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Milwaukee studio preserves Afro-Latino culture through music
Near Layton and Pierce on Milwaukee's south side, a white house sits quietly in a neighborhood. Inside, there's a communal commotion of Afro-Latino sound.
MILWAUKEE - Near Layton and Pierce on Milwaukee's south side, a white house sits quietly in a neighborhood. Inside, there's a communal commotion of Afro-Latino sound.
"Puerto Rico, this culture is alive. You know, it's like it's a daily occurrence. It's not, oh, there's a Bomba thing going on maybe next week. No, it's like every day," Beto Torrens, a Puerto Rico native, artist-in-residence and historian, said.
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What is Bomba?
The backstory:
Bomba is a centuries-long music genre commonly connected to Puerto Rican culture. It emerged more than 400 years ago during the Transatlantic slave trade as West African enslaved people and their descendants carried the sound through generations.
"It's up to us to pay homage to all those people who lost their lives but didn't lose their identity when they came. They kept it alive, kept it alive for us," said Torrens.
Bembé Drum and Dance in Milwaukee
Afro-Latino ancestry
Why you should care:
An Afro-Latino is a person of Latin American or Caribbean origin who has African ancestry. Torrens said that history isn’t just about one person, but Latino culture as a whole. Aside from being a professional artist, he is doing research on Afro-Latino culture specifically found in music.
"Some of these kids that are three, four generations, five generations, never spoke Spanish. And now because of the drumming and the dancing and the singing, now at least they sing in Spanish. So they're learning, and they're connecting with all that stuff," Torrens said.
Drum, dance in Milwaukee
Local perspective:
The white house on Layton is the headquarters of Bembé Drum and Dance. Bembé is an Afro-Cuban music genre originating from the Yoruba people of West Africa. Since 2015, the organization has offered year-round youth and adult drumming and dance classes.
"Music just makes everyone just feel better. Everything is better with music," said Bembé Music Director Bony Benavidez. Born and raised in Colombia, he works as a music director at Bembé.
"It feels like home, and I think you've felt that way already. You've been here just for a little bit. I mean, there's somebody cooking or somebody reading a book. There's a parent doing work," Benavidez said.
Bembé Drum and Dance in Milwaukee
Just down the hall, Bembé's básicos, or basic dance steps, are taught by Eneida Machado. Raised in Los Angeles, she said exposure to the African side of Latino heritage was limited.
"Learning cultural dances that were way back, connected to our ancestors. That was a big deal to me," said Machado. That influence led Machado and her son to join Bembé.
After a few minutes of basic movements, the students took over the dance floor. Soon their moves will take center stage, including at Bembé's Journey the Atlantic performance, a musical experience journeying through the Afro-Latino diaspora.
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"It was nice to know that there was a space here at Bembe that actually collected all of us," Machado said. "As much culture as they do have out in L.A. I never seen anything like this before."
"It's very important in Hispanic Heritage Month to acknowledge the amazing legacy that our African ancestors left for us," Torrens said.
Portions of this article were formatted using A.I. FOX6’s Andrew Amouzou and an editor reviewed it for accuracy and tone prior to publishing.
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The Source: Information in this story is from FOX6 interviews with Torrens, Benavidez and Machado, as well as the National Association for Music Education.