Saturday, December 21st, 2019 at 6pm, you can join the Bronx Music Heritage Center and the local community in the annual Melrose Parranda. This year the parranda will start at Bronx Commons at 443 E 162nd Street, the future home of the Bronx Music Hall at 6PM and meander around with stops at local community gardens along the way.

It will wind its way through the neighborhood before ending at Rincon Criollo aka Casa de Chema community garden on St Ann’s and E 157th Street.

A good time guaranteed to be had by all.

Some background…

New Orleans isn’t the only place that has “second lines.”

Parades with music and community participation are part of Puerto Rican culture too.

It’s called a “parranda” or in this case a “parranda navideña” and like “plena” to which it’s related it’s a tradition that’s alive and well.

In the video above a group sponsored by the Bronx Music Heritage Center parades on a very cold night in the Bronx bringing Christmas cheer to all.

Here’s another one from Puerto Rico filmed in 2013 at Casa de Jenny, Carolina, Puerto Rico featuring students from La Escuela Libre de Musica.

Click here: The emergency in Puerto Rico is not over: How to help

– Ken McCarthy
Jazz on the Tube