Much of the international popularity and even the national popularity are do to one artist. Antony Santos. Bringing the genre of Bachata to being a music respected by the people was no easy task.

Birth of Bachata

From the very birth of Bachata, it had been a music for the poor. It was only played at the poor man’s bar and the poor man’s parties. As the popularity among the countries poorest citizens grew, the very thought of listening to the music was shunned more and more by the upper classes.

As the music evolved its reputation was not bettered. In the 70’s and 80’s the music’s primary theme of romance changed and focused more and more on violence, illicit-sex, and heavy drinking.

A large change was needed if the music was to became widely accepted and even become popular on an international scale.

Bachata’s Modern Influence

This where such artists as Luis Vargas, Raulín Rodriguez, Juan Bautista, and especially Antony Santos come into play. Although Blas Durán was the one that originally introduced the electric guitar to Bachata, there is no doubt that Luis Vargas, Raulín Rodriguez, Antony Santos and Juan Bautista played their part in making Bachata what it is today. Among the for Antony Santos has become the most influential bachatero and possibly the richest.

Antony Santos is largely responsible for turning the reputation of Bachata around to being a music accepted by all classes and rivaling in popularity with Merengue (the national music of the Dominican Republic).

Helping the People to Accept Bachata

His career began in the early 90’s while playing with upcoming artist Luis Vargas’ band as the güirero. He left the group in 1991 do to personally differences and his career began to take off. Much of Santos’ music was Merengue, and this played a large part in making his Bachata popular.

Bachata at this point in time still had a very negative reputation, but the combination of mixing elements of Merengue in his Bachata, playing many strictly Merengue songs and writing lyrics that were closer to the original strictly romantic themes greatly improved the peoples view of Bachata .

His style of playing the guitar was very different from the traditional Bachateros. Playing using a down stroke with a thumb pick instead of the traditional up stroke. This gives hime a very distinct sound that his fans can pick out in a heartbeat.

Today his Merengue is about as famous as his Bachata and continues to be the favorite artist of many people.

Starting with his first album to go international in 2002 Daddy Yankee has received numerous awards and nominations Daddy Yankees music has been well received in the United States, Latin America, Europe and Japan.

Tickets to his DR show will be available at Uepa Tickets, Hotel Casa De Campo and Tiendas Corripio. La Romana. General Tickets go for $1500 and $2000 (about $50 US Dollars) or $3500 (about $100 US Dollars)

Kowalczyk is in the midst of a two year break with the band “Live”. You can sample his acoustic style of music at his website at http://edkowalczyk.com.

Following his show in Santo Domingo he will be at Leuven Belgin, Cologne Germany and finally at Hellendoorn Holland. In his previous tour Kowalczyk was playing solo, Starting with the Dominican Republic show he will have a full band including drums, bass, rhythm guitar and lead guitar.

You will probably be hearing music the whole time you are here from about 10:00 in the morning to 10:00 at night. That being said you probably want to know what you will be listening to the whole time you are here. In the last entry on music I talked a little about the type of music they have here. Mostly Bachata and Merengue, but also such music as Reggaeton and salsa.

Bands

Another thing you should know about the Dominican Republic, When they like a band, they REALLY like a band. There are quite a few artists you can count on hearing regularly while you are here on the island such as Antony Santos, Luis Vargas and Frank Reyes. One that we are going to focus on today is one Dominicans are especially fond of Aventura. You can expect to hear this band at least once a day while you are here.

Aventura

Aventura is a Bachata band that formed in the Bronx, New York in 1996. Part of what makes this band so special to the Dominicans is it is an all-Dominican band. Well kind of an all-Dominican band. Only one member of the band, Henry Santos Jeter, was actually born in the Dominican Republic, the rest were of Dominican heritage. The import part though is that they all group listening to and loving Bachata music.

The band is made up of four members. Antony “Romeo” Santos, the Lead singer/composer. Lenny Santos, guitarist/producer. Henry Santos Jeter, singer/ composer. And Max “Mikie” Santos.

The band has had a number of hit singles including: “Obsesión”, “La Boda”, “Ella y Yo”, “Un Beso”, “Los Infieles”, “Mi Corazoncito”, “El Perdedor”, “Por un Segundo”, “All Up 2 You”, “Su Veneno”, and “Dile al Amor”. They have made five albums, Generation Next in 1999, We Broke the Rules in 2002, Love & hate in 2003, God’s Project in 2005 and The Last in 2009.

Influences

Although their music is name Bachata as a genre, it has also infused such styles as Hip Hop, R&B and reggaeton. One of their biggest influences was the popular Bachata Singer Antony Santos. No, this is not the same Antony Santos that is the Lead singer for Aventura, completely different people. They use both English and Spanish lyrics, so for those of you that don’t understand Spanish and are coning to the island, you can get some out the songs too.

Once again a Dominican’s love for the Band Aventura will come out in conversation. Many times if you have a conversation with a Dominican that is learning English, one of the first things they will ask you is what does this sentence mean. Now this pretty normal for a person learning a new language, but after I was in the country a while I started noticing that many of the things the ask me, were English lines of Aventura. So don’t be if you hear a song Aventura plays and the next day someone asks you what one of the English lines in the song means. It is also common for people to speak some English, but the only English they know is lines from an Aventura Song.

That gives you a little bit of what to expect on one the most popular bands in the Dominican Republic right now. If you are wanting to hear what they sound like you can go to Itunes or most other online music stores and you can sample some of their music.

There are few things in this world that Dominicans love more than music and dancing. Both music and dancing are heavily ingrained in the day-to-day life of a Dominican.
Unlike the US and many other countries, you are not going to find too much music that you can’t dance here.

I have several times tried explaining to different Dominicans that much of the music in the US is not meant for dancing, but they don’t seem to understand that thought. Right about at that point in the conversation, I get a look of pure confusion. They are thinking, Music without dancing? What’s the Point? With that being said pretty much all the music here has a heavy beat.

The music that you will probably hear the most of is Merengue and Bachata. Below is a brief description of each.

Merengue

Merengue is a music that has historical record back to the 1840’s and started becoming popular in the 1930’s. It is deeply rooted in both African and Spanish music. Using instruments from both cultures. The instruments typically used are the accordion, guitar, tambora, guira, and marimba.

Like all other music in the Caribbean has a distinct Latin feel and is very upbeat. It is a very fast music and has a strong 2/4 beat, making it a music you can’t help but dance to.

Bachata

Bachata was first recorded in the 1960’s, but it did not become mainstream until the 1980’s . The typical instruments of a Bachata band were guitar, bongos and maracas. Modern Bachata has adopted the electric guitar and electric bass guitar instead of the typical Spanish style acoustic guitar and replaced the maracas with the guira.

Bachata is a much slower beat music than Merengue, and typically uses a distinct 4/4 beat. It’s subjects are often romantic and usually incorporates lyrics that feature sadness and heartbreak.

To see more information on Bachata and Merengue you can go to Bachata and Merengue.