AQUÍ TAMBIÉN – HERE AS WELL is the long awaited debut recording by New Jersey’s Puerto Rican bomba and plena ensemble, SEGUNDA QUIMBAMBA. Many years have passed since LOS PLENEROS DE LA SEGUNDA performed to the cadence of plena rhythms in church concerts, festivals and parades. That original group, CARTAGENA, NANETTE HERNÁNDEZ, EDDIE TORRES, RAFAEL TORRES and JOSÉ CARTAGENA, made sure that here too, in the streets of Jersey City, plena from Puerto Rico is enjoyed live in all of its alluring syncopation. By 1995 the group morphed into a bomba and plena configuration titled SEGUNDA QUIMBAMBA – a reference to the second generation Puerto Rican diáspora which represented its core and an ethereal African-based geographical point in the LUIS PALES MATOS poetic tradition while still maintaining its Second Street cred. Then came the nonprofit cultural organization SEGUNDA QUIMBAMBA FOLKLORIC CENTER, established to house our extensive archives and promote the drums of Puerto Rico through publications (GÜIRO Y MARACA), performance, education and dissemination. SEGUNDA QUIMBAMBA is “second” as well in a continuous homage to the first ones who came before us. The music here reflects that sentiment with a mixture of tradition and hybridization: marímbola and thunder tubes; bombo and electric guitar. Some songs have been with 2Q for a long time like Bambulaé a staple within our repertoire for more than 12 years that combines plena with a West African funeral dirge bell accompaniment. This homage is also in Misierere and Hugo, Compositor. No presentation by 2Q is complete without an acknowledgment of DON RAFAEL CEPEDA whose family is the cornerstone of 2Q’s journey into Puerto Rican bomba and here we present Misierere. Similarly, Hugo, Compositor showcases the grace of HUGO ASENCIO’S poetry reverberating within the makeshift walls of CHEMA’s Casita in the Bronx and among the street protests that echoed his call for Puerto Rican independence. A chance to experience firsthand the power of Cuban and Puerto Rican drums together in the historic Dos Alas workshops of 1996 and 1998, organized by our dear friend ROBERTA SINGER, led to the bomba-infused 2Q version of Caridad, that we’ve performed for over ten years. The poetry of PALES MATOS frames the tune Ohe Nene marrying an angelic choir that hovers over the baquiné which engendered the poem, with the raw, dramatic recitation to the orisha deity, OGÚN. The tune, along with Juanita Cruza el Charco, was incorporated into the musical score of BARBARA BICKART´S video art installation at the Jersey City Museum in 2008 titled “We Call It The River.” Juanita – an ode to my mother´s migration and working class spirit -- however, became the score’s signature piece for its searing depiction of community in all its spirituality and beauty against the forces of gentrification in urban America.   Recasting established melody lines into new, fresh expressions created the basis of both Agueda and Campo. I thank ALEX LASALLE for providing the details of his encounter with EULALIA “LALA” LAGUERRE in Moca, Puerto Rico that set the stage for his belén adaptation of the cuembé Agueda which we in turn convert into a driving yubá. Campo grew out of my search for the proper vehicle to explore the instrumentation of Puerto Rico’s rich Mayagüez plena traditions – the result was a new plena composition of the standard by Los Pleneros de la 21.   The remaining selections highlight recent 2Q forays into modern accompaniments to Puerto Rico’s drums. No Lloren Por Mi, written and sung by EL DAVÍD, anchors the lower pitched buleadors in cuembé with the familiar guitar lines of the mountains of the island where the patriot, FILIBERTO OJEDA RIOS was assassinated. Afro Blue adds to the growing trend of presenting Latin Jazz motifs in Puerto Rican bomba, this time with Rock musings as well, in a tune with a notable solo by CARLOS CARTAGENA on lead guitar. Finally, Quimbara Quimbamba, featuring an expert quinto by Luis Díaz, flips a rumba cover of a salsa classic by Deep Rumba into a 2Q stylized cover that combines rumba, plena and bomba gracimá. All of it to underscore that here too, AQUÍ TAMBIÉN, in the diáspora, and on this side of the river, the drums of Puerto Rico echo in our Rican souls. JUAN CARTAGENA