Tito Matos was an acclaimed percussionist known for his skill playing the traditional Puerto Rican music called plena.Tito Matos was a highly acclaimed percussionist known for playing the Puerto Rican music genres Plena and Bomba.
Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, his grandfather gave him his first hand-held drum called a pandereta when he was a child. Pandereta is one of the primary instruments used in plena, an Afro-Puerto Rican style of rhythmic folk music.
He was in the popular band Viento de Agua, known for combining plena with bomba, another Afro-Puerto Rican music style and adding jazz textures with a horn section.
He was an educator and a cultural advocate for plena music in Puerto Rico.My friend Tito Matos died this week. I can’t think of a single person who has done more for the soundtrack of Puerto Rico’s identity.
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