that this s thefataldestination n an oppressivesystem.They end with a sense of sheer futility atherthan the deeper criticalinsight and potential struggle ssociated with the true realist art,where theperspective uts through hemany ayers ofsocial reality.The lack ofperspec-tivemakes thisdrama reminiscent f the existential, lienation plays in othernationaltraditions,mostobviouslymodishEuropean "themesof theabsurd."Street theaterin English and in Spanish developed in the Puerto Ricancommunityn the late 1960s,the firstmolded in the New York experience andthe second rooted in Puerto Rico and furtherdeveloped in New York. Bothreflect hegrowingnational awareness among PuertoRicans and theirdevel-oping political struggle.They move directly n the streets of predominantlyPuerto Rican neighborhoods,set aside the conventional structureof theaterand the costlydevelopmentof sophisticated lighting ystems and settings nfavor of dramaticvignettes llowing much improvisation, ntegrating he lan-guage and expressive modes of Puerto Rican life,and striveto develop a dra-ma, through ollectiveeffort,witha political perspectivesupportiveof nation-al equality and independence. As a totality, his theater exhibits the complexmovement of Puerto Rican culturein New York that on the one hand main-tains national integrity,dentifiedthroughthe continuous turnto traditionalelements as vital sources of national expression,and on the otherbringsforthand integrates eaturesof othernational cultures encountered nNew York.The Third World Revelationists 1968-1972)were thefirst uerrillatheater,based in working-class ommunities, n which PuertoRicans participated.TheRevelationistssprang from the battles for "communitycontrol" and "self-de-termination" hat drove the nationalmovementsofAfro-Americans, uerto Ri-cans, Chicanos, and otheroppressed people in the last decade. A collective,includingBlacks and Puerto Ricans livingand undertakingpolitical study to-gether, his ensemble set outtodevelop a political theater n theidiom,dramat-ic imagery, nd expressive styleof the urban neighborhoodsof oppressed na-tionalities.The Revelationists were not trainedas dramatic artists. Critical oftheconventional theaterthat erectsa mysticalwall between the audience andthe stage and indulges in the outworn themes of intensepersonal struggles fthe petty-bourgeois nd middle classes, the Revelationists improvised their"reflections" r vignettes, ften ntegrating oetry,music and dance, on streetcorners, n storefronts,nd at political rallies. Each dramatic piece treated anaspect of the circumstances and central issues underlying he conflicts of theexpoloitednations and minorities: heideological groundsof racial and nation-al discrimination;the repressive apparatus of the legal system; the bindingthrust f acute national exploitationat home and aggressionabroad, especiallyin Vietnam; inequality in livingconditions; culturaloppression manifested ndrugaddiction;and the alienation ofnational cultures.Latin American Perspectivs Issue 10, Summer 1976, Vol. 111, No. 3


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138 LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVESThe Last Poets presentedpoetryaccompanied with dramaticgestureanddrumrhythms ontemporaneouslywith theRevelationists.A PuertoRican andBlack groupconsistingof threepoets and one drummer, he Last Poets devel-oped a forcefulvisual and oral medium based upon the spontaneous dramaand music of the expressive styles of the "lumpen" (actually the unemployedyouth) and the "walk and talk" of the urban streets.Their poems expressedhatred of thehistoryof plunderand destructionof Black and otheroppressedpeoples. At the same time,theirworkcalled to overturn hepassivityofficial-ly encouraged and for channeling the anger and violence among the peoplethemselves gang warfare,drugs,and so on) against the legal and repressiveinstitutionspropping up the "white establishment." The emphasis was on"nation building," thirdworld solidarity," nd sinkingrootsinto national cul-tures.The political contentboth here and in the productionof the Revelation-

ists reflectedthe level of organization and theoretical depth of the young,spontaneous national movements n which culturalnationalismand a nation-alist perspectiveare the drivingforces.Both these groups are outstandingex-amples oftheinteraction mongnational sectors of the workingclass, and theinterweaving evelopmentoftheir xpressivemodes.The street, r popular,theater n Spanish which emerged n the PuertoRi-can communityduringthe period in which the Revelationistsand Last Poetswere active is similar in political and dramatic intent to these New Yorkgroups.It differsn its actual political focus and the culturalmaterialthroughwhich it is forged.This theater also abandons conventional structuresandlooks to delineate drama that s collectivelyproduced, integratedwith the au-dience, abundant in the elementaldrama of thepeoples' popular culture, om-posed in the living,popular language, and politicallyaligned withnational re-sistance both in the NorthAmerican and Island context. This free-flowingtheater s also generallyorganized in short mpromptupieces, at times ooselylinked via a commonplot. Unlike the membersof the Revelationistsand LastPoets, the leading exponentsand participantsofthe street, r popular, theaterin Spanish do have some trainingn actingand theatricalproduction.They aretrained n Puerto Rico, where some participate n the resurgenceof a theater

rootedin the workingclass barrios. The attemptto build a popular nationaltheater extends to New York.The focus and raw materialfor this theater re-mains the national tradition s presentlydeveloped. Consequently,the resul-tant drama differsgreatlyfromthe "reflections"and dramatized poems inEnglishand the New Yorkstylesof theRevelationists nd Last Poets,blendingBlack and Puerto Rican elements.The firstpresentationsby a Puerto Rican street theaterin Spanish tookplace in thesummerof1968.Two groupsappeared - thePuertoRican Ensem-ble and the Nuevo Teatro Pobre de America. The Puerto Rican Ensemble,consistingofpoets,musicians,and a theatricalensemble,touredPuerto Ricancommunities n the summersof 1968, 1969, and 1970. Traditional music andpoetry, s well as a theaterpresentingworks of contemporaryPuerto Ricanplaywrights nd thenewly-emerginguerrilla heater,moved intoopen, organ-ized, militant ulturalactivity.The Ensemble's presentationsprojectednation-al symbolsofresistance:the images of Albizu Campos and Betances, the heri-tage of the Lares revolt,and the ongoingeffort o drive the NorthAmericannavyoutofthe PuertoRican territoryf Culebra Island.


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CORTEZ-FALCON-FLORES: CULTURAL EXPRESSION OF PUERTO RICANS IN N.Y. 139Duringthis same period, the Nuevo Teatro Pobre de America emerged inNew York.Organized by Pedro Santaliz, it operated alternately n New Yorkand PuertoRico withnew members. The Teatro Pobre brought ogetherbothyoung people with no theatricalexperience and trained actorswho jointlyde-veloped ideas fordramatic pieces. Victor Fragoso, a participant n several ofthe theatricalensembles formedsince this period,describes the Teatro Pobreinthefollowingmanner:They performnvariably n Spanish, giving the impression of being a theater of the re-centarrivals. Drugs is one of the themes, as it is one of themost shattering xperiencesof the ghetto.They combine realitywith fantasy, he world of childhoodgames with thecrueltyof the ghettoenvironment, sense of humor with the social message. All theworks have an air ofunfinishedbusiness, open totheunforseen Fragoso, 1975).The Nuevo Teatro Pobre de America set the example for a community-based Puerto Rican theater.By 1972,new theaterensembles were organized byactors who had participated n the Teatro Pobre, the Puerto Rican Ensemble,and the Teatro Rodante. These included theTeatroAspaguanza and theTeatrode Orilla. Both presented short dramatic pieces, includingworks by progres-sive Spanish and Latin American playwrights,by Santaliz and other PuertoRicans, as well as the ensembles' own productionsdeveloped in workshops.The Teatro de Orilla experimentedwith audience participation n resolvingthesituationthatdeveloped in La Factorfa:a worker s unjustlyfiredand her co-workers consider strikingn her defense.The actors discuss with the audience

the workers' decision. Finally,all agree to call fora strike.This ensemble alsoproduced a series of dramatic scenes (iEste trenpara en Delancey?) thatcap-turedbits of Puerto Rican life in New York, some collectivelyconceived andothersadapted fromPedro JuanSoto's Spics. In 1973,the Teatro de Orilla'slast production dealt with the question of racism among Puerto Ricans inPeloalambre o se rindeo las tribulacionese unpueblogulembo.Thisworkfuses traditional drummusic, Puerto Rican espiritismo, nd other aspects ofpopular culture, specially from he black barrios,to commenton the decadentcommercial culture and the outlooks of various classes and social sectors ofPuerto Rican society.The play included an effective arcastic look at the co-lonial apparatus ofpoliticians, udges, police chiefs and the yanquis.Since 1973,several theatrical nsembles,organizedon university ampusesor in neighborhoodstorefronts, ave developed fromthe models of the Span-ish street heater.Forthemostpartcomposed of Puerto Ricans fromNew Yorkgivendirectionby artiststrainedin the Spanish language streettheater, heirtheatrical ctivity s characterizedbyfeatures drawn fromthistheater:collec-tive work,improvisation,mobility,free-flowing ction, interactionof severalgenres, and national affirmation.The Teatro Jurutungo, eatro Guazaibara,Teatro La Nueva Mujer, and,mostrecently, eatro 4 are outstanding xamplesof thistheater.All produce loosely connectedscenes thatstand independently.Both English and Spanish are utilized. The themes treated concern the situa-tion of Puerto Ricans in the United States viewed as interconnectedwith thecolonial backgroundof the Island. The Teatro Guazabara, for example, hasproduced pieces on the colonial historyof Puerto Rico up through he adventof the migration,on the life of the seasonal migrantworker,and on LolitaLebron (who led the Nationalist attack on the United States Congress and isnow a living symbol of Puerto Rican resistance to colonial oppression). TheLatinAmerican erspectives:ssue 10, Summer 976, Vol. 111, o. 3


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140 LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVESTeatro La Nueva Mujer, especially dedicated to treating hepositionofwomenin society,has stageda piece tracing he move ofa Puerto Rican woman work-er from the factory n New York, where she defies her ill treatment, o thestreetsof a Puerto Rican town,where she findsnot work, but the same NorthAmerican corporations. n iQue encontreen Nueva York?, the Teatro 4 sig-nals out police brutality nd criminaldelinquency in the Puerto Rican com-munityas outgrowthsof the colonial situation and the conditions of forcedmigration.This street heater s still n an embryonicform, ookingto solidify ts tech-nique and to work out a trulypopular dramatic idiom. Its political statementssuffer n notlooking deeply enough,and theirunderstanding f the Puerto Ri-can's presenthistoricalplacement in the United States falls short.Thus, theorientationremains the Island and the charactersportrayedare closer to theIsland than to New York in their expressive modes and styles. There is littlerecognition f thenew conditions which act on the outlook and mannerismsofthemasses of Puerto Ricans who are only familiar with life in New York. Infact, ven theview of theIsland often acks awareness ofthe determinants ndeffect f social transformation. he youngstreettheaterstillfalls into the ro-manticstereotypingf the jfbaro or the sland leftbehind.The road to a progressive nd proletariantheater n the Puerto Rican com-munitywill be paved with closer attentionto reaching the audience and tomakingthe movementon the theatricalplatform rulymeaningful o the livesof itspublic. Partly, hismeans utilizing he familiarworld oftheater,primari-ly the telenovela, in addition to the common theatricality f everyday life al-ready successfully employed in the street theater and by New York play-wrights.The world-wide experience in proletarian theater that has utilizedpopular national forms opera, melodrama, bourgeois tragedy, tc.) should becritically eviewed.Most important, progressive heater at present requires afullerhistoricalperspectiveof thebasic themesofthemigration nd theexper-ience of the United States mainland. We have yet to see, for example, theplacement of the Puerto Rican here as worker,the historical impulse to themigration, nd therelationbetween the Puerto Rican worker and other work-ers. The national position,on which Puerto Rican theaterconcentrates,hasthus always been incompleteor distorted.Still missing is a thoroughunder-standingof the migrationas an essentially economic process with politicalconsequences.Finally,the best of bourgeois drama offers essons and examples on thesecrets of effective heaterthatneed to be adapted. However, the slice of life,themerecritical nspectionofbourgeois society,the dark view from helowerdepths - the content of this drama - offerno perspectivesto the Puerto Ri-can worker.Poetry

A richpoetical legacy is available to PuertoRicans in the oral traditionofthe peasantryand in classical poetry,the literature hat articulated the posi-tions and state of mind of the national bourgeoisie during ts rise and wane.Both aspects of this tradition n poetry,as popular oral expression and as"high" art, are familiar to a sector of the Puerto Rican community n NewYork.However,theNew York PuertoRican does notpartake n a formalpoetic


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CORTEZ-FALCON-FLORES: CULTURAL EXPRESSION OF PUERTO RICANS IN N.Y. 141world similarto the one daily experiencedinmusic and theater.Poetryhas notbeen easily seized as an importantcommodity, ike salsa or the telenovela.Even theextensive sland poetic output s cut offfrommany English-dominantPuerto Ricans because of the language difference. oetryemerged as a signifi-cant mode expressive of the New York Puerto Rican experience only duringthe last decade ofpolitical and culturalferment nd notprimarily s a literaryform, ut as an oral and visual experience.Storytelling, oetryand declamation, lyrical improvisationand commen-taryon daily events and universalthemes (thedecimas and otherpoeticformsof Spanish origins) were central components of the Puerto Rican peasants'popular culture,a primarymeans ofvoicingtheiroutlook as a class and theiropinionson social, political, aesthetic,religious, nd other matters.A classicalpoetryproduced by the literary epresentatives f the formativePuertoRicanbourgeoisie of hacendados (Gautier Benftez,Luis Llorens Torres, Luis PalesMatos) was establishedat the heart ofthe national culture.This literature, ris-ing with the birthof national consciousness and patriotism n the forging fthenation, gave expression to the twistinghistoricalcourse of this class fromits initial, struggling,ndependent steps under Spanish rule to its painful de-miseunder NorthAmericandomination.The oral tradition nd the classical poetryare inheritedby that sector ofthe New York community hatdirectlyexperienced these formsas their ownvehicles of expression. But, by and large,this aspect of the popular cultureisnot a primarymode of expressionwithinthe United States communities.Theoral tradition s being displaced in the Island itselfby new formscorrespond-ingto the transformedocial structure. he cleavage withthewritten anguageforPuertoRicans schooled in theUuited States enforces a further upturewiththe classical poets as well as withthecontemporary oets writingn Spanish.

For PuertoRicans rearedin United States cities,theoral and classical heri-tage in poetry s viable as their own expression only in an indirect, lthoughimportant,way. The home has provided certain cultural grounds in whichtraditionalforms re partlypassed on. The improvised verse and the seis, thegesture that accompanied the declamation of an amorous or patriotic ballad,the rhythmicmovementgiving ife to popular poems are elements submergedin the aesthetic consciousness of New York Puerto Ricans. These blend withnewerfeaturesoftheirown, present modes of interaction nd communication.While the decima, or the popular verses of love, patria,peasant, and country-side of Luis Llorens Torres have not served as the immediate models for theconstructionof a proper poetic expression in New York, an undercurrent ftheirfeeling nd affinity o rhythms sustained. These traditionalforms needto be studied and turnedto useful purpose today. Their positive aspects - thecry against the peasant's and the laborer's plight, he anti-imperialist tance,themusical qualityand attractivemagesvalued bythe PuertoRican masses -mustbe drawn upon to strengthen poetrythateffectively orresponds to thesituationofPuerto Ricans in the United States.The poetrybeing produced by Puerto Ricans in New York is developingintwo modes rooted in differingources. One, written n Spanish, actually flowsfrom he new poetic wave that has been surging n the Island during the pastfifteen ears. The other,produced in English,develops as the New York PuertoRican expressionthat surfaces with therise in national consciousness and out-LatinAmerican erspectives:ssue 10, Summer 976, Vol. 111, o. 3


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142 LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVESburstof militant trugglen the PuertoRican communityduringthe late 1960s.Althoughboth modes are presentedat political and culturalevents,and there-foreparticipate n the cultural ife in which Puerto Ricans are immersed,onlythe lattergrowsfrom he New York experience and crystallizesa local vision.An exchange between these two poetic modes has not taken place, althoughthe authorsknow each otherand are familiarwith each other's work. In greatpart,the language difference ccounts forthis separation. A closer develop-ment between the music and theater of the Island and New York,unimpededby the written anguage,has been possible. While the spoken language is ap-propriated sufficiently o develop a music and forparticipation n a theateroriginatingn the Island, thewritten anguage could not be the mediumallow-ing the decima or JuanAntonio Corretjer'spoems to be the natural startingpointof a poetic expression fromNew York. Language, in thissense, has beenan obstacle to the transmission of tradition.Another aspect of this languagephenomenon is the enlargementof expressive possibilities that clearly por-tends an enrichment f the tradition. ndeed, thepoets writing n Englishhavealreadymade meaningful se ofthisfascinatingbilingualsituation.Ivan Silen,Angel Luis Mendez, VictorFragoso,and Etnairis Rivera (now inPuerto Rico) are among the Spa

flores- the cultural expresion of pr in ny

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