What you should know
Miguel “Mickey” Sierra
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When I was seven years old I began performing with a group called the Jibaritos de Arecibo under the guidance of Francisco Sierra, my grandfather in Arecibo Puerto Rico. . We began travelling all over the island of Puerto Rico performing. This is where first met Don Rafael Cepeda the Patriarch of Bomba. Then I began learning plena from a famous plenero named Edgar Silen Quintero who was the one that taught me how to properly play the panderos. We then formed a group named Ls Pleneros de Victor Rojas. I stayed with them until I reached the age of 18. In 1986 I arrived in the United States and enrolled in Hostos Community College. I began playing, singing, dancing and composing with a group called Los Pleneros del Pueblo. I then became a member and continued with the same duties with the world-renowned group Los Pleneros de la 21. I then played with Ralphy Santana and La Union Boricua. Then I formed my own group Los Pleneros del Coqui under the auspices of Hostos Community College and the guidance of Wallace Edgecombe and his wife Nydia of the Hostos Center for the Arts and Culture. I was then a member of a group called Union Boricua, which were an offshoot of the world renowned Los Pleneros de la 21. Then I began giving workshops with Los Pleneros de la 21. I then finish college and formed my own group called Conjunto Cimarron. This group travelled throughout the United States doing performances, and conducting workshops. This was done in conjunction with the Bronx Council of the Arts and Dr. Roberta Singer and Dr. Betty Sue Hurtz. Seven years later I formed another group called Arena de Playa. In the year 2000 I formed a group called Herencia Negra which was in collaboration with the Hermanos Cepeda of Puerto Rico we travelled throughout the United States in collaboration with a group from Cuba called Afro Cuba de Matanzas in a project entitled Dos Alas (two wings) coordinated by Dr. Roberta Singer. I then moved to Reading PA and it is now that I am again teaching having accepted Mr. Nelson Báez as my student relative to Bomba and Plena. I am now a member of the group Cimarrones that is directed by Nelson Báez.
