Mar Cruz English Transcription

Amanda Ortiz Pellot

Well, today, July 15, 2023, I will be interviewing Mar Cruz. Thank you Mar for being here, for your interest. My name is Amanda Ortiz and for my research project titled “Puerto Rican Bomba Fashion: Consumption, Presentation and Meaning-Making,” we will be here interviewing you, asking you about your experience and your knowledge of Bomba and also Bomba clothing. Let’s start with some demographic data questions. How old are you?

Mar Cruz

I’m 30, what? 34 years, I thought about it…

Amanda Ortiz Pellot

No worries.

Mar Cruz

I am stuck at 33, 33.

Amanda Ortiz Pellot

No worries, it happens to me too. And I forgot to tell you, but if there is any question that you don’t want to answer, there is no problem.

Mar Cruz

Okay.

Amanda Ortiz Pellot

Where do you live currently?

Mar Cruz

Right now I am residing in Villa Prades, here next to the Mall of San Juan, next to, the, 65 infantry.

Amanda Ortiz Pellot

And have you always lived there?

Mar Cruz

No, to my beginnings, originally my family is from Guaynabo, from the Santa Rosa II neighborhood, in the countryside area, I have to clarify that because I say Guaynabo and fast people, “mmm, high jollity,” no, no, not that, I am from the countryside… but later when I got married, had my children and, I don’t know, I went to Luquillo, to live in Luquillo on land that my father had inherited from his, from his father. And there, well, I was living for a while, then we moved to Carolina, and from Carolina just a little step away now, it’s practically on 65th, that’s where we are now.

Amanda Ortiz Pellot

And what do you currently do?

Mar Cruz

Well, right now, I am a mother and a Bomba practitioner.

Amanda Ortiz Pellot

And what type of education have you completed and where did you complete it?

Mar Cruz

Well look, I did an associate’s degree in cosmetology, cosmetology, that was a long time ago, I got to study art, I got to study fashion design too, but I left everything halfway, something happened and forget it, I’m, I’m leaving, but all those things that I have studied, curiously, I have put them to use now in the things that I do, right, in Bomba, daily life as well, so that none of what I studied was in vain at all.

Amanda Ortiz Pellot

Exactly, although you didn’t finish it, you acquired a lot.

Mar Cruz

Yes, no, I use it a lot every day, I use it a lot every day.

Amanda Ortiz Pellot

And, what gender do you identify with and what pronouns do you use?

Mar Cruz

Feminine, I don’t know how one describes that?

Amanda Ortiz Pellot

Like her…

Mar Cruz

Oh, okay, her.

Amanda Ortiz Pellot

Okay, okay, what’s your sexual orientation?

Mar Cruz

Straight until now. If something else flows afterwards, then something else flows.

Amanda Ortiz Pellot

And are you in a romantic relationship?

Mar Cruz

Right now, yes, I am married.

Amanda Ortiz Pellot

And you have children?

Mar Cruz

Yes, I have two children, I have a 6-year-old boy who is the oldest and the girl is five.

Amanda Ortiz Pellot

And can you tell me a little about your family, where they are originally from or, the dynamic between you, is it a big family, a small family?

Mar Cruz

Well look, well, my family, as I had mentioned before, we are originally from Guaynabo in the Santa Rosa II neighborhood…My family on my mother’s side is from that area, my family on my father’s side are from New Jersey. My dad’s mother is from Lares, his father is from Fajardo, but they moved, once they established their family, they moved to the United States and there for years and years and years they settled in New Jersey. So they are all very Americanized on my dad’s side, but on my mom’s side, the family was always here in Puerto Rico. They are a big family on both sides, but especially my mother’s family is quite big. Always when there are parties or whatever my parents’ house is full, they are very present, what else? We are a very close-knit family. When we are at parties and we quickly take out the drums, we start playing, my aunt takes out the maraca, my sister starts singing or my husband starts playing, so we are always quite united overall. Right, obviously everyone has their daily things, their work and so on, but when we meet we are all there together.

Amanda Ortiz Pellot

And you are the only one who practices Bomba in your family or there are people who also…

Mar Cruz

In fact, my sister, my sister practices Bomba. My mother practices it too, she sings with us, my father plays his way as I say, but he plays, but between us. My baby plays too, my husband plays too, so the Bomba has always been there.

Amanda Ortiz Pellot

Do you have any physical or movement disabilities?

Mar Cruz

Until now, not that I know of, not…if one appears later, well.

Amanda Ortiz Pellot

Hopefully not, but… can you share your household income right away?

Mar Cruz

Domestic money income, how much I make?

Amanda Ortiz Pellot

An estimate does not have to be specific.

Mar Cruz

Well, look, I can’t tell you an estimate, right now, how the situation is, it’s okay, my checks are arriving for the work I’ve done lately in Bomba, when I was in DC for two weeks, I did my 1,000 or so dollars at once and now I’m going for something else that I hope will get me, my money too, but in addition to that I do work as a talent in commercials. And then, well, I always get my money, maybe it won’t get to me this month, but it will get to me next month, and so you know it varies, but I can get by.

Amanda Ortiz Pellot

Do you have any religious or spiritual affiliation?

Mar Cruz

Well yes, I practice Regla de Ocha, or Ifa, what people commonly call Santeria. I practice the Creole, Cuban style, because there are, there are two types, there is the Cuban and there is the Nigerian. The one I practice, well, the Cuban one. I practice spiritualism too. I believe in all religions, I respect them all, I respect each ideology the same, but my, my base is spiritualism and Santeria.

Amanda Ortiz Pellot

Well, thank you for opening up. Thanks for answering. I’m going to ask you a little bit about your Puerto Rican identity. Before diving into Bomba, for you, what does it mean to be Puerto Rican?

Mar Cruz

Uh, for me, being Puerto Rican encompasses many things, not just being born in Puerto Rico, because there are people who were born in other countries, right, but they are more Puerto Rican than yourself. I have found them, I have seen them, and that makes me proud, I believe that being Puerto Rican is more of an essence, practically, more than the combination of the 3 races, that in reality we are even more mixed, more, more than, there are more than 3 races, right, than what books, texts and so on tell us. More than, that, as they say, that intertwining of, of race is the essence, it is what we, it is beyond, it is the music, it is the spirituality, it is the energy. I think that is what identifies us the most, as Puerto Ricans, than anything, because I really tell you that, if I come and say, “no, I am Puerto Rican, because I was born in Puerto Rico,” no, it is because I carry that essence with me just like the other companions there in the diaspora.

Amanda Ortiz Pellot

Exactly, you do not necessarily have to be born on the island to claim that identity as a Puerto Rican. Has there ever been a time or interaction in which you have felt more or less confident about your Puerto Rican identity?

Mar Cruz

Well, look, yes, there have been occasions and it is because of the issue of race, because there are many people who, when I present myself, as I am, a visibly black woman, question the fact that I am Puerto Rican, because I am not lighter of color, since Puerto Rico, right, what has been proclaimed and what has been marketed for many years is that Puerto Rico is a white island, predominantly white, so, when one is introduced to foreign people or perhaps even people from, because it has happened to us, even people from one’s own country, from the same island, well, it’s like, “ah, are you really Puerto Rican?” or they speak English to you.

Amanda Ortiz Pellot

How do they question you?

Mar Cruz

They question you, exactly, or they speak English to me because they think that maybe I am from the surrounding islands, or I am African American, or what do I know, or if I am Dominican, you know it is like, “you have to be Dominican,” no, I am Puerto Rican, you know, there I have had that, that experience where, look how people perceive me in a different way from what I perceive myself and feel and am.

Amanda Ortiz Pellot

And have those interactions or other interactions made you feel good or bad about your identity? Or is that to you like… “no, I’m Puerto Rican.”

Mar Cruz

Well look, they make me feel, how do I explain it to you? No, sometimes it offended me, because I said, “but look at this person’s ignorance,” but at the same time I had that reaction and then it was like I stood up straight and I, well look, let me educate you in Puerto Rico there are people of different skin tones and of all the colors and in the middle of all of them, well, I am there, so, well, create a sense of pride after that. Like an offense for the moment and then this sense of let’s educate and let me feel proud of what I represent.

Amanda Ortiz Pellot

And what other elements or characteristics connect your Puerto Rican identity?

Mar Cruz

Elements that definitely connect me: music, Bomba, plena too, spirituality too, all these things that seem external, but really in me, at least they are not, they totally root me more to, to my identity and to, to who I am as such, not only in terms of identity as a Puerto Rican, but as a person.

Amanda Ortiz Pellot

Well, thank you for sharing those experiences, right, and there is still a lot of work to do, but thank you for sharing and for educating, right. Now I’m going to ask you about your experiences with Bomba. Are you currently active in your Bomba participation?

Mar Cruz

Yes, very actively, thank God.

Amanda Ortiz Pellot

And, what is your rol or what are your roles in the Bomba? I know you dance, but do you do other things?

Mar Cruz

Well look, I dance, sometimes I get to sing. What else? I make the designs of the clothes, and my mom makes them, if she couldn’t make them, well then we have a lady called Inés, she is the one who makes our skirts, but other than that, she hardly, always, mommy is the one who made us, the clothes. But yeah, basically that’s what I do and lead my Bomba group, my Bomba group.

Amanda Ortiz Pellot

And when was the first time you got involved in the Bomba?

Mar Cruz

First, first time, well look, since I was little my parents had exposed us to Bomba’s music with the songs, that was the first exposure, it was the songs, the music. When we went to the south of Puerto Rico, on trips, day trips on the weekends, my mother and father would play the cassette, they would play the cassette of the Ayala brothers and the Cepeda family. And then we all went on the trip with the music, singing the songs, so that, that was the first exposure as such. Then later, when I was a little girl, about 5 or 6 years old, a mother from, from, the school where we were, organized a Bomba and plena group. So, well, I remember that each student had a specific outfit. I had a traditional white and yellow Bomba dress and I will never forget that, because for me that was, when I saw myself in those clothes that my mother made me that is even more special, I felt totally connected, you know how, like the avatar when they connect, the same way I, I “ahhh,” that’s how I can best explain it, but I felt that connection so great and, and having been exposed to it at that early age to ballet classes and I don’t know what, in those classes I didn’t feel like I was, “I wasn’t fitting in,” so when, when I put on those clothes I felt that instant. I told my mom, “I want to do this many times, many times.” Unfortunately, the mother who was organizing got tired of the group and didn’t continue, but I remember telling my mother that I wanted to go back to the, to the, to Bomba classes, eventually. Time passed and it was not until I was 22 that when I turned 22 I had a dream where this ancestor came and took me to the Bomba through the sounds of a drum. When I wake up from that dream, two or three days later, the same drumbeat that I dreamed about is the same drumbeat that I heard in front of the linear park of Bayamón, that I was shocked, I said, “are you guys listening to that?” I was with my mother and a mechanic, and he said, “ah, yes, that’s some people who are there at the intersection, in the park, in a gazebo there in the dark,” it was already night by then. And when I tell my mom, well, I’m going to cross to see why I’m hearing the same drumbeat that I heard in my dream the other day. I cross and they were giving Bomba classes, I approach them, I ask them about the information. And from then on, I continued with Bomba. You know that, it was like a process, but definitely what got me inside, what lead me, was that ancestor, definitely.

Amanda Ortiz Pellot

Thanks for sharing and I love the Avatar analogy. What Bomba region or do you practice a region, right, since there are different regions, different styles, I mean, there are different styles, do you practice one predominantly or a little of everything?

Mar Cruz

Well look, my sister and I, right, we started together in, in Bomba, our base was Cangrejera, full Cangrejera, because who taught us, right, the first Bomba movements was Mrs. Elsie Núñez, who was the one who taught the class, she was the Bomba teacher who taught the classes on the linear walk, there in Bayamón. She learned from Tata Cepeda’s school, then, well, everything she learned there she taught us here, so our base was, Cangrejera, full Cangrejera, but man! when I started to dance, the teacher would get very mad because I moved much faster and then, when I moved, I made a lot of hip movement, a lot of shoulder movement, she said, “no, you are dancing the Loíza style,” she scolded me and I said, “but it’s just that, with, but it’s just that I can’t help doing it,” I told her, and it wasn’t until some time later that the teacher’s health got complicated, she couldn’t continue with the classes. And after that through María Romero, who is a very renowned singer in Loíza. She approach us and says, “Look, girl, if you want to continue with the classes,” we had already discussed, she tells me, “well, and you want to learn the Bomba Loiceña, well you can, you can take classes with my cousin Tico Fuentes, there in the María de la Cruz cave.” And we, “well that’s fine,” we will go there. We went there and a Tico Fuentes received us, I remember that at that time, he was giving the Bomba aerobics and he integrated us into the Bomba aerobics the first day and we were gaining pace and he said, “wait, I see something here,” then I remember that after two or three days he took us aside and made us do the routines alone and started telling us, “okay, Now I’m going to teach you the Loiceño style, you already have a Cangrejero style,” okay, that’s fine. We started to do it, to try to learn th Loiza style and we couldn’t get it, we did too Cangrejero for the Loiceño style.

Amanda Ortiz Pellot

So for the Cangrejero you were too Loiceño, and for the Loiceño you were too…

Mar Cruz

And we, “oh my God, what are we going to do?” And it wasn’t until, under his guidance and direction, that we began to develop our own style. He also got frustrated, because he said, “do the collection here,” and we did it, very straight and then when we went to go expose ourselves to the, to the bateyes in, in Loíza, whether it was Miñi Miñi, whether it was right there in front of the Ayala. People began to look at what we were doing and began to see that we had a style that was mixed, so I always tell people that the style we do is a Loiceño style, why? because it was developed in Loíza it is a more modern one, right, it is modernized and it is fused, but it was developed in Loíza, so for me it is a style, it is another Loíza style, because right now, well that is what is danced, it’s a more fused style, it’s more, it’s that mixture of Seis Corrido with Cangrejero, but outside of that also what we dance the most is, that is, the region that we represent the most is the region of Loíza per se. When we go out, people say, “Oh look!” they quickly identify us with Loíza, of course, we are responsible enough to say, “look, we’re not from there, right,” we dance, yes we have danced for the people, many times, the same with the group Los Parranderos de Loíza for several years and when we put on our clothes, we wear the clothes of the Loíza flag with a lot of pride, right, and with a lot of respect, I want to think, but we do represent the, the region of, of Loíza also not said by us, right but by some colleagues from, from the town, and we are truly proud that yes, although we do not live in Loíza, nor have we grown up there, right. Although we do not live there, our heart resides there, definitely.

Amanda Ortiz Pellot

And currently, how often are you participating, dancing, singing, in the Bomba?

Mar Cruz

Well, look, right now, these last, this last time, I had mentioned, I had been giving a series of workshops in Washington DC for two weeks, and prior to that, well, like weekly, not weekly, but like once or twice per month, some Bomba activity or some private activity like once or twice a month.

Amanda Ortiz Pellot

And usually do you participate, that is, in formal presentations, do you do Bombazos, do you do resistance, what contexts do you usually do?

Mar Cruz

Well look, at least me with my group, what we do is they almost always call us for private activities, almost always. I have tried to go to business and I don’t know what, but I never get around to it and I say, “oh my God, why can’t I to go to a business,” but no, no, I haven’t had the opportunity, the opportunities that I have received, well they have been, right, I am grateful, they have been for a private events, and they pay more, so I am grateful for that.

Amanda Ortiz Pellot

Well I’m not complaining.

Mar Cruz

Yes exactly, I’m not complaining, I’m not complaining.

Amanda Ortiz Pellot

What message do you understand that Puerto Ricans, right, Puerto Rican society make known about the Bomba or its clothing, for example, through the media, social networks, books, education?

Mar Cruz

What is it like, forgive me?

Amanda Ortiz Pellot

What, what message do you understand, or messages about Bomba, do you understand that Puerto Ricans make known about the Bomba through education or social media? What is the message about Bomba that they give according to your understanding?

Mar Cruz

Well, the message that, at least I include myself, right, because I am on social networks, the message that we carry is the question that we are very present, the black roots are well rooted, that there is one, there is an identity that, that is nt hiden, that feels a lot of pride today. I think that is one of the things that is most, most clear there is, is, is not feeling ashamed, because Bomba was legally prohibited for a long time. You couldn’t play Bomba or practice Bomba, so many families and Bomba practitioners practiced it behind the scenes or knew secretly from their homes among families. So…

Amanda Ortiz Pellot

Yes secretly.

Mar Cruz

Exactly, hidden, so that lead many practitioners to deny that they played, you know it was like me, yes, I play, but for the world I don’t play, or, or they simply stopped practicing it fully because they didn’t want to be marked, also with the fear of, of, the association of the Bomba with the spiritual, well, you know if you play Bomba that means that you are a witch, this or that, so I don’t want to be called a sorcerer, well I’m not going to practice or I’ll practice, but don’t let anyone find out. So, well, it creates a sense, perhaps some of shame… not being singled out, I don’t want to be demonized, all of this, if I understand that the message that at least I am consciously trying to convey is that yes I am a Bombe practitioner and I say it with great pride. I am also living in cliché, I am also a Santera, very proud of it, a spiritualist, very proud of it and I do not hide, I do not hide and I am, I am very proud of everything that makes me up as a Black Puerto Rican woman and, and everything that encompasses the cultural, the spiritual, the aesthetic, too, the way we dress is that, everything is with intention and everything is to let people know that we are not hiding here, here we are very proud.

Amanda Ortiz Pellot

And what have you gained through your experience with Bomba? Emotionally, however you want to express it…

Mar Cruz

I have gained too much. Look, even my tone changed, because truly, I have gained my family, because when I met my husband, he saw me in the public square of Loíza dancing with the Ache de Bomba y Plena group. I remember that he saw us there, and said, “oh, I’m going to marry her,” and he married me, I had my children later, so not only that, the Bomba gave me, already in itself there was unity in my family, but it created more sense of unity, more sense of community, also with other people, it allowed me to create family within people who are not my family, right, colleagues from the Bomba and others who know each other from years and that when something happens to someone we suffer as if it were a family member, so not only that… look, it helped me connect more with what, with mine, with the spiritual. Yes, when I was little, in my family we always practiced spiritism and so on, but once I connected with the Bomba on that spiritual level through that ancestor who introduced me to Bomba, I started to pay more attention to dreams, spiritually, how it led me little by little to have order in my spiritual life, so it brought me spirituality, that is, an organized spirituality, let’s say, and it brought me healing, it definitely brought me healing. Through Bomba, I have healed, I have healed traumas, I have healed situations that I never thought would help me heal, but I can witness that it has helped me a lot and I think that in the same way as it helped me, it can help many people too, as it has brought me many good things, money, thank God, in the same way it can help others, definitely.

Amanda Ortiz Pellot

Do you have a rhythm that you identify with?

Mar Cruz

Well, I identify a lot with, it all depends, because it’s like depending on the stages of my life. At first I really liked Holandes and Seis Corrido, I identified a lot with that because that’s how I lived my life very quickly and well, and now in, in this, when I passed the stage of, of giving birth when I passed the stage, the process of my trauma and so on, the Yuba and Belen rhythm resonated with me a lot and now at my age, at 34 years of age, seeing the truth that everything is going as it is, finally the tide is calmer. I resonate with the Corbe a lot, because Corbe is a rhythm, for me it sounds like war, like a warrior, when I listen to Corbe, I feel very powerful, I feel like, like a warrior who can do everything, but no one can beat her, that’s how I feel and truly, at this stage of my life, that’s how I truly feel. I can, I feel like I can do everything and I say it humbly, even though it sounds like what, but not for, but I do feel like I can do a lot of things, because I’ve been able to carry them without it collapsingmmm , thank you God, so yes.

Amanda Ortiz Pellot

I love how it has changed, it’s very interesting because almost everyone tells me one rhythm and I love how you took me through your life, right, with the rhythms. When you participate in Bomba, be it a presentation, a Bombazo, what do you usually wear? What clothing do you usually wear or accessories?

Mar Cruz

Well, when I go to bombazos almost always, I don’t know, I wear my casual clothes, my skirt or my pants, my short shirt whatever is fashionable, I can cover my, my hair, maybe not. But if I feel like I have to cover my hair tightly, I’m going to cover it. For Bomba music in presentations, I’m always going to cover my hair, always, always, always…

Amanda Ortiz Pellot

Can I ask why?

Mar Cruz

Well, because, at least for me, for my spiritual and religious things, it is important to cover my head so as not to absorb negative things, that is, it is a way to protect myself. If I feel like I’m going to, I’m getting ready, I’m putting on makeup, and I feel like my being is clinging to me, as I say, my being is clinging to me and tells me, “look, you have to protect yourself,” I’m going to cover my hair and it all depends on how I cover it. Maybe I can cover it like that, a little bit, if I feel that one, that it is a vibration where I have to, I have to cover myself a lot, I cover my head more, it all depends, but almost always for presentations as such, especially in my group I tend to cover my head completely and it is also for aesthetic reasons. When I cover my head, I am already someone else, I mean I transform and I arrive…no, really, I, I, my God, people will say, “oh how humble,” it’s not that, it’s that truly when I cover my head I feel instant empowerment and it is an instant thing, I stand straighter and walk very straight and even the tone of my voice changes, it is, it is something in clothing that is totally like another skin that one puts on, it’s something else yes, yes, definitely.

Amanda Ortiz Pellot

And with your, with your presentations, do you wear the dresses like what we know, more traditional with the high collar, the puffed sleeves, or is it a little different?

Mar Cruz

No, what we use is a much more, much more modern model. One taking into consideration the climate, the climate, a lot of heat for so much fabric, but yes, we can see it and we can appreciate it, obviously, it keeps its respect in our lives. But no, we don’t use the traditional one, because of the heat, because with the dresses that we wear and my sister in particular, she gets dizzy quickly, she’s on the floor, girl.

Amanda Ortiz Pellot

No, with this heat, it’s understandable.

Mar Cruz

Yes, it is challening, but we do use fairly light clothing. We do not use petticoats, we do not use the collars up here, if we use long sleeves, then the shoulders almost always are uncovered, you know the skirt always has to be on. Our clothing has traditional connotations, but it is totally modern, you know. We give it the traditional touch with the scarf, with the skirt, maybe when we are dressed in white, which is a traditional color, then there we can wear red lips, which is also another traditional color in the, in the dancers, but we do have our connotations, but quite modernized, yes.

Amanda Ortiz Pellot

Okay, and you talked about the red lips, does that have a historical connection or is that a tradition that the dancers follow?…

Mar Cruz

Well, look, I would say that it is a tradition of the dancers, because since I, right, have had that use of, of, well, since I have the, understanding and knowledge of the Bomba, yes, I have always seen images of dancers who put on their red lipstick, very predominant and those, look, that always stuck in my mind. I remember when I, my sister, my family and I went to Tanca in front of La Perla. Jerry Ferraro used to play there with his group “Rebuleadores” from San Juan, something like that, it was called and we loved going there. And when we went to dance, I always went with red lips, dressed casually, normally, but I went with my red lips. And for your information, people quickly identified me by my lips.

Amanda Ortiz Pellot

Really?

Mar Cruz

Because of my lips, because of my lips, because of my hair, because I always had big hair, at that time I didn’t cover my head much, like I liked to expose my hair a lot, but they quickly identified me with my lips. They told me, “you are the girl with the red lips, right?” And I, “oh, yes!” I think it’s also something for aesthetic reasons, yes, but yes.

Amanda Ortiz Pellot

And, when, what, do you use specific fabrics with your dresses or specific colors? You said white, but are there other colors that you use too?

Mar Cruz

Well, look from the colors that we use the most are the colors of the Loíza flag. That’s one of those that, no, it’s always there, right, because we dance for, for, for groups from the people. The color white is traditional, the blue color because, for my group Bomba Yemaya, Yemaya is represented by the color blue, so we use the color blue, royal blue and satin. So I love it, because it shines and acts like water and I don’t know what, I like it a lot. What else? Those are the, those are the colors that we use the most. And sometimes when we were with the Parranderos de Loíza, we used more the combination of cotton fabrics mixed with African fabrics, we also used them, we used to use them, but the most we use today is royal blue because of it, because of our group, Bomba Yemaya, the skirts of the colors of Loíza, and the white one.

Amanda Ortiz Pellot

And where do you get these pieces of clothing from?

Mar Cruz

Where do I acquire them from?

Amanda Ortiz Pellot

Yeah.

Mar Cruz

My mom is the one who makes it, she makes them, yes.

Amanda Ortiz Pellot

The skirt, does she make everything?

Mar Cruz

Aha, she makes the skirt, she makes the shirt, she fights because, “oh, you always want new clothes,” and I, “mommy, but we have to produce more.” I told her, “well, teach me so I can learn,” now, well, I have even more patience and I have started to sew and sew one or two things. Once she teaches me how to make the skirt, forget it that I’m going to continue from there. Yes, yes, there making and that and giving her a break, she’s already tired.

Amanda Ortiz Pellot

And do you only get your clothes from her or from other seamstresses?

Mar Cruz

No, there is a seamstress who is the one who makes us, she has made us the Bomba Yemaya skirts, which are the, the blue skirts. I mean, the skirts of the other girls is blue, mine is blue and white. Her name is Inés, I don’t have the last name, but I’ll give it to you. Her name is Inés. That lady made our skirts, she sews like that, super fast, that’s two to three days. Well, for this, this last trip, about two or three days before I said, “oh my God, Inés, to see if you already have some skirts made,” “no, I’ll make them for you,” and I said, “ “It’s just that we’re leaving soon,” “it’s okay, I’ll do them for you.” And the day before we left she gave us the ready-made skirts, so she is very fast and it’s very rare to find seamstresses nowadays to sew quickly, that have the availability, it’s very strange because almost all of them have already gone, seamstresses for years, especially in Loíza, for many years, who have been gone, right, well, nothing making their transition, they have been dying, so, well, finding one is a miracle from God, you can’t let it go.

Amanda Ortiz Pellot

Yes, yes. And this question may be a little obvious, but why get your clothing from a seamstress versus buying it in a store or ordering it on Amazon or something like that?

Mar Cruz

Well look…I and here I talk to you about, from, from an energetic or spiritual point of view. When a person does something, makes something with their hands, the person is leaving their energy there, they are leaving what we call, their aché, their, their, their magic, their gift, they are leaving it there. So for me, as the practitioner that I am, it is very important to have that person’s blessing, because if I buy it on Amazon, I don’t know who is doing it. I don’t know if it was a machine or whatever, it’s not the same as a person who I know is doing it with love, I know that they are doing it with good intentions, who wants their skirt to look good, not so just that, right? I say this for Inés, my mother, my mother is the one who is making the skirt, what a greater blessing than one’s own, one’s own mother, right, one has that skirt and tomorrow when she makes her transition and well, she is no longer with us, you know, I’ll have her skirt, it has her energy, it has her ache. So when my mom, I feel the skirts are different, when my mom makes me a skirt, the skirt feels light like a feather, it’s awesome, light and it’s as if it were an extension of me. I don’t feel like I’m wearing a heavy skirt, it’s, it’s a different energy. The same when I use Inés’s, I feel it, it feels heavy, because it has, it has its, its weight, but it is to feel the heaviest yet and I don’t feel it that way, you know, because I know that she is doing it to me with a lot of affection and love, so it has a lot to do, definitely, with the, with the energy that they are, with the energies that, that, that each one deposits and that, well I have always put it in perspective and I always, like, I always appreciate and admire it a lot, definitely. [cut to 34:31]

Amanda Ortiz Pellot

Thanks for sharing, I love that, when you said that the skirt feels lighter than when your mom transitions, right, you have that for, you have that, that’s hers, her energy. I loved it. Of the different styles of clothing, right, there is the traditional one, there are the more modern ones, there the street style, the ones that do not have a skirt, do you think there are some styles that are more authentic than others?

Mar Cruz

In matters of authenticity, I could tell you, really, no, look, maybe they’ll beat me up, but the truth is, my opinion, very personal, even Bomba’s traditional clothing itself, if we come to see it was an imposed clothing, you know, it was a clothing that, in the beginning, obviously then the seamstresses came, they came, right, the same women began to make their costumes and began to, what do you say? to empower themselves through clothing, which is admirable and is, true, worthy of mention, but we must recognize that it was definitely something imposed, that is, it was, at its beginnings it was clothing that was second hand, you know. They were clothes that the Creole, white women of that time passed on as second-hand to the women who were being enslaved, Africans. Before ancient times, during the time of slavery, what these women were given were two clothes per year and 1/3 piece per, after 6 months something like that, so imagine used clothes, now, that they are giving it, that you have to stretch it for, for that year, to see and see if it breaks, see how you are going to sew it, if you could sew it, if they would allow you. We’re talking about the beginnings of, when slavery was at its peak, right? Then, as I said, the seamstresses arrive, these women come and say, “no wait, we’re going to fix the clothes, we’re going to make ourselves pretty and so on,” they make them, they start designing and so on, and so on. So I understand, you see, don’t take my word for this, but I understand that traditional clothing as such, when these folk groups start coming, I don’t know if, well no, I shouldn’t mention that, because no, I don’t. I don’t have, as they say, no, I don’t have the…

Amanda Ortiz Pellot

Yes like factual…

Mar Cruz

Exactly, a backup for this, but I know that a colleague of mine who passed away months ago, Leroy Smith, mentioned that Don Ricardo Alegría was the person who imposed that, he made that model of clothing, letting himself be inspired by the clothing that the Creole women of that time wore, which were very modest clothes, very covered up and so on, and that was what he used as, as a model, as such, that is what we see, right, when we look for images of Bomba and Plena, what you get is the dress, it’s that outfit, the white one with the little bows on the petticoat and more. What I can tell you is, well, but it’s something that I can’t “I don’t have no backup” to, to tell you this, because this was something that was told to me, what I can definitely tell you is that yes I have heard how in ancient times, women made their petticoats and put the little bows on them.

Amanda Ortiz Pellot

If the shells, the lasitos.

Mar Cruz

In and of itself, traditionally, their little bows on, all around the petticoat and they changed colors and so on, I did hear that, and in fact, we see it in traditional clothing, but yes that.

Amanda Ortiz Pellot

Yes, and there is a study, because for the thesis, I read a study, so they wore petticoats, that was their way of expressing themselves that they could put the little bows on them, so you have a point there. And did you touch on this a little bit at the beginning, when you talked about your, when you put on the headwrap…

Mar Cruz

the headwrap.

Amanda Ortiz Pellot

The headwrap, you feel, right, empowered, but when you put on everything, the whole outfit, when you put on, right, that skirt or the shirt, the headwrap, everything, how do you feel? And is it different from when you dance to when you are still?

Mar Cruz

Totally. Oh my God and people are going to say, “this woman”, but truly when I am fully dressed, it is someone else, I go out, someone else comes in, it’s like I feel, I feel very empowered, I feel very royal, I feel good, like a queen. I stand up straight, my tone of voice changes, when I dance, I dance with, with more strength, more power, because it’s like, as I was saying, in fact, my dance partner who is also in the group had mentioned this, Verónica Osorio, who was giving a conversation there, talking about masks and traditional clothing there in Washington DC. One of the things that she mentioned when one of her colleagues, in the panel, in the conversation that was, she was sharing with some people from Brazil, well, the leader of the group, mentioned that clothing has been like a second skin. And that stayed with me and it’s true, it’s like, like a second skin, you put on your skin and the rest is spirit, it’s like, it encapsulates everything, I feel that exactly, that when you put on the clothes everything that accompanies one is encapsulated there and that energy is well concentrated there and it is definitely, it is something else. I don’t know how to say it, but it’s something else.

Amanda Ortiz Pellot

Yes, yes, I like what you mentioned about the second skin that it feels so natural and so organic that it’s like a second skin. This knowledge that you have about Bomba and everything, these facts that you have given me, have you acquired them from people? How have you acquired this, this knowledge?

Mar Cruz

Well, look, one is through my own experiences and the other is through colleagues, through conversations, I love conversations, if I have the opportunity to go, I go quickly and I am well present in them, because Bomba’s education is oral for many years, it was always been oral, that is, a lot of information, it also comes from the past from mouth to mouth, ear to ear, so it is a combination of information that I value and appreciate, because it is what has made me taken to where, the level where I am, I value all the information that I can acquire, I value every person, right, every source where that, that information comes out, and I recognize it and I appreciate it very much.

Amanda Ortiz Pellot

And your experience and your knowledge with Bomba, do you think it influences your identity as Puerto Rican or your, or your other identities like Mar Cruz?

Mar Cruz

Well look, yes, I understand that it includes a lot, well, it helps to complement everything, for me it’s like the glue, I see it as the glue that unites everything.

Amanda Ortiz Pellot

Yes, the adhesive.

Mar Cruz

Yes, definetly, and it’s logical as to why that is, because music is vibration, it is vibration that makes sound, so every vibration pulls or, or bounces, or, how do you say? or it pulls or…

Amanda Ortiz Pellot

Repels.

Mar Cruz

It repels, exactly, so I understand that, what was in tune with me, through the Bomba I was able to pull it, so it makes me its logic as to why it was like that glue that attracted me to all those good and beautiful things.

Amanda Ortiz Pellot

And my last question. Does your experience with Bomba clothing influence your daily style, what you wear every day?

Mar Cruz

Well look, yes, definitely because I go out I wear my turban. I like wearing skirts too, it helped me a lot, look, it helped me a lot to make more connection with my feminine side. It’s like, yes definitely, because in Bomba one puts on her skirt and when I put on my skirt I feel like the most feminine woman in the world and it’s like when I put on the skirt I have to have my toenails done and I have I have to have my hands and I have to have makeup, like one thing leads to another and it definitely helps me channel a lot of feminine energy, on the one hand, but it also helps me channel masculine energy when I execute. When I go and, and I dance and I dance hard and I’m in my masculine, but when I’m in my skirt, I’m very feminine and if I go out there casually, well, I like to wear dresses, I like to wear a skirt, it’s like wearing a little bit of what my clothes take me, what Bomba’s clothes give me, well definitely. When I go around, maybe someone will tell me, “ she is Bombera,” because they see my headwrap, my skirt, yes definitely.

Amanda Ortiz Pellot

That’s awesome. Well, those were all my questions, thank you for sharing and opening that way with your experiences. I know that I have enjoyed it and I have learned a lot. Anything else you would like to share before we finish recording?

Mar Cruz

Nothing, exhort people to ask if there is something because not only Puerto Ricans are going to see this, many people are going to see this. Well, if that’s the case, then I urge people to, to try to look for whatever it is, any music that they play ancestrally in their country, “tap into that,” definitely, try to look for that music, because it is the music of our ancestors, that is the music of your ancestors, you know, music that helped them to cope and overcome their vicissitudes, their situations and in the same way it helps us, it helps us in modernity. My best advice is that, to take root there because there is, when one roots oneself one finds a very great sense of identity, a sense of who one is as such and, and, and what one comes to do on this earth, one definitely finds it.