Batey Boricua in the Pandemic

Jul 29

Very proud of this work with La Peña Cultural Center. In addition to filming and editing a new series of short films with La Peña, Musiquito Media provided consulting services, event coordination and logistical support on the project, working closly with the La Peña executive team. We were also grateful to be able to bring in the extremely talented Raul Verela, Bethanie Hines and Gavin Jones on another fantastic project.

“Batey Boricua in the Pandemic” is the pilot episode of the new digital program "La Peña Community Stories." In this short film, we hear amazing songs & testimonies from cultural workers of Puerto Rican Bomba 15 months after La Peña—and most cultural venues in the world—had to physically close its doors due to the pandemic.

The protagonists, Shefali Shah, Héctor Lugo, and Ito Carrillo are pillars of the Puerto Rican culture in the Bay Area. Lugo & Shah co-founded the Bay Area Bomba y Plena Workshop years ago, and have been gathering and collaborating at La Peña to serve the community with classes, workshops, community jams, performances, fundraisers and more.

The focus of this video is the energy of the Batey Boricua Community Jam, which has been held at La Peña for many years. The intention is to honor this community-lead gathering practice which brings together Bomba practitioners, teaching artists, students, families, and enthusiasts to celebrate and preserve this over 400 hundred year old Puerto Rican tradition.

Presented by La Peña Cultura Center

Produced by Jeremy Allen, Musiquito Media and Bianca Torres