Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Lowell Folk Festival - Yomo Toro

Yomo Toro, is a cuatro player from Puerto Rico. At 76 years young, he still plays a mean guitar.























The lead singer was passionate about her singing.












The jíbaros were descendants of Spanish settlers who moved to the Puerto Rican highlands to cultivate small, family-based plantations. The central instrument in jíbaro music is the cuatro, now considered Puerto Rico’s national instrument (while its name, which translates as “four,” hearkens back to an earlier, four-stringed version of the instrument, the modern cuatro is equipped with five sets of double strings). In a typical jíbaro ensemble, the vocals and cuatro would be accompanied by a güiro (gourd rasp) and maracas, which provide a strong Afro-Caribbean flavor to the music.
A picture of the full group on stage at Boarding House Park in Lowell on Saturday.

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