UVA Latin American Studies Presents: Kadencia

Kadencia Orchestra is led by the father-son duo of Maurice Sanabria-Ortiz and Maurice “Tito” Sanabria. The band is dedicated to playing, promoting, and preserving Afro-Puerto Rican music. Kadencia was founded in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico in 2007. Since 2018, Kadencia calls Richmond, Virginia home. Kadencia's music and sounds pay homage and follow the traditions of Bomba and Plena from western Puerto Rico. The lyrics of its songs are narrative and describe various aspects of Puerto Rican society, culture, and traditions. Kadencia utilizes Bomba and Plena's long-rooted storytelling traditions to vividly capture multiple aspects of the Puerto Rican experience on the U.S. territory and on the U.S. mainland. 

The band has performed Afro-Puerto Rican music for audiences in Virginia, Washington DC, Maryland, North Carolina, West Virginia, and Florida. Kadencia’s full band and small ensemble have played at multiple festivals and concerts including performances at the Lincoln Memorial, The Reach at the Kennedy Center, the Library of Congress, Richmond Folk Festival, Maryland Folk Festival, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the Sandler Center for the Performing Arts, the Academy Center for the Arts, Fiesta Festival, the Que Pasa Festival, Norfolk Latino Festival, the Smithsonian Postal Museum, Bridgewater College, the University of Richmond, George Washington University, the College of William & Mary, the Winter Blues Jazz Fest, the Puerto Rican Festival of Manassas, and the Festival de Bomba y Plena in Tampa, Florida. 

Kadencia’s sophomore album “En Otro Barrio” was released in November 2022. The album contains ten original songs that capture stories from Puerto Rico’s history, culture, and society. Its songs also capture sentiments from the Puerto Rican experience in the diaspora. The album received great reviews and media coverage in the United States, Puerto Rico, and abroad. Kadencia’s first single “Oye” was named one of the Top 5 Plena songs you need to listen by Noticel, a Puerto Rican digital newspaper. On January 1st, 2023, “En Otro Barrio” was listed as one of the Top 20 Most Outstanding Albums made by Puerto Rican artists. This listing by Puerto Rico’s National Foundation for Popular Culture received national coverage and included multiple Grammy winners across multiple Latin genres including Miguel Zenón, the Spanish Harlem Orchestra, Marc Anthony, Victor Manuelle, and iLe. The album received unpaid/organic coverage and air play in the United States, Puerto Rico, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Portugal, Mexico, Ecuador, Russia, and France. The band and three songs from "En Otro Barrio" were featured on Season 2 of the AppleTV+ series "Swagger" - based on the story of NBA superstar Kevin Durant. 

In 2024 and 2025, Kadencia Orchestra released four singles and videos recorded live at Shockoe Sessions Live. Style Weekly Magazine included Kadencia Orchestra in its 2025 “Best of Richmond” (Virginia) edition in the Global Music category. The band was selected to showcase its original Afro-Puerto Rican music at the 2025 Richmond International Film Festival (RIFF). Kadencia Orchestra delivered an electrifying show and was awarded the 2025 RIFF Top Grand Jury Prize for Band of the Year. 

Kadencia actively releases new original music including live versions of their songs. In October 2025, Kadencia Orchestra released “Como Llama” a high-energy Plena featuring Tito Sanabria as lead singer. In December 2025, Kadencia released “Me Llevo Mi Plena” another hard-hitting Plena written by lead singer Maurice Sanabria-Ortiz. The singles will be included in their third studio album. The releases received press coverage in the United States, Puerto Rico, Colombia, and Peru. The songs received international airplay in the United States, Colombia, France, Canada, Thailand, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and Puerto Rico. In 2026, Kadencia seeks to expand its geographic reach and to continue solidifying its position as one of the leading Bomba and Plena Orchestras in the Puerto Rican Diaspora. 

The band remains active in the community by offering and sponsoring Bomba and Plena workshops and lectures to schools, universities, and performing arts organizations. Coband leader Maurice “Tito” Sanabria leads Kadencia’s educational and communitybuilding efforts. He is a recipient of a 2023-2024 Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship in Mayagüez-style Plena and was a featured traditional artist at the 2024 Richmond Folk Festival. He currently leads a Plena community of practice in Richmond, Virginia. 

In January 2026, Kadencia’s Maurice “Tito” Sanabria was selected as a recipient of the Walking Together grant, a program led by Mid Atlantic Arts and U.S. Regional Arts Organizations (RAOs) to support traditional artists and practitioners from communities of color while addressing historical disinvestment in folk arts and culture. Tito will use the funding to grow a "Plena Community of Practice" through workshops, events, recordings, and the creation of regular practice spaces, further utilizing the award to facilitate the creation and promotion of original works, the inclusion of guest practitioners, and educational opportunities for both established artists and the broader community to preserve the Plena tradition.

Kadencia is certified by the Puerto Rican Institute of Culture as a performer of traditional Puerto Rican music and is a member of the Virginia Commission for the Arts’ Touring Directory and the Virginia Folklife Artist Directory. Kadencia is a resident artist at the Perkinson Center for the Arts and Education in Chesterfield, Virginia.