Last Sunday, a group of musicians gathered in Calle Loiza, a San Juan neighborhood known for African-inspired folklore. The annual Calle Loiza festival had been canceled because of the hurricane, but they didn't let that stop them from parading through the streets, playing hand drums and singing plenas.
"It's very, very Puerto Rican," says Emanuel Santana, a singer with the bands Plena Libre and Viento de Agua. "Every time a Puerto Rican hears the drums called panderos, you can have them come down in tears in a time like this. Of course, there's no electricity to even hear music. You don't have no MP3s right now. So we're back to basics."
The musicians traveled down the sidewalk, stopping at the few bars that have managed to open and are operating on generators. Along the way, they attracted followers who sang along.
Leading the group was Hector Matos — known as "Tito" Matos — a Grammy nominee born in Santurce, and one of Puerto Rico's best known pleneros. He drums and sings plenas about the love he has for the island.
"Love Mother Earth, respect of nature, you know, environment," he says, with his three-year-old son at his side. "Trying to use the moment to also teach the young generation these hurricanes are coming faster, bigger and stronger than ever, and that's because of us."
x— Mandalit del Barco (@Radioactive22) October 5, 2017Also from NPR-Update on the town where mega-hit Despacito was filmed. The town was destroyed by Maria
Residents of La Perla are still waiting for help.
The notoriously dangerous barrio of candy colored homes is bordered by the Caribbean on one side and the ancient city walls of Old San Juan on the other.
As in the rest of Puerto Rico, people here remain without electricity or access to clean drinking water, food and supplies, nearly two weeks after Hurricane Maria.
Desperate residents have painted messages on plywood boards: "S.O.S., we need help. Water, provisions. Don't abandon us. Despacito."
That's a reference to this summer's hit reggaeton song, "Despacito" by Puerto Rican artists Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee. The song's video was filmed in La Perla. With a record-breaking nearly 4 billion views on YouTube, it has brought a new kind of fame to a neighborhood that had been known for drugs and violence.
Residents point with pride to the street corner where Fonsi and Daddy Yankee sang in the video, surrounded by neighborhood kids. Over here they danced and played dominoes. And over there, sultry former Miss Universe Zuleyka Rivera sauntered around the neighborhood.
With the success of "Despacito," there were great hopes that this long-neglected barrio might turn a corner. One La Perla resident, Carmen Lourdes Lopez, says this summer she gave "Despacito" tours to curious tourists from as far as China and California.
x xYouTube VideoDONATION LINKS
Here’s some great agencies with aid-workers hard at work on the ground in PR right now:
You can donate right to the José Andrés’s Chef’s group at https://www.worldcentralkitchen.org
Hurricane Maria Community Recovery Fund
Catholic Relief Services Hurricane Relief (Caribbean-wide)
Here is a GoFundMe we can get behind as well. To help those in the most need, celebrities and others started sending their private planes to pick up cancer patients, elderly, people needing medical care, etc.
More donation sites worthy of contributions. Thanks for posting them bfitzinAR
DK ACT BLUE (and other) DISASTER RELIEF DONATION LINKS:
Hurricane Harvey relief organizationsHurricane Irma relief organizationsHere’s a link from Bill McKibben for an org to help Puerto Rico:
Hurricane Maria Community Recovery FundFrom Vetwife, Former Presidents Working for All Americans:
One America AppealAnother choice, from Denise Oliver Velez:
Unidos Fund, from the Hispanic Federation (After you click the orange DONATE button on the Unidos page, you’ll see a dropdown below your name & address. You can choose to donate to hurricane relief for PR, and also to Mexican earthquake relief.)And of course, h/t TexMex:
ShelterBox helps everywhere