Plena Libre

Puerto Rican band Plena Libre brings an unrivaled, energy-filled outdoor dance party to the Moss lawn. 

Masters of the plena and bomba styles, the group brilliantly infuses traditional and contemporary music with Afro-Puerto Rican rhythms, creating an electrifying stage performance. With mesmerizing hand drumming, raucous horns, and soaring three-part vocal harmonies, this band always brings the heat.

Join us an hour before the performance to learn dance moves from Plena Libre members!

About Plena Libre

Embodying the soul of Puerto Rico, Plena Libre has performed everywhere from Morocco’s Fez Festival to the Playboy Jazz Fest and Lincoln Center. With over 15 albums and four Grammy and Latin Grammy Award nominations under its belt, the band is celebrating its 30th anniversary as San Juan, Puerto Rico’s torch-bearing and pioneering masters of plena, bomba, son, and salsa.

Founder, bandleader, and bassist Gary Nuñez and his group have revived the plena sound for a new generation, thrilling audiences with horns, drums, and dance. Featuring three vocalists singing lush melodies — with an assertive, tight, yet sensitive style and balancing the traditional with the contemporary, global, and local — Plena Libre delivers a live performance that will keep you on your feet.

This is Plena Libre's first performance at the Moss Arts Center.

This performance is supported in part by a gift from Ms. Sherwood Payne Quillen.

This engagement of Plena Libre is made possible in part through the Mid Atlantic Tours program of Mid Atlantic Arts with support from the National Endowment for the Arts.