By Celia M. Ayala Lugo.
Born in Mayagüez on October 19th, 1984, Alexandra M. Muñiz Acevedo studied in different towns in the west. She got her B.A. in Communications from the Universidad del Sagrado Corazón and worked as a freelance graphic artist specializing in print media. Alexandra also worked with magazines and newspapers until 2014, when she began to work as an artist with Grupo Mamery, an advertising agency.
At the same time, Alexandra is also cultural manager of Galería Betances. She became immersed into Puerto Rican culture in 2008, when she became part of Bomba Urbana. In 2016, she joined Bajo la Luna, a project which fuses music and poetry, in which she currently is the singer.
I was able to interview Alexandra Muñiz about her lifetime accomplishments and creative projects, and shared her expressions concerning women’s role in the bomba genre:
Do you consider that practicing the bomba has helped you grow more as a human being for the past ten years?
Certainly, bomba has been a vehicle for personal growth in my life. In my beginnings, the sense of community, national pride, and willingness to learn about the African ancestry, present in all of us, Boricuas. That same interest intensified when I learned about other cultures in the world and how they coincided in having dance as a method of resistance against oppression. It has also helped make me stronger, since my shyness used to limit my expression, and, by feeling the connection on a larger scale, I lost all fear.
The amount of people you know in this culture makes you feel in brotherhood. The reasons for being able to expand as a human being through the bomba remain. El solo latir del corazón reminds us of our origins and being able to externalize it with music and dance allows you to see how everything is connected. That is what makes you more aware and more respectful of your culture and that of other peoples.
How have you seen the evolution of the role of women through the genre of bomba?
The documentation on bomba is currently being rescued, and from what I have read, I can say that women in bomba still predominate in the areas of dancing and singing, rather than in instrumentation, despite the fact that maracas have always been delegated to the female singer. However, these numbers have increased, although they have not surpassed the majority yet. There are more female musicians, dance teachers, composers, and artisans of instruments. Usually, men are more likely seen as subidores (an instrument similar to the drum) and women in barriles; (buleadores are followers). Everything is being transformed for the benefit of equity, but the population of women in the instruments is still lacking. I have observed that dancers prefer that the accompanying subidor be an expert, and usually feel safer with men. When they see a woman touching the subidor, they usually wait to see how it unfolds, and then join in if they feel encouraged to dance. On the other hand, when dancing, women tend to use the skirt as an instrument of expression. While there are women who prefer not to use it and gesticulate their movements similar to the men’s, this, in some cases, tends to be questioned because it is expected that women always wear skirts at the dance. Women have been the ones who made the folkloric costumes of the bomba, and are known as the main creators of petticoats and folklore fashion. I currently participate as a singer, dancer, and songwriter of bomba. I have taken classes both with women and men, and I feel immersed in a community that is evolving in terms of gender equity. There is still a lot of work to do to also free ourselves of some stereotypes like, for example, to appreciate some men who sympathize with the use of skirts in their dance interpretation. It is rare, but it does happen, and I think it has been progressively positive in the level of acceptance. As I mentioned, we are still evolving.
What do you consider to be the objective of your group Bajo la Luna? How do you think the group has evolved?
The objective is to raise awareness of Bajo la Luna’s spectators through poetry and music, on the subject of women. We use musical genres like bomba, bohemia, flamenco, and other southern styles. Our lyrics are mostly inspired by women’s experiences, love, and the political aspects which we live. The group began appearing in the west, but we have already toured several places on the island and created a niche within the music. Our audience has respected us for our poetic content, so we keep a hearing audience who patiently enjoys each of our pieces.
Within the activities developed at the Galería Betances, how do they promote bomba?
At Galería Betances, we have developed a cultural space where the community can express itself. Part of the cultural ecosystem of Mayagüez within the self-management is the bombera community. That is why we have given importance to their participation in the space of the gallery. In March, we had an opening of the exhibition called La Enagua, which was composed of a group of women who made petticoats in homage to the seamstresses of the bomba folklore. Some have made traditional, folkloric, and creative models. The opening was accompanied by a touch of bomba. In addition to the exhibition, the space has been used to give bomba classes. At the end of 2016, we had an exhibition of native Puerto Rican instruments, displaying a variety of artisan pieces from bomba, which included barriles de bomba, maracas, and cuas.
In what other activities have you participated in dancing bomba?
In 2008 I took dance classes, then continued my apprenticeship at the Escuela de Bomba Municipal de Mayagüez with whom I traveled to NYC in 2009, performing at the Parada Puertorriqueña. Then I sang and danced in the Bomba Urbana group for eight years. During that time we traveled to St. Croix, Cuba, and we mostly performed in activities of political resistance. We supported the 2010 strike and the Federación de Maestros. We also participated in several concerts in festivals across the island, such as Festival de la Bandera in Manatí, the Festival de la Hamaca in San Sebastián, among others. I currently dance only in the toques de bomba callejeros, and I collaborate with the group La Raíz de Bomba Mayagüezana in both singing and dancing.
Besides dancing bomba, what other hobbies or tasks do you enjoy?
In addition to dancing and singing bomba, I enjoy other musical genres such as hip-hop. I also write poetry, draw, and I’m an activist in different groups of political consciousness, such as the Juventud Hostosiana del Oeste, Defendamos la Alegría, Movimiento Independentista Nacional Hostosiano, Vive Borikén, as well as collaborate with Defend Puerto Rico. I love being in nature, and I’m passionate about the practice of Reiki sanction, massage and healing with medicinal plants.
What final message can you convey to our readers?
Growing as a person involves being aware of who we are as individuals and as a community. Let us understand that we are one people and that we must seek respect and love to maintain our balance. If we respect our natural resources we can live with more peace and enjoy life’s lessons. Knowing where we come from helps us to understand each other, so I connect with my ancestral roots. To express our joy through the arts is a spiritual way. Only we are to be creative with what gives us life, and to seek the musicality of our experiences. Fighting with love makes us evolve.