Photo courtesy of ATABEY

Metro Presents: Puerto Rican Bomba music and dance by Atabey at historic Union Station this Friday, October 25. The group will appear in the South Patio and their performance will coincide with the Friday afternoon rush hour.

Atabey 
Friday, October 25, 2013
Two 45-minute sets beginning at 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. 
Union Station South Patio

The performance is a continuance Metro Presents, Metro’s newly launched program of arts and cultural programs at Union Station. All events are free and open to the public. For more information on upcoming Metro Presents events, check Union Station’s events page.

Thousands of miles away from Puerto Rico, Atabey has been maintaining and promoting Bomba dancing, drumming and singing in Los Angeles since 2008. Atabey is one of the many names used by the indigenous people of Puerto Rico, the Tainos, for the deity of fertility and renewal.

Bomba music is a tradition that was developed in Puerto Rico by Africans who worked on sugar cane plantations. “Bomba is freedom and structure, community and ancestry, sensuality and modesty, ego and humility, tradition and innovation,” says band director Hector Rivera. “Hundreds of years later, Bomba is still alive and thriving all the way in Los Angeles, California!”

Union Station is accessible via Metro Rail, Metro Bus and several municipal bus lines. Use the Trip Planner at metro.net for routes and connections. Car and bicycle parking are also available on site.