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Tambores begin as if in mid-sentence during the middle of an engaging 500 year-old epic story already in progress then a few seconds later the drumming intensifies, in fact a cluster of drums fills the air, and that unmistakable Afro-Puerto Rican Plena and Bomba beat intoxicates better than any narcotic.

For years, the collective creative collaboration group Alma Moyo has proclaimed the largess of Boricua culture through music, song and dance. Now the folkloric group has released their first CD, "No Hay Sabado Sin Sol."

Lead by Alex LaSalle, Alma Moyo includes the musical talents of Marinieves Alba, Manuela Arciniegas, Jorge "Wachi" Estrella, Obanilu Ire, Veronica Valentín-Mojica, Luis Perez, Diana Quiñones, Julia Gutierrez-Rivera, Raquel Rivera, Maria Luisa Solana, Fidel Tavárez, Juan Manuel Usera and Jorge Vazquez.

Together, Alma Moyo preserves and promotes urban jibaro and traditional Puerto Rican music. Along with groups like Los Pleneros de la 21 and Yerba Buena, with gusto, brio, attention to musical and historical detail, Alma Moyo scrapes deeper and goes farther than the surface of traditional folkloric music. In the capable hands of Alma Moyo, Bomba and Plena are not only musical styles of the past but a soaring commentary of how history comes alive today.

If one does not listen carefully, one can easily take Alma Moyo for granted as if they had always existed, like a stalwart friend who will never leave your side. With the heart and soul of Puerto Rican music, Alma Moyo generates life, heat and love.

In San Juan, one may take for granted La Fortaleza, palm trees, sand and the bright blue expanse of the Caribbean Sea at the same time all of these majesties are contained in the music of Alma Moyo. Along with a sense of geography, Alma Moyo's music evokes Tainos, Africans, sugar cane workers, cigar rollers, Panama hats, guyaveras, fishermen, women and children. It's impressive how the poetry of culture translates into another art form acting as both conduit and creator of art that comments, reflects, projects and becomes another avenue into the Puerto Rican soul.

In one of poet Luis Palos Matos's famous works, the author evokes a beautiful dancer before a group of musicians and Alma Moyo could have been that group of musicians in Matos's master work. Or, in the photographs of Enid Alvarez who shot cemeteries, children and roosters. She captured photographically what Alma Moyo captures musically.

Unobstructed by convention, Alma Moyo continues a tradition of being like a musical Griot, a collective as one, telling an over 5 century year-old story still in the making. This traditional roots music goes beyond expectations; this is the rhythm and heartbeat of the Puerto Rican people. Even after a listener will wear down the CD grooves of Alma Moyo's first album, those drums imprint themselves onto the air, internalized through the senses, invigorating, oxygenating and making the one whole.

Born out of respect and cultural pride, "Alma Moyo" preserves the past, looks to the future and fully charges the world with high octane musical surprises, things known but yet unrevealed. Risky in conception and execution, Alma Moyo's music reminds one how good it is to be Puerto Rican and how good it feels to be Latino.

ALMA MOYO ON NY1 NOTICIAS click on link below.

http://www.ny1noticias.com/content/126743/-alma-moy%C3%B3--presenta-su-disco-debut-en-el-bronx