SANTURCE

Cary Martínez Cepeda

Margarita Caridad Martínez Sánchez, mejor conocida como Cary Martínez Cepeda, es la tercera hija de la destacada e influyente bailadora de Bomba, maestra y gestora cultural Margarita “Tata” Cepeda “La Mariposa de la Bomba”. Es biznieta de Doña Caridad Brenes Caballero y Don Rafael Cepeda Atíles, reconocido como el Patriarca de la Bomba y la Plena. Desde pequeña su madre le inculcó el amor a la cultura, el arte y en especial a la Bomba. No fué hasta los 9 años que Cary comenzó a educarse en la Bomba con los talleres que ofrecía su madre en la Escuela de Bomba y Plena Rafael Cepeda Atíles. Continuó su aprendizaje en la Escuela de Bomba y Plena Doña Caridad Brenes de Cepeda fundada y dirigida por Tata Cepeda en el 2001. A los 14 años de edad, Cary hizo su primer debut participando con el grupo Gracimá, también dirigido por su madre. Más adelante comenzó a impartir clases en la Escuela de Bomba a niños, jóvenes y adultos adquiriendo así las destrezas y conocimientos para comenzar sus propios talleres de Bomba. Durante su corta trayectoria ha logrado participar y colaborar con otras agrupaciones y artistas como: Hermanos Cepeda, Los Parranderos de Loíza, Tambores Calientes, Ednita Nazario, William Cepeda, Fusión Jonda, Bombalele, Trotamundos, Coolturart, Belelé, Las Bompleneras, Julio Axel Landrón, La Resistencia, entre otros. Cary se mantiene activa y en contínuo aprendizaje en la gesta cultural, siempre trabajando desde el amor a su cultura y su gente.

José Cepeda

Jose Manuel Cepeda Martínez was born on December 12, 1974 in Puerto Rico. Jose is the son of Bomba Master Jesús Cepeda Brenes and Sonia Martínez. and the grandson of Puerto Rico’s patriarch of Bomba and Plena, best known as El Roble Mayor, Don Rafael Cepeda & Doña Caridad Brenes de Cepeda. Jose was born into the Cepeda Family, an Afro Puerto Rican family of artisans, musicians, dancers, singers and composers who have been passing down the tradition of Bomba in their family and in community for many generations uninterrupted.

The Cepeda Family has devoted themselves to the preservation of Puerto Rican folklore for many years. Jose is part of the sixth generation of Bomba practitioners in his family. His father, Jesús Cepeda, best known as el Tambor Mayor, is a drummer, drum artisan, and the director of the Rafael Cepeda Folkloric Cultural Foundation which Jose also helps manage in Puerto Rico.

Jose Manuel Cepeda started learning and practicing Bomba soon after he was born and made his public Bomba performance debut in 1983 dancing and singng coro with his family at Hotel Condado in Puerto Rico. Jose, along with his family was featured in the documentary El Patriarca (The Patriarch), which told the history and significance of Puerto Rican folkloric culture. In 1983 Jose played the role of Juan Boria’s grandson in the documentary, El Nacimiento de un Niño Negro, with Juan Boria. Later in 1985, Jose was part of a cultural exchange that included Cuba’s Irakere, Rey Barreto, and the Cepeda Family on the island of Guadalupe. Together with his sister, Julia Caridad Cepeda, Jose taught Bomba dance workshops in the island of St Tomas to children of Puerto Rican and Domincan descent as part of the Body Language Festival in St Tomas (1989).

Jose and his family also participated in leading lectures, workshops and classes in New York at Hostos College and Leiman College in 1988 and traveled across the U.S. in the nationwide tour and cultural exchange together with AfroCuba de Mantanzas in the Dos Alas tour where he and his father, sister and uncles taught in more than 25 cities across the United States in 1998.

Together with his family Jose has taught dance classes, participated in collaborations and presented publically with international artists including Paul Simon, Ricky Martin, Robby Dracco, Wilkins, Manny Manuel, among others. Other notable collaborations, experiences and performances that Jose has participated in culturally have included participating in cultural projects with the late Tite Curet and Norma Salazar, being part of the “Aprende para Preservar” project by Fomento in Puerto Rico to preserve the tradition of Bomba and drum making (barriles), with his father, and more recently participating in the Puerto Rican Parade in NYC with his family (2012).

In 2016 Jose was an instructor/artist in residence for Taller Bombalele’s Familia Cepeda summer cultural exchange and performance project titled “La Bomba es Vida” presented by Galeria de La Raza SF at Brava Theater in San Francisco. This residency consisted of a series of workshops and Bombazos in the Bay Area and culminated in a performance by La Familia Cepda members who were part of the residency and members of Taller Bombalele. As part of his residency Jose also participated in a panel presentation about the Bomba tradition and how it has lived in his family. Jose is considered the archivist of his family and spent a considerable amount of his youth learning directly from his grandfather, El Roble Mayor, Don Rafael Cepeda Atiles. In his latest cultural exchange outside of Puerto Rico, where Jose participates in Bomba events, classes and activities regularly, Jose and La Familia Cepeda (through La Fundacion Rafael Cepeda Atiles) also participated in the Bomba y Plena Festival in Tampa, Florida this past November (2018).

Jose is a lifelong dedicated practitioner, student, and advocate of Puerto Rican culture and of the legacy of his Family in the Bomba tradition.