Bomba is more than music. It’s the heartbeat of a people.

A drum language born in the sugarcane fields of Puerto Rico, carried through centuries of resistance, joy, and survival. It is the sound of our ancestors calling us home. A conversation between the drum, the dancer, and the spirit.

La Lengua del Tambor is a living archive of that tradition, told through the artistry and activism of my uncle, Lucas Rivera, and the communities keeping Bomba alive from Loíza to North Philadelphia. Along the way, we’ve spoken with legendary Loíza painter Samuel Lind and North Philly culture bearer Iris Brown, whose lives are woven into the story of this music.

We’ve captured incredible footage, the songs, the steps, the stories but the work is far from done. There are elders, master drummers, and dancers who built this legacy, and their voices must be documented before they are lost.

I’m raising $20,000 to return to Puerto Rico, hire local Puerto Rican crew, and interview 3–4 elders who are pillars of the Bomba tradition. Your support will also cover travel, lodging, equipment, and fair pay for all artists involved.

Breakdown:

$6,500 — Local crew pay (camera, sound, PA)

$4,500 — Airfare, lodging, transportation, meals

$3,000 — Equipment rentals & insurance

$2,500 — Archival material & licensing fees

$3,500 — Post-production support for new footage

Who I Am

I’m Anthony M. Rivera, most people call me Ant and I was born in 2000 and raised in North Philadelphia. My earliest memories are filled with the rhythms of my neighborhood — block parties, airbrushed shirts for the Puerto Rican Parade on Lehigh Avenue, and elders on the stoop telling stories between sips of coffee and cigarette smoke. At 18, I received the Dean’s Scholar Award, the highest honor for incoming students, and in 2023 I earned my BFA in Film & Television from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.

As a Black Puerto Rican filmmaker, my work celebrates our resilience while confronting anti-blackness from the Caribbean to the mainland. La Lengua del Tambor is not just a film, it’s my love letter to my people, a continuation of our oral history, and a promise to keep the drum alive for future generations.