In Santurce, a poor suburb outside San Juan, Puerto Rico, there’s a bus that doesn’t run anymore, but the stops it once madeparadasstill lend their names to the densely populated neighborhoods. Ask ...

Plena continues to serve as the island’s “sung newspaper.” The news and editorial staff of The New York Times had no role in this post’s creation.

Plena is an Afro-Latino tradition that developed out of bomba music around the beginning of the 20th century in southern Puerto Rico. Plena lyrics are narrative. They convey stories about events, ...