El Vapor de Brooklyn is born out of the NYC Boricua diáspora. Much like their antecessors and inspirations Los Pleneros de la 21 and Viento de Agua, VdB is intent on keeping and furthering Puerto Rican music, particularly through the diasporic lens. The Brooklyn-based octet, comprised of Puerto Rican (some, members of LP21), Latinx, and American musicians, takes an unconventional approach to plena and bomba, with influences from jazz, contemporary music, timba, r&b, and reggaeton - much in the spirit of Rafael Cortijo more than 60 years ago while based in this same City. With a foot in PR and another in NYC, VdB brings a fresh influenced take on the genres while keeping true to their original spirit of carrying on the stories of those who practice them at their time and place. These are our stories, today. And this is what they sound like.
Pi Lebrón : vocals Jailene Michelle : flute/vocals Raul Ríos : trumpet/vocals Emily Pecoraro: bass clarinet Dariel Peniazek : guitar Bam Rodríguez : bass Nelson Matthew “Mateo” González : barriles Victor Pablo : drums/vocals/compositions/lead
