Bachata
David C. Wayne
Bachata is a popular guitar music from the Dominican Republic.
While Bachata is based on the bolero rhythm, bachateros have traditionally
included other kinds of music like son, Merengue, vals and ranchera
in their repertoires. The influence of all of these styles, and
particularly that of Merengue, can be felt in the rhythms, harmonies
and melodies of Bachata proper.
Guitar music has always
been a part of the Dominican musical landscape, but the first
Bachata recognized
as such was recorded in 1961 by
José Manuel Calderón. The Bachata of Calderón
and his contemporaries was virtually identical to the bolero of
other Latin American countries like Puerto Rico and Ecuador. In
fact many of the songs which these bachateros recorded were covers
of earlier boleros, and the music was viewed by society at large
in the same way that bolero was viewed throughout Latin America—a
romantic music popular with lovers and serenaders.
In time, however, Bachata
began to be associated with another world, that of prostitution,
poverty
and delincuency. The reasons
for this are many and complex and involve the conflicts within
Dominican society around poverty and wealth, tradition and modernity,
as well as genuine bad faith on the part of other elements in the
music industry. So strong was the stigma against Bachata that only
one national radio station would play it. While this situation
was deplorable and extremely difficult for the musicians involved,
it also helped to consolidate the genre. Relegated to the brothel
and the barrio, Bachata began to tell the stories of that world,
the experiences of the lover of a prostitute, the poor country
boy who gets to the city and gets ripped off, the plight of the
barrio dweller without light or water—all replete with slang
and sexual double entendre. From about 1970 to about 1990, Bachata
was thoroughly unique among Latin American musical genres in its
free expression of the underground life of a nation. This free
expression naturally provoked even more fiercely the contempt of
the Dominican mainstream. Ironically, it was the most despised
of these cabaret bachateros, Blas Durán, the master of sexual
double entendre, whose music marked the end of Bachata’s
isolation when he began to record with an electric guitar in 1987.
After Durán’s innovation Bachata’s popularity
began to soar, as Anthony Santos and other bachateros used the
new style to record more acceptable, romantic songs. The influence
of Merengue became marked in the rhythm and the guitar lines of
the music, and in fact modern Bachata was first made popular by
the bachateros’ Merengues rather than by their Bachatas.
Several middle class musicians, notably Juan Luis Guerra, also
experimented with the form, and were so successful that the music
began to be accepted by all sectors of society.
In its current form,
Bachata is listened to throughout Latin America, and is probably
the most popular
kind of Latin music in New York
City today. It has been fused with other styles, like Vallenato
(Monchy y Alexandra, among others) and R&B (Aventura), with
great success.
Love, Peace, & Cross-Body
Leads…
