MERENGUE Y BACHATA

MERENGUE   Y   BACHATA








The music of the Dominican Republic describes its people, passionate and lively. One of the country’s most popular genres is merengue. Native to the Dominican Republic, merengue incorporates swift beats from the güira scraper, maracas percussion, accordion, tambora drum and saxophone to get the hips moving. The aggressive Caribbean sound is believed to have influences from Haiti and Africa, but many prefer to exclude these theories, as Dominicans normally denounce any ties to either country. The genre’s pioneer was Johnny Ventura or “El Caballo”. In the 1960’s he successfully brought merengue to an international stage and paved the way for current popular artists like: Sergio Vargas, Milly Quezada, Ruby Perez and El Jefrey.

Like merengue, the Dominican form of music known as bachata is homegrown and part of the nation’s popular culture. Known for its high pitched guitar sound, bachata is normally played with a guiro scraper, bongo drums, claves (hardwood sticks used for percussion) and one or two guitars. The music style was originally considered “Bolero” (slow paced Latin love song), but after taking on influences from merengue, son and ranchera; bachata developed a style all its own. In 1961, Jose Manuel Calderon recorded what many consider the first bachata singles with “Borracho de Amor” and “Que Sera de mi”. Today, recognized names such as Anthony Santos, Frank Reyes, Aventura and Yoskar Sarante fill the airwaves. Although bachata is a home grown music, in general, Dominicans are puzzled when foreigners visit with bachata spins on the dance floor. For the most part, Dominican dance Bachata “pegao” (very close) with no spins.