Music in the Dominican Republic

The country that I decided to research for this final blog is the Dominican Republic. I visited the Dominican when I was sixteen and looking back on that trip I realized that I didn't experience any music while I was there. While thinking about this I also realized that I had personally never heard nor thought about the music culture of the Dominican so I thought this blog would be a great way for me to learn more about Dominican music and their culture. 

A Little Geography: 

If you didn't already know, the Dominican Republic is an island nation located in the Caribbean. It occupies the eastern two-thirds of the island Hispaniola and shares a border with Haiti. 

The Culture: 

The Dominican Republic is home to a diverse musical culture that derives from Spanish, African, and indigenous Taino musical influences. Some of the musical genres include guitar music, traditional merengue, bachata, and so on. Commercial genres like reggaeton, orchestral merengue, bolero, romantic Latin pop, and salsa are also popular in the Dominican Republic. 

Genres and styles: 

There are many different genres of Dominican music which got their start from the diverse population Spanish settlers brought to the island through the slave trade and immigration. One of them being the Plena. Which is a metered, call-and-response song. 

(Here is a video of a group singing a plena)

Another style is the salve. This is a ceremonial style that is played at pilgrimages and at parties dedicated to saints. It is a call-and-response style and is usually sung acapella or with panderos which is a small hand-held drum that resembles a tambourine, and other African instruments are also used.

 

(Salve performers) 

Gaga is also a form of music tied to the Haitian-Dominican culture. The music is played at ceremonial and spiritual events. It is usually played at Baptisms and other religious ceremonies. It developed on the plantations as the workers carried on their daily duties. 

(Here is a video of a celebration where the gaga style is being performed)

Dominican Republic's popular guitar genre is called Bachata, which translated in English means fun, merriment, or a good time. The genre was usually associated with poor rural migrants residing in urban areas. Bachata originated in the early 1960s in the country's capital Santa Domingo, and took about forty years for it to become a separate music genre. Bachata belongs to a long-standing Pan-Latin tradition of guitar music which consists of guitars and percussion, but sometimes a marimbula accompanies the musicians. Bachata is most commonly played as a guitar-based trio consisting of a guitar, bongo, and maraca. 

During bachata's early period, it was part of a sub-category of guitar music: romantic guitar music. The sub-category was characterized by slower rhythms with really romantic lyrics inspired by the Cuban style bolero. However, as a result of the worsening social and economic conditions of bachata's urban and rural citizens, the musicians began to speed up the rhyme and the lyrics evolved into having more focus on womanizing, drinking, as well a criticism towards women. It was heard mostly in male public spaces such as bars, rather than family-friendly locations. Bachata singers are mostly male, considering the content of the songs. As a result, the genre began to have a sort of negative connotation surrounding it. It was considered too vulgar and crude to have a place in the mainstream musical landscape. Bachata musicians didn't appear on TV, and no bachata record has ever played on radio stations even if they outsold any other genre, bachata was not played. Later on however in the 1980s bachata musicians were allowed to entertain at private clubs and nightclubs. It became a genre that people danced to and has now evolved into a type of dance music as well. 

(Here is a video of the bachata dance with bachata music. It is very sensual and has a really nice groove to it.) 

Merengue is another genre of music that is native to the Dominican Republic and is popular all around the world. It is based on a repeating five-beat rhythmic pattern and has a speed of moderate to very fast. It is played on the guira (metal scrapper) and the double-headed tambora drum, which interestingly enough used to be made out of rum bottles. The accordion is also common. Most of the instruments are inexpensive and easily made, which is one of the reasons why the genre is not just popular in the Dominican, but around the world as well. Typical songs in the merengue genre have two parts. The first section is rhythmically straightforward and introduces a song's melodic and lyrical material. In the second section, there is improvisation and more complex rhythms. Merengue appeared in the Dominican at the end of the 19th century. In 1850 it became popular and more common. The oldest form of the genre was typically on string instruments, but when the accordion came to the island in the 1880s, introduced by German traders, it quickly became the primary instrument, and still is the instrument of choice when playing merengue music. Brass instruments and piano are also used in merengue music today. 

(Here is a video of the Merengue performed live. I think this genre is so interesting of Dominican music is so interesting. It's so energetic and fast, you can't help but want to dance.) 

Instrumentation: 

One of the instruments that is used quite often in Dominican music is the Guira. 

Don't get it confused with its cousin the guiro. The guira is similar though in the fact that you scrape it to make sound. It's also similar to the maraca and is a key component in the merengue style of music and dance. It is made of sheet steel and the metal stick is called the beater. The person playing the instrument takes the beater and scrapes it against the textured surface in a rhythmic motion. 

Another instrument that is very common in Dominican music is the Tambora. 

The tambora is a double-headed instrument and is typically carried or played by hand or on a stand. The drum is usually made of rawhide and used to be made from materials such as rum barrels. There are two main types of Tambora drums. The first is a rope-tuned tambora with black-colored heads. This is seen in the more folk type of Dominican music. The second type is made by modern companies, it's a bolt-tuned drum with conga heads. This one usually has wood or metal rims to hit as a filler for rhythms. It is frequently used in various styles of Dominican music from Merengue to Bachata. The drum and its underlying beat and rhythm are African-influenced and connect Merengue culturally and historically to its African roots.

The accordion is another instrument that is used in Dominican music. 

Its origins come from Europe and came to the Dominican Republic in the early 20th century. It is commonly used in Merengue music. It has a loud, funky, and bold sound. 

Other instruments like the guitar, maracas, saxophone, and other percussion instruments like the marimba and guiro are also very prominent in Dominican music. 

Dominican Artists: 

Manuel Calderon is one of the most famous Bachata musicians of the past. He is considered the first actual musician to record bachata with the songs "Borracho de amor" and "Condena". An interesting thing about him is that his voice type is baritone which is usually not typical for bachata musicians. 

(Here is his song "Borracho de amor") 

Juan Luis Guerra is another very famous musician from the Dominican Republic. In fact, he is considered to be the most famous singer in the Dominican Republic. He released his first album in 1984 and is one of the top-selling Latin musicians. He is known for popularizing bachata music and merengue with an Afro-Latin twist and Bossa-Nova influences. Guerra also released several songs in English that helped him reach an American audience. 

(Here is one of Guerra's most popular songs.) 

Bibliography: 

“Bachata Music Guide: Notable Bachata Artists and Tracks - 2024.” MasterClass, Masterclass, www.masterclass.com/articles/bachata-music-guide. Accessed 27 Jan. 2024.

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "San Pedro de Macorís". Encyclopedia Britannica, 17 Dec. 2014, https://www.britannica.com/place/San-Pedro-de-Macoris-Dominican-Republic. Accessed 27 January 2024.

Masterclass. “What Is Merengue (Music and Dance)? - 2024.” MasterClass, www.masterclass.com/articles/what-is-merengue-music-and-dance. Accessed 27 Jan. 2024.

“UNESCO - Music and Dance of the Merengue in the Dominican Republic.” Intangible Cultural Heritage, ich.unesco.org/en/RL/music-and-dance-of-the-merengue-in-the-dominican-republic-01162. Accessed 27 Jan. 2024.