YERBABUENA: Boricua Roots

YERBABUENA
*Boricua ("Puerto Rican") Roots Music

yerbabuena, hierbabuena, n., f. : wild spearmint, mint
yerba, hierba, n., f. : herb : grass : weed
buena, n., f., adj. : good
Note: the Spanish name "yerba-buena" ("good herb") is used to describe several varieties of mint, including Satureja douglasii, Satureja chamissonis, and Mentha spicata (spearmint)

A new Boricua (Puerto Rican) generation is embracing their musical roots. The work of Tato Torres & YERBABUENA (one word) is the product of everything that leads to a contemporary Puerto Rican musical experience. While well-recognized Boricuas like Willie Colón, Marc Anthony and Ricky Martin are known worldwide for their "Latin" flavor, YERBABUENA has been changing the way people listen to Puerto Rican music in New York City and beyond.

YERBABUENA was most recently featured alongside artists like Tego Calderón, Calle 13, Cultura Profética and other renown Puerto Rican artists in the CD and DVD editions of "Sonó, sonó Tite Curet," the 2011 release of Banco Popular's widely anticipated annual music special with their version of the song "Cucubano."

YERBABUENA is a group of individuals who come together to play the music that they love under the musical direction of singer-composer-musician Tato Torres. It is composed of musicians, singers and dancers from the New York City area, who share an intense passion for the musical traditions of Puerto Rico and the Caribbean.

YERBABUENA reclaims the Puerto Rican music often branded as "folkloric," refusing to accept its packaging as frozen-in-time museum pieces, only vaguely connected to contemporary culture. Instead, they make gorgeous music that incorporates past, but lives in the present. YERBABUENA taps right into the core of the Boricua experience.

*Boricua Roots Music

Boricua Roots Music is a musical movement in which Boricua musicians have combined and re-combined elements of traditional and/or "folkloric" music as contemporary musical expressions. This style of modern music, which reaches back to the roots of Boricua (Puerto Rican) tradition has come to be called "roots music" or "música de raíz" in Spanish. The movement is also often referred to simply as "roots" or "raíces" in Spanish.