To preserve, develop and promote Puerto Rican plena and the legacy of Héctor “Tito” Matos. To serve as an archival and research space, and a space of conversation about the genre.

Tito Matos was born in Santurce (a barrio of San Juan, Puerto Rico) on June 15, 1968. He began playing plena at 8, when the Three Kings gifted him a pandereta which they left in the house of Felino, his grandfather, in Villa Palmeras.

Tito played all types of panderetas, bomba drums, the güiro, the tumbandero, congas; no percussion instrument was beyond his abilities, but he was especially good with the requinto, the pandero used for soloing and improvisation. His speed and cadence created a distinctive type of sound that changed the way plena is performed today.

He was part of many plena groups from the 1980s onwards; these include Los Sapos del Caño, Los Pleneros del Almendro and Los Pleneros del Pueblo, this last group being particularly important in the development of contemporary plena. He was an emeritus member of Los Pleneros de la 21 (in New York City) and Los Pleneros de la 23 Abajo (in Puerto Rico). In 1997 he created in New York City, along with Ricardo Pons y Alberto Toro, the group Viento de Agua; a band of innovative sound with whom he recorded and produced five records, including one -Opus IV- that was nominated for a Latin Grammy. He lived in New York City from 1994 until December 2003, where he got a BA in landscape architecture from CUNY’s City College; previously he had studied engineering in the School of Engineering in Mayagüez (Puerto Rico).

He recorded and performed across musical genres, including jazz and pop music; collaborating with artists such as Miguel Zenón, David Sánchez, William Cepeda, Eddie Palmieri and Ricky Martin, among many others. With Richard Martínez he created the movement of Plenazos Callejeros. This popular movement solidified plena’s presence all around the island, with monthly jams that highlighted the musical particularities of each municipality and barrio, and brought together pleneros that hadn’t had the opportunity to play together. Tito was the owner and founder of the restaurant/performance space La Junta in Calle Loíza. He developed, along his wife and partner-in-crime, Mariana Reyes-Angleró, the project Plena Cangrejera; a tribute to the great plena performers of Santurce. He is a co-founding member -along with Mariana and a group of neighbors- of the space Taller Comunitario La Goyco. Tito is the founder of La casa de la plena. He was a singer, songwriter, virtuoso performer, cultural entrepreneur, educator and community activist.

Tito is the dad of Celiana, Héctor and Marcelo.

His heart stopped on January 18, 2022 in Santurce; but he lives wherever a pandereta sings.

Ramón was born in barrio Río Chiquito in Luquillo, but lived most of his life in Barranquitas. One of four siblings, he spent his early childhood near El Yunque, the sacred mountain, house of Yucahú, one of the gods of the Taínos. He grew up in barrio El Callejón en Barranquitas.

He studied cultural anthropology and dedicated his time to teaching at the university, ethnography, journalism, popular education and bomba-plena. But, he used much of his time throughout his life weaving masterful tapestries. His tapestries have been shown in galleries, schools, barrios, museums, festivals and universities in New York City, Moscow, Chicago, Sevilla, Managua, Santo Domingo and La Habana, among other cities in the Caribbean and Latin America.

He was the author of numerous books and essays about the ethnography and cultural history of Puerto Rico. His work was published in En Rojo, Diálogo, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña and Ediciones Huracán. After a long stay in Chicago, Ramón goes back to his beloved Barranquitas. His workshop of texts, magic and tapestries was located in Hoya Honda, part of Barrio Helechal, in a beautiful yellow house.

(Ramón’s biography was prepared using a text he wrote himself, a short biography done by fellow Barranquiteño Carlos J. Vélez Mercado, and a timeline generously provided by Ramón’s dear friend and research teammate, Rossanna Duchesne)

Mariana Reyes-Angleró, president
Is a journalist with years of experience as a cultural entrepreneur, including festivals and concerts. She directs the Taller Comunidad La Goyco in la calle Loíza in Santurce. Mariana shared with Tito Matos the executive production of the recordings Fruta Madura, Opus IV and Sonidos Primarios, as well as the development of the Plena Cangrejera project. She directed the documentary Plenazos Callejeros.

Juan E. Martínez (Llonsi), vicepresident
A close friend of Tito Matos, Llonsie is a civil engineer with a degree from the prestigious Colegio de Mayagüez. He has been the leader of the group Los Sapos del Caño since the 1980’s, and his songs have been performed and recorded by Viento de Agua, Terraplén, Los Sapos del Caño and Punto y Aparte. A beloved songwriter and plena multi-instrumentalist, Llonsie is the author of some well-known popular plenas, such as El Rumor, Las Tarimas, Fiesta de Plena, El Ancón, Para un Plenero, Mi Quinto Lloró. He is also a master of the plena lyric with a political message.

José R. Rey Ramírez (Moncho Tarima), treasurer
Holds an MA in Economics from the University of Puerto Rico, and is a professor at Universidad Ana G. Méndez. He has performed with numerous acts including Los Pleneros de la 23 Abajo, Terraplén (founding member), Ballet Folklórico Nacional Areyto, Son del Almendro, Plena Artillera, Plenéalo, Villa Locura de Henry Cole, among others. He was an executive producer for the recordings Bembé 23 de Los Pleneros de la 23 Abajo y Baila Conmigo de Yubá Iré (nominated for a Latin Grammy).

Joksan Ramos (Joko), secretary
Actor, musician, theater technician and natural adventures guide, born in Carolina, Joko has resided in el barrio Machuchal for the last seven years. He graduated from the Drama Department at the University of Puerto Rico and holds an MFA from the Actors Studio Drama School at The New School University. He is a well-known plenero, long-time collaborator of Tito Matos, and has performed with many groups, including Viento de Agua, Los Pleneros de la 23 Abajo and La Máquina Insular.

Marcelo Matos Reyes, adviser
He learned about both plena and life observing his father, Tito Matos. He likes dinosaurs and drawing. He is learning to play the guitar and English. A faithful believer in the Three Kings. Among his favorite things are: running around the backyard, watching movies on the iPad and playing plena. Marcelo just finished his second grade. He is responsible for the plena children workshops.

Emanuel Santana Rivera, project manager
Performer and lover of all AfroBoricua musical traditions. He has studied under some of the best and most talented masters of this genre, including Tito Matos; Ema seeks to share his knowledge with anybody willing to listen and learn. He is the project director (coordinador) of La casa de la plena Tito Matos)

In 2015 Matos created in a storefront location, La Junta (The Board), a cultural center where he taught plena to the community. Destroyed in 2017 by Hurricane Maria, it was reborn in May of 2021 when he curated La Casa De la Plena (The House of Plena), a historical exhibition at the Taller Comunidad La Goyco, in the Calle Loíza of his hometown of Santurce.

Here the exhibition houses the personal collection of videos, records, photos, tapes, writings, and ephemera on plena of the noted historian and cultural anthropologist Dr. Ramón Lopez.