- [Child] On this episode of "The Infinite Art Hunt."

- But it was great.

Now we have this new feature on the show, and you got to face your fear.

- I didn't face my fear.

You faced my fear.

- Yep, and next time you have a fear, I'll be sitting right beside you ready to push you into that fear, buddy.

- Can everybody say Bomba-Sica?

- [All] Bomba-Sica.

- Follow my directions, and it's gonna be very easy.

Now place your hands here on the edge of the drum with your fingers closed on the tambora.

Okay, on the count of four, we're gonna place our first or our hand that we write with right here in the first place where we're gonna hit the drum, okay?

So on the count of four, you take the hand that you write with and just hit it there.

One, two, three, four.

(drums booming) And then slide it back.

Very good, one, two.

(bright music) - [Child] Lead support for this program has been provided by the William Penn Foundation with additional support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, The Sidewater Family Foundation, The Thomas Locke Charitable Fund, and viewers like you.

(kids cheering)(upbeat music) (paper tearing) - Hey, art buds, Freddie here, and welcome to "The Infinite Art Hunt."

This summer, I'm soaking up all of the art information I can by finding the artiest spots in Philadelphia.

Today's art mission is learning everything I can about Bomba.

Bomba is a Puerto Rican style of music, and I have a very special guest today.

(Ty grunting) My cousin Ty!

- Hey, Infinite Art Hunters.

Freddie, can this wait?

I'm trying to pack for my painting immersion program.

- Ty, that's not until next summer.

Today, you're helping me kick off my Bomba mission by singing a Venezuelan song that my mom taught me.

- Wait, sing now?

In Spanish?

My Spanish is horrible.

Your mom gave up trying to teach me after I kept asking her to eat the bathroom.

- Okay, we'll just pick another song.

- But I can't sing in front of all these people.

- Sing it, sing it, sing it, sing it!

- I don't even have a song to sing.

♪ She'll be coming around the mountain when she comes ♪ ♪ She'll be coming around the mountain when she comes ♪ ♪ She'll be coming around the mountain ♪ ♪ She'll be coming around the mountain ♪ ♪ She'll be coming around the mountain when she comes ♪ - A classic.

♪ She'll be riding six white horses when she comes ♪ ♪ She'll be riding six white horses when she comes ♪ ♪ She'll be riding six white horses ♪ ♪ She'll be riding six white horses ♪ ♪ She'll be riding six white horse when comes ♪ - Oh, wow!

I forgot how interesting your singing voice is.

- Thanks, Ty.

Now let's jump off this mountain and into our Bomba adventure.

Let "The Infinite Art Hunt" begin.

- [Crowd] It's "The Infinite Art Hunt."

- [Speaker] Hey, guys, over here.

♪ We're on another with Freddie ♪ ♪ Looking for art and making friends ♪ ♪ Checking in with Grandma Tilly ♪ ♪ The adventure never ends ♪ ♪ We're going to go to real places, find magic and wonder ♪ ♪ And try new things to see what we can discover ♪ ♪ There's art everywhere, and I really wanna explore ♪ ♪ It's in the food that we eat, in the trees ♪ ♪ It's "The Infinite Art Hunt" ♪ - [Speaker] This is amazing!

I see art every where.

♪ It's "The Infinite Art Hunt."

♪ (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - Ty, that was amazing!

You should sing every episode.

Oh, even better.

You should be the official singer for "The Infinite Art Hunt."

But next time, I'll pick the song.

- Freddie, you know that I don't like to sing in front of people.

- But it was great.

Now we have this new feature on the show and you got to face your fear.

- I didn't face my fear.

You faced my fear.

- Yep, and next time you have a fear, I'll be sitting right beside you, ready to push you into that fear, buddy!

- Yeah, that doesn't sound as comforting as you might think it sounds.

(art frame chattering) - Hello, grand babies!

I was inspired by your musical art hunt, Freddie.

What do you think?

(maraca rattling) I have an idea, Bomba.

When I first heard Bomba music I was on the streets of old San Juan in Puerto Rico.

It felt like the drumming and the singing filled the entire island.

But you don't need to go to old San Juan.

I'm sending you to one of my favorite places.

Check it out.

(colors whooshing) - Hi, Freddie.

My name is Tony.

Me and my band, Los Bomberos de la Calle, will be at Taller Puertorriqueño when you come to visit.

We're excited to have you join us for a workshop on traditional Afro Puerto Rican music from the island.

You'll also get a chance to meet some of my children as they present at many festivals and community events throughout the city.

I'm looking forward to introducing you to our traditional music of Bomba.

See you soon.

(colors whirring) - Tony is fantastic, and he's an excellent DJ.

You know your grandma loves a bop.

It's gonna be a great art hunt for the two of you.

Freddie, maybe you can help Ty with some Spanish, and Ty, maybe you can help Freddie with her singing.

You two are such a dynamic cousin duo.

Ty, I'm sending you details for the workshop today.

So you two have fun.

Be bold and Bomba till you can't stop.

(maraca rattles) - Ty, this is great.

We can meet Tony, become best friends with him and his Bomba buddies, and join his Bomba group next summer and travel all of Philly Bomba-ing.

- Well, next summer, I'll be in New York learning new brushwork techniques and figuring out how they make their pizza so floppy.

But the workshop seems cool.

I'll be practicing my Rs before we get there.

Just make sure you bring Skookol back to his terrarium before you leave.

Or should I say terrarium?

Terrarium.

Okay, wait, hold on.

Taller Puertorriqueño .

I'm gonna get it, get it.

- You know what's Skookol?

If I can make Ty love Bomba, then he's not gonna wanna go to New York City next summer and leave us.

Wish me luck.

The fate of "The Infinite Art Hunt" depends on it.

(upbeat music) (energetic drumming) - Bomba!

The art hunters, how are you doing?

It's a pleasure.

Your Grandmother Tilly told me all about you guys.

- Nice to meet you.

I'm Freddie, and this is my cousin Ty.

- Cousin Ty, who doesn't know Spanish but can roll his Rs.

(poorly rolling Rs) Oh, sorry, wait.

(rolling Rs) - Almost there.

- Not super necessary, but welcome to Bomba.

(upbeat music) All right.

How's everybody doing, good?

Good.

We're gonna go ahead and learn a little bit about bomba-sica and how to play it.

Can everybody say Bomba-sica?

- [All] Bomba-sica.

- Follow my directions, and it's gonna be very easy.

Now, place your hands here on the edge of the drum with your fingers closed on the tambora.

Okay, on the count of four, we're gonna place our first or our hand that we write with right here in the first place where we're gonna hit the drum, okay?

So on the count of four, you take the hand that you write with and just hit it there.

One, two, three, four.

(hands drumming) And then slide it back.

Very good.

One, two, three, four.

(hands drumming) Slide it back one more time.

One, two, three, four.

(hands drumming) Very good.

The next one we do, we're gonna freeze, and I'm gonna tell you what we're gonna do next on the drum.

Okay, one, two, three, four (hands drumming) and freeze.

Moving forward, every time you hit this middle part of the drum, I want everybody to say middle because this is gonna help us keep that rhythm flowing.

Okay, it's gonna be left, left, right.

(hand drumming) Let's try to do that on four.

Leave our hand here in the middle.

One, two, three, four.

Left, left, right, back to the middle.

One, two, three, four.

(hands drumming) Left, left, right.

Very good, last one.

Back to the middle.

One, two, three, four.

(hands drumming) Very good.

One, two, three, four.

(hands drumming) One, two, three, four.

(hands drumming) One, two, three, four.

(hands drumming) Middle, pop, pop, pop.

(hands drumming) Look on the end, these are congas that are used in salsa.

Okay?

They are different as we use old barrels or even new ones that can be constructed.

And we use goat skin on top of our drums called Chivo.

Everybody say Chivo - [All] Chivo.

- Or cabra.

- [All] Cabra.

- This is the male goat and the female goat.

And they have differences because of the thickness of the skin.

So if you want your drum to be higher tone, you use the thinner skin.

If you want it to be a little bit more bassier, you use the thicker skin, okay?

We also have our Cuá instrument that Jonathan is on.

Jonathan, let me hear you play a little Cuá.

(upbeat rhythmic drumming) (speaking in Spanish) And the Cuá gives a little accent to the Bomba rhythm that's being played.

The other instrument, the most important instrument that we have is called the maraca.

Everybody say maraca.

- [All] Maraca.

- Very good.

So listen very carefully to this Maraca.

(maraca rattling) (speaking in Spanish) Now the Maraca is actually made from a type of fruit that grows in Puerto Rico called an higuera.

Can everybody say higuera?

- [All] Higuera - Very good.

Buen trabajo, aha.

Let's keep that rhythm going cause now we're gonna try to play some of that Bomba rhythm.

Here we go.

Hands ready.

One, two, three, four.

(upbeat rhythmic music) (singing in Spanish) Here we go!

Listen very carefully.

One, two, three, four.

(hands drumming) (singing in Spanish) One, two, three, up, bomba!

(speaking in Spanish) (upbeat music) All right, fellas, you ready to do some dancing?

Follow along with me.

Bomba-sica.

(upbeat drumming) Paseo.

Follow me into the center.

Let's move up.

(speaking in Spanish) Very good.

Stay with the paseo.

When we're ready, we're gonna say hello to the drummer.

Here we go, everybody together, say hello.

(speaking in Spanish) Follow my movement.

Stop.

(rhythmic drumming) A little faster, here we go.

Let's spin around with it.

(rhythmic drumming) Very good.

Hands out, pop your knees.

(rhythmic drumming) Very good.

(rhythmic drumming) Say hi to him.

Paseo back.

(rhythmic drumming) Now for the ladies.

Here we go, ladies.

(speaking in Spanish) (rhythmic drumming) (speaking in Spanish) Did you guys enjoy yourself?

- [All] Yeah.

- So this is what Bomba is about.

Communication between the drummer and the dancer.

(rhythmic drumming) Okay?

So now we're going to try to do the bomba dance and take some of the steps that we showed you, and you're gonna do it by yourself.

Is everybody ready?

- [Girl] Yes.

- We're gonna start off with Isaiah and work our way along the line.

(speaking in Spanish) (rhythmic drumming) Paseo!

Go ahead, Isaiah.

We wanna cheer him on as he's doing it.

(Speaking in Spanish) Here we go.

(rhythmic drumming) (singing and cheering in Spanish) (rhythmic drumming) Bomba!

(rhythmic drumming) (cheering and singing in Spanish) Come on, you got it!

(rhythmic drumming) (singing in Spanish) Bomba!

(rhythmic drumming) Bomba!

Gracias.

(dancers applauding) - Hey, Freddie, how you doing?

I just wanted to introduce you to my son.

This is my son Sean.

He's been playing Bomba since he was about three years old.

- Wow, that's amazing.

I have some questions for you guys.

Well, actually, I have too many questions for you guys.

- Let's do it.

- Okay.

- It's time for too many questions with Freddie.

(upbeat music) What's your first memory about playing music?

- Well, I think it was 2016.

We went to city hall at like five o'clock in the morning and performed in a parade for the Mummers Parade, and it was like 20 degrees out there and blistering cold.

And I wore a very, very thin suit for like a costume.

And I think we walked for about what, two and a half hours down city hall.

- I think one of my first experience about playing musical Bomba was when I seen one of the local groups and sat at the drum, and I picked it up naturally.

For some reason it was just really weird, right?

I had no clue about the music, but I'm very good with hearing, and as soon as I heard these rhythms, I just picked it up naturally.

And since then I've been doing what I've been doing, so.

- If you had to guess, how many times have you performed?

- Probably over 100, 150 times.

- Wow.

Tony, what is the best time of day?

Like morning, afternoon, night, and why?

- For me, it's the morning because I'm a morning person.

I have a lot of energy, and that's the best time of the day to get things done.

- If you had to be an animal, which animal would it be?

- An owl cause I hate the mornings, but I could stay up as long as I want for nighttime.

- What helps you if you're nervous?

- Singing in your head quietly, playing music in your head quietly.

For me at least, I don't know.

What about you, son?

- Music, I love listening to music.

Music is just, you know, happy, made me happy, relax, calm.

If I was like angry, mad, sad, just listen to music.

- Is music ever the reason that you're nervous?

Like if you're scared to perform or something?

- Sometimes if we go to these really big places, like in front of thousands of people, sometimes I get nervous.

- What's your favorite milkshake flavor?

- That's kind of hard for me.

I think every flavor, you say milkshake, I'm there.

- I like plain old vanilla.

- Vanilla's good.

Classics are good.

- Yeah.

- What other types of music do you like to play?

- Well, besides Bomba, we also play Plena music which is a tradition in Puerto Rico.

Not as old as the Bomba, has about 150 plus years, very similar time as the Salsa.

But it was a way to spread the news around the town in Puerto Rico.

And we also do it during the holidays with our Parrandas.

United States, they have Christmas caroling.

Puerto Rico, we have Parrandas where we knock on the door and we play, but if they don't have food and drinks, we're gonna go to the next house.

- What is your favorite place to make music?

- For me, I think it's home with my children.

I can't enjoy any more than to share and give them something to keep the tradition going.

Right, I jam out with the guys all the time.

My kids, my youth, my students.

Seeing the young ones playing just brings so much more joy and feeling than watching the other group members.

You know?

It's just seeing those young ones going at it, it's amazing.

It's amazing.

- Do you have any dream places where you'd like to play music?

- The White House.

I've always thought about being like in the massive, massive dining room in the, everywhere.

I just wanna perform in the White House.

- That's awesome.

What's the best filling in a candy bar?

- Peanut butter.

- Caramel.

- Caramel.

- I'm a caramel gal.

- He can't stand peanut butter.

- No, I don't like it.

- What's your favorite thing about bomba?

- For me, it's kind of hard.

I think we feel the rhythm, and it's one of my favorite things, but when you dance is when you express who you are individually as a person.

Cause we all can play the rhythm, but when you go to dance, we see the bomba within you, within Sean, within all of us.

And everybody has a different feeling of Bomba within them.

So that's a big thing, yes.

- I really like how Bomba can bring people together to their families even when they're far away.

- Most definitely.

- Do you guys have any family who are far away?

- Well, I have my grandmother in Puerto Rico.

She lives in Sabana Grande.

And my aunt's a little sick, but you know, we always keep them in memory.

We always miss Abuela's cooking.

My grandmother doesn't play Bomba, but she watches the videos that we're always posting, and she's always excited to see us presenting and representing the culture.

- You know, my mom has family in Venezuela, and I've never even met them, but I know that she crazy misses them which is why I'm making sure that Ty stays right here.

He doesn't need to leave next summer just so that he can paint.

- It's very hard to move back and forth and to change where you're living.

But you know, communication is very important.

You never know the possibilities.

- Talk to him?

I think it would be easier to make him a Philadelphia musical superstar so that he has to stay here.

You know, maybe we could join your Bomba group.

- You guys did an amazing job with the dancing for sure.

I think it's very important, you know, to communicate as we do with the Bomba singing, the dancing, communication is a key.

Without it, we would look like a mess on the stage, but I think that's something you know you can work on is just maybe communicate with him a little bit better, and things might be easier to adjust to.

- Okay.

You know, my plan B was to hide all of his left shoes.

This sounds a little bit easier.

- And a lot less smellier.

- Words of wisdom.

(upbeat music) (Ty humming) Ty, I have a call and response for you.

You stay here and paint with me next summer.

Boom, response.

What do you think?

- Freddie, this painting immersion program is important for me.

I can't just give it up.

- So you're gonna give up on "The Infinite Art Hunt" and Skookol and everyone else.

Wow, Ty, wow.

- Freddie, we just saw people using art to connect with their families from Philly to Puerto Rico.

We can be a few states away from each other for one summer.

- Well, if it's important to you, then you should go.

But just know that "The Infinite Art Hunt" won't be the same without you.

- Well, hey, I heard that New York is a great place for art hunters.

- You mean I can come with you?

- Yeah, you can come visit me.

- Okay, see new art and eat floppy pizza.

You're right, Ty.

This is a great opportunity for us.

(upbeat music) Hey, art buds, Freddie here.

We had a great time at Taller Puertorriqueño.

We got to learn about Puerto Rican culture, Bomba, and some call and response.

We learned that if you wanna get a response, you need to put something out there, kind of like I did by communicating with my cousin Ty.

Now Ty decided to retire from official infinite art hunt singer.

So I wanted to honor him with this song that really speaks to our shared family history.

♪ She'll be coming around mountain when she comes ♪ - Freddie, Freddie, Freddie, how about you honor my retirement with a moment of singing silence?

- Singing silence, are you sure?

- Positive.

- Okay, well, if we're gonna do singing silence, we need a beat.

(rhythmic drumming) - Until next time, art hunters.

I guess Bomba till you can't stop.

(rhythmic drumming) ♪ Coming around the mountain when she comes ♪ ♪ She'll be coming around the mountain when she comes ♪ ♪ She'll be coming around the mountain ♪ ♪ She'll be coming around the mountain ♪ ♪ She'll be coming around the mountain when she comes ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ It's "The Infinite Art Hunt" ♪ ♪ Hey, guys, over here ♪ ♪ We're on another adventure with Freddie ♪ ♪ Looking for art and making friends ♪ ♪ Checking in with Grandma Tilly ♪ ♪ The adventure never ends ♪ ♪ We're gonna go to real places, find magic and wonder ♪ ♪ And try new things and see what we can discover ♪ ♪ There's art everywhere ♪ ♪ And I really wanna explore ♪ ♪ It's in the food that we eat, in the trees ♪ ♪ It's "The Infinite Art Hunt" ♪ - [Child] It's amazing I see art everywhere ♪ It's "The Infinite Art Hunt" ♪ - [Child] Lead support for this program has been provided by The William Penn Foundation with additional support from The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, The Sidewater Family Foundation, The Thomas Locke Charitable Fund and viewers like you.

(kids cheering) - [Announcer] Continue the fun at home with art, projects, activities, and printables paired with the episode you just watched.

Available at whyy.org/theinfinitearthunt.

(upbeat music)