We recently connected with Miriam Padilla and have shared our conversation below.

Miriam, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

Bomba Marilé is the first Puerto Rican bomba group in the state of Utah. Our mission is to share afro-Puerto Rican bomba music, dance, history, and culture with the greater Utah community. We strive to remember the stories of our ancestors through the beat of the drum and the words of our songs. We also bring a piece of Puerto Rico to the mountains in Utah, so that while highlighting the connections of the African Diaspora in the Americas. There was a large migration of Puerto Ricans to Utah in the 1940s-1960s to work in the mines. More Puerto Ricans have moved recently to Utah after a series of devastating natural disasters. We hope to increase Puerto Rican representation and to foster understanding of our traditions.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Bomba Marilé, a non profit 501c3 organization, was started in 2017 to share Puerto Rican bomba music with others in Utah. I was personally drawn to bomba as a way to connect with my roots and ancestors. Bomba has been present in Puerto Rico for over 500 years and is a way of remembering our past. Bomba, which was initially brought to Puerto Rico by Africans, has always been a way of fighting for justice and liberation. Bomba is a means of lifting up black and brown voices while at the same time remembering the struggles of our ancestors and fighting for the rights of current marginalized communities. Since its inception, Bomba Marilé has been honored to receive grants from different organizations including the Ogden Arts Council, Salt Lake City Arts Council, National Endowment for the Arts, South Salt Lake Arts Council, Walmart Community Grant, and others. With that support, we have organized events that highlight connections and understanding. Some of the events we have organized have included “Colorism in the Latinx Community”, “Self Defense Hidden in Dance”, “Speaking through the drum- the importance of drumming in cultural identity”, “Healing through music and dance”, and more. We have used the financial support to bring artists directly from Puerto Rico as well as from Chicago, Florida, New York, and California. These bomba practitioners then carry out bomba dance and percussion workshops in Utah while at the same time sharing historical and cultural information regarding Puerto Rico and the African Diaspora.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Members of Bomba Marilé have definitely had to show resilience to successfully bring Puerto Rican bomba to a state that only has 12,000 Puerto Ricans residing in it. Many in Utah have never heard of bomba and do not realize the rich cultural diverse heritage of Puerto Rico. We have organized many events to discuss the history and traditions of Puerto Rico and how our identity is complex. Bomba has always been music of resistance, music of the people, and we have purposefully organized many free community bomba hangouts to share the belief that bomba music should be created in unity with others. Furthermore, there are no lifelong elder bomba practitioners in Utah so we have had to spend many thousands of dollars traveling to other states and to Puerto Rico to be able to learn from our teachers. Finally, all of our drums, cua sticks, maracas, and skirts come directly from Puerto Rico or from artisans of Puerto Rican descent. These works of art can take many months to create by hand. The problem ensues when they are damaged on transport and there are no artists in Utah who know how to fix our bomba drums. Gradually, we have had to teach ourselves how to re-skin drums, how to make cua sticks, and how to fix metal rings that keep the drums together as the wood gradually shrinks in the dry climate of Utah. Our journey has not always been easy, but we are extremely dedicated to preserving and sharing the traditions of our ancestors.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding part of being an artist has been the amazing connections music has brought to our lives. Music has a way of connecting people even when they do not speak the same language. There is a feeling of shared experience and understanding that comes when everyone drums, sings, and dances together. Furthermore, we have always used our events to uplift the voices of Black, Brown, and Indigenous people. Through that, we have been able to partner with multiple amazing Queer or POC led organizations such as Ogden Pride, Sema Hadithi Foundation, Salt Lake Capoeira, N’goma y Africa, Latino Behavioral Health, Malialole, and others. We are also grateful for the lifelong connections we have built with amazing mentors that include Shefali Shah, Hector Lugo, Ivelisse Diaz, Rafael Maya, Marien Torres, Nuno Calderon, Manuel Carmona, Carlos Padilla, Jeanitza Aviles, and more. These are relationships that we hold dear to our hearts and will forever be grateful for.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://bombamarile.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bombamarile/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BombaMarile/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtFU-tEXLtLUOzxtu7MKoug
• Other: https://linktr.ee/bombamarile

Image Credits
Bomba Marilé logo made by Kroniko