Plena Is Work, Plena Is Song

Duration: 30

Year Published: 1989

Creator: Pedro A. Rivera

Format: 16mm

Color: Color

Description: Explains the genesis of "La Plena," a type of Puerto Rican folk music that embodies stories of life events. In Spanish, with sub-titles and some narrative in English, briefly reviews the history of Puerto Rico's economy and culture while listening to individuals and groups performing plenas. Presents the music as a resistance tool of the lower classes in their struggles for better working conditions and higher wages. Illustrates how plenas have been used as a voice of protest, citing the strike at Puerta de Tierra in the 1920's, about which a plena was written. Talks about Alo Quien Nama? the first international hit, recorded by Mon Rivera in 1954, which chronicles the strike by women garment workers in 1933. Listens to a plena that laments the current loss of jobs for Puerto Ricans.