The cradle of merengue
While Dominicans love to dance to some twenty rhythms, including the mangulina, pambiche, son, atabales and zapateo, the most famous is the merengue, a blend of European and African culture, whose rhythm is strongly influenced by the use of the güira, an instrument consisting of a cylindrical brass rasp on which a squeegee is rubbed. Merengue is also played with drums and accordion: brass instruments, piano and choirs were later added in the salons of the big cities. The merengue dance is said to be derived from the contredanse, the colonial ballroom dance. It is said to have been transformed into the contredanse créole in the Dominican Republic, where several African rhythms and dance techniques were added over the centuries. Long relegated to the countryside in the island's interior, merengue was a popular music from its birth, around 1850, and was exiled from high society by President Ulysse Francisco Espaillat in 1875. Over time, this traditional dance music became the Latin rhythm par excellence and salsa's main rival.
Even today, merengue is often danced at an early age, and in couples. As long ago as 1795, Father Labat, who arrived in the Dominican Republic when Spain ceded the island to France, declared: "Dancing is the favorite passion of the Dominicans, and I believe there is no other people in the world who attach so much importance to it". And indeed, more than two centuries later, dance continues to occupy a central place in Dominican society. Considered an integral part of the Dominican community's identity, merengue was even inscribed on Unesco's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2016. Indeed, this dance plays an active role in many aspects of the population's daily life: from education to social gatherings and festive events, not to mention political campaigns. In 2005, this traditional practice was recognized in a presidential decree declaring November 26 National Merengue Day. Dedicated festivals are held in several towns in the Dominican Republic, notably Santo Domingo and Puerto Plata. At the end of July, the Santo Domingo Merengue Festival attracts thousands of people from all over the country to celebrate this quasi-national festival. At the end of September, it's time for the Puerto Plata Merengue Festival. In the meantime, you can sway to the sound of merengue in many of the island's bars and clubs, such as El Sartén, a small Latino bar in the capital's colonial district, or The Cave, one of Santo Domingo's most popular nightclubs.
How do you dance merengue? While performing sensual movements, the dancers, in couples, spin in circles to the rhythm of the music played by typical instruments of the style such as the accordion, the drum and the saxophone. Danced everywhere and by people from widely differing social and economic backgrounds, merengue is credited with helping to promote respect and coexistence between communities. Although the north of the country is considered to be the cradle of merengue, its area of influence is much wider: from Puerto Rico to the United States, via the Caribbean, it is being emulated. Other Latin American countries, such as Venezuela and Colombia, have adopted merengue as part of their culture and traditions.
The bachata, or the musica del amargue
The1920s saw the emergence of bachata : the first documents mentioning the term date back to 1922, and refer to a type of informal, festive gathering - usually in a courtyard, in the shade of a large tree or in the street - rather than to a musical style. A blend of bolero, musical influences of African origin and other sounds reminiscent of merengue, cha-cha-cha or tango, the music of the time was played on two or three guitars accompanied by maracas (now replaced by the guira) and a bongo, much more so in the Dominican campo (rural areas) than in the cities. Although this music began to be played in the country's bars as early as the 1930s, it wasn't until the 1960s and the fall of Trujillo that it gained nationwide popularity. Long associated with the country's most underprivileged social strata - indeed, bachata was castigated by the media and despised by Dominican society, which considered the quality of its lyrics mediocre, dealing with themes linked to relationship problems, sex and drink - composers such as Luis Dias gradually managed to win the favor of a growing proportion of the population, at the same time as the country opened up to tourism.
Bachata musicians, shunned by high society, were forced to find their own production and distribution system. In the 1990s, musicians such as Juan Luis Guerra and Víctor Víctor helped modernize bachata, offering a more urban image of this rural music. In 1992, Juan Luis Guerra gave the genre its letters of nobility with his album Bachata Rosa , which won a Grammy Award in the tropical rhythms category, followed by Anthony Santos, whose song Voy pa'lla enjoyed unprecedented success for this musical genre the following year. Since then, bachata has made its way to the top of the international charts, and the New York group Aventura brought it international acclaim in the spring of 2004 with the album Love and Hate, introducing Spanglish, Spanish mixed with English.
Other Dominican musical styles
Although merengue and bachata are the two most popular musical styles, the country's rich musical landscape cannot be reduced to them. African heritage, religious beliefs and regional particularities are the basic ingredients of an incredible number of musical styles and dances. The balsam, the pri pri, the carabine, the chenche matriculado, the palos o atabales dances, the mangulina or the Dominican zapateo are among the other musics that are danced throughout the country.
Big names in Dominican music
Merengue, like bachata and salsa, has its own illustrious Dominican representatives. Johnny Pacheco (1935-2021), a native of Santiago de Los Caballeros, was director of the Fania All Stars orchestra and helped bring salsa out of the ghettos of New York and into the international arena. His albums include Best-of Johnny Pacheco, Pacheco y su Charanga and La Crema. In the salsa category, Cuco Valoy (1937), who began his musical life as a percussionist at the age of 11 and became director of the orchestra La Tribu in 1972, deserves a mention. In 1957, he formed Los Ahijados with his brother. More at home with salsa than merengue rhythms, he is internationally renowned. His recordings, as well as his participation in collective productions, are innumerable. Here are just a few of his albums: Lo mejor de la salsa, Dos Tiempos and Juntos otra vez.
On the merengue front, Wilfrido Vargas (1949) is a composer who is largely responsible for the music's success abroad. As a producer, he worked with numerous local groups. Another major figure in the style is Johnny Ventura (1940), a merengue singer born in the province of Puerto Plata into a family of musicians. Nicknamed El Caballo, he has also played a major role in the internationalization of Dominican music, and has won numerous awards. His orchestra was the first Hispanic group to perform at the Palais omnisports de Bercy in France, in 1989. Tempted by political responsibilities, he was mayor of Santo Domingo for the Dominican Revolutionary Party. His creations are innumerable: El boogaloo esta en algo, El Hijo del Pueblo, El Mamito, El Pinguino, En Acción! La Protesta de los Feos... Singer and musician Sergio Vargas (1960), born in 1963, is one of merengue's other established stars. His family orchestra is one of the most famous in the country.
Born in Santo Domingo on June 7, 1957, Juan Luis Guerra is certainly the most respected Dominican musician of his generation. Born into a middle-class family, he studied music at Boston's Berkeley School. As a composer and singer, he gave merengue an international dimension at the head of his 4-40 orchestra. The album Mientras más lo pienso marked the launch of his career, and the hit Ojalá que llueva Café the beginning of international recognition. The album Bachata Rosa, mixing merengue and bachata rhythms, with its lyrics heavy with double meaning, became the most popular among Latin American youth and won a Grammy Award in 1991. In 2010, he won another Grammy Award for his album A son de guerra. A star throughout the Americas, he now fills stadiums and unleashes the crowds. Juan Luis Guerra was also named UNESCO Artist for Peace in 2008. The albums Fogaraté! Grandes éxitos, Bachata Rosa and Para Ti are good introductions.
