The 8th Puerto Rican Cuatro Festival theme, El Cuatro Con La Bomba y Plena, is aimed at highlighting the African contribution and richness to Puerto Rico's music. The Bomba and Plena are the only distinctively African-rooted music and dance forms of Puerto Rico. This style of music, typically utilizes drumming and other percussion instruments played by many Latin music artists. The combination of both music genres is expected to bring a new exciting dimension to the Cuatro Festival.

Since 1998, the Puerto Rican Arts Alliance has been producing the Cuatro Festival, which has undoubtedly grown to be the largest Puerto Rican cultural event in the Midwest region. Chicago experienced its first Cuatro Festival at Roberto Clemente High School with an attending audience of 723 people. Subsequent Cuatro Festivals, held at the Field Museum of Chicago, Copernicus Center and the Chicago Theatre, all experienced nearly or sold out.

Our new location, the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University offers the Festival more seating capacity for a growing diverse audience. Additionally, the Auditorium Theatre will establish a central location home for the Festival. This year's event is estimated to reach an audience of over 7,000. El Cuatro Con La Bomba y Plena is expected to be a "must see show" for all of Chicago and its neighboring states to enjoy!

For the fourth year in a row, Exelon is honored to be a major sponsor of the Annual Puerto Rican Cuatro Festival. The Festival is an outstanding celebration of Puerto Rican culture and music. It provides an excellent opportunity for everyone to appreciate the rich history and culture of Puerto Rico and to enjoy the creativity and virtuosity of its musicians. We salute the Puerto Rican Arts Alliance for its outstanding efforts to promote cultural identity among the diverse members of our community.

John W. Rowe
Chairman, President and CEO, Exelon

Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University. The Auditorium Theatre is located at 50 E. Congress Parkway (between Michigan and Wabash). Parking, Directions, and other information.

Musician, composer, arranger and Director of Taller Campesino. He has dedicated 35 years to promote the national instrument of Puerto Rico, taking it around the world with his projects, recordings and concerts.

With his renditions, Edwin has taken the instrument to its fullest expression, giving it a new dimension and infusing it with different types of music; becoming the leading figure of the Puerto Rican cuatro. He has won a great number of awards and distinctions throughout his career.

He has played with the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra, San Juan Pops, Andrés Jiménez, José Lugo, Gilberto Santarrosa, Víctor Manuel, Venezuelan cuatro and guitar player Aquiles Báez, Lucesita Benítez, José Feliciano, Paco de Lucía, guitar players Strunz & Farah, Toledo, Lito and Cuco Peña, Yomo Toro, Willie Colón, Carlos Vives, Venezuelan cuatro player Cheo Hurtado y su Ensamble Gurrufío, and many others.

He has 16 solo recordings along with his own Taller Campesino and has participated in more than 150 recordings as a special guest.

Modesto was born on April 8, 1951 in Naranjito, Puerto Rico. Due to the economic circumstances of the island, his family moved to New Jersey in 1960. Around 1965 he learned to play the cuatro with his uncle Juan Nieves.

In 1970 he returned to Puerto Rico with his family, where he took part and won several cuatro competitions. Since 1975, he has worked with several groups like Paquito López y su Conjunto and the Ballet Folklórico Areyto. With the latter he traveled through Europe, the United States, South America, Asia and the Middle East.

Nowadays, he works with the Mapeyé group. He has recorded 30 productions with Mapeyé and his own group Herencia Musical.

Christian was born on February 16, 1981 in Hato Rey, Puerto Rico. At a very young age, he listened to his father, Modesto Nieves Fuentes, practice the cuatro. He would strike the cuatro strings everyday. When he was five years old, he got his first small cuatro. He learned some traditional songs, En mi viejo San Juan being one of them. At twelve years old, he then learned to play the güiro and the bongó with his uncle.

Since 1990 he participated in renowned cuatro competitions, where he was awarded the first prize on six occasions. Christian traveled with the Ballet Folklórico Areyto through Europe, the United States, South America and Japan. He has recorded with Areyto, his own group Rock Puerto Raíces and Herencia Musical. Nowadays, he plays with Andrés Jiménez with whom he has recorded in the last five years.

Christian has conquered a new style for the cuatro that has been nourished by traditional music, jazz and Latin rock.

Known as the "Rey de la Plena", Torruellas was born on January 28, 1938 in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. He began to stand out as a singer, while working as a shoeshiner. At the age of nine he made his first debut on the first airings of Fiesta en el Batey radio show, moderated by radio speaker and publicist Nelson Cortina.

Cortina aproved and supported the talent of the young plenero who, since then, would make appearances on other radio stations and other stages. Later, he moved to New York. He spread his style of plena ajibarada influenced by the cosmopolitanism of New York and Latin American music.

During his stay in the city of skyscrapers, he accomplished to infect his countrymen with his influential plenero sound. One of the outstanding elements in his plenas is the presence of the Hoerner Symphony of his compadre, Ismael Santiago, "the Symphony Wizard".

Today the very popular plenero has hundreds of compositions in 126 records, and two upcoming ones; one of them accompanied by the Tierra Negra Orchestra, directed by Roberto Angleró and the other one accompanied by the distinguished cuatro player Nieves Quintero.

The First Chicago Cuatro Orchestra was founded in 1996 by Music Express, Inc, a private music school and store. It began as the dream of two Puerto Rican brothers, Orlando and David Rivera, the professional music teachers who direct this orchestra. The Cuatro is a plucked string instrument, similar to a guitar, with a traced history of more than 300 years. Generally melodic, it has five pairs of strings, tuned to the same note in unison or octave. Founded with the goal of providing free Cuatro classes to the community, the purpose of this orchestra is to educate people about the historical significance of Puerto Rico's national instrument, to teach technique for learning a basic repertoire, and to create a festival promoting and preserving Puerto Rican cultural traditions in the U.S. by engaging younger generations to participate in this rich cultural legacy.

Among other important cultural venues, the Orchestra has performed at: the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Center, the Chicago Historical Society, the Field Museum of Chicago, the Chicago Children's Museum, the Chicago Cultural Center, the Copernicus Center, and the Old Town School of Folk Music. Working in partnership with the Chicago Park District and the Chicago Public Schools, Music Express, Inc., and the Puerto Rican Arts alliance are offering free Cuatro and Spanish guitar classes to the Humboldt Park community. The future plan is to duplicate these Cuatro programs in different cities of the U.S.A. and to create an educational network. With this network in place, Music Express, Inc. will train qualified music teachers and will expand the program across the United States, creating The U.S. National Cuatro Orchestra.