¿Have you ever seen musicians & singers (briefly) liberate a city bus?

It happened Saturday, 9 December, at the Parranda in El Barrio, East Harlem, NYC

BombaYo, the legendary combo led by Dr. Drum (brother in the red coat), took over a bus for a moment during a midday parranda (a Puerto Rican secular holiday tradition where singers, musicians, and dancers go from house to house spreading great vibes and sharing food).

From Museo del Barrio on 5th Avenue, a housing project and some local businesses on Julia De Burgos Boulevard (East 106th Street) were among the destinations along the parranda with this bus takeover. As BombaYo’s Dr. Drum explained after, this is what to do in a walking holiday celebration - un asalto (an assault). Translation: the singing and dancing equivalent of guerrilla theater using the much older bomba, the coastal Afro-Puerto Rican “singing newspaper” tradition.