The most notably known person from Dominican Republic today is not Predro Martinez, Josefina Baez, or the Alou brothers. It's Juan Luis Guerra, the singer, songwriter, and producer, whose music has been internationally recognized. His music consists of the popular music style of merengue, bachata, and among the fusion of other musical rhythms. Guerra's success has further exposed Dominican culture to the world at large.
Merengue and bachata are among the most popular music genres of the Dominican Republic. Merengue emerged as a pan-Caribbean genre in the 19th century. Until the 20th century, merengue was embraced as a national symbol and has then widespread throughout Latin America. Dominican merengue reflects a fusion of African and European elements. The dance moves are African derived esthetic. While, the melodies and ballroom dances are due to European influences Dominican Republic once encounter (3).
Bachata, on the contrary, is ballad-style music genre (2). Bachata has received many other names, such as musica de amargue, musica de guardia and cachivache. The word bachata ...
Percussion has evolved from a small category to a wide variety of simple and technical instruments. Percussion is a category of musical instruments that is played using the hands or with a handheld stick/beater. Percussion started thousands of years ago when people played rhythms on random objects to please their friends and scare their enemy’s. People over the years discovered different ways to hit the objects.
Bachata is a creolized music, meaning that there is both European and African influence. It is also a descendent of a few different Dominican Republic and Cuban forms of music – primarily son, but also merengue and ranchera. Son is music of the African diaspora, commonly involved in debates of African retention. Elements of African music, such as call-and-response and preference for polyrhythm survived the middle passage and are deeply rooted in Caribbean tradition. Stringed instruments are believed to have been part of the European influence on the area, as well as harmonic patterns, as well as verse-chorus structure and prominent duple meter. Modern groups consist of two electric acoustic guitars, an electric bass guitar, a guira (A Dominican Republic percussion instrument), and bongos (Hutchinson). Bachata is thought to have originated in the rural areas, being the music of choice at rural friendly gatherings, similar to son’s roots. Bachata then migrated to the cities with the impoverished as they looked for work. With this move the music transformed into something entirely different from its romantic, seren...
Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina came into the world on October 24, 1891. He was born in the small city of San Cristobal in the Dominican Republic. He was the son of Jose Trujillo Valdez and Altagracia Julia Molina. Trujillo’s parents were married on September 24, 1887 in San Cristobal. Trujillo’s father was a merchant and was dedicated to buy and sell items that he could make a profit from. His mother was a housewife and was considered very sweet and kind hearted by those who knew her . Not much is known about Trujillo’s childhood and family because he had records changed to not bring any shame brought onto his name. What is known is that he was...
Trujillo use of violence and challenge of political authority demonstrated that from the very beginning he created an insurgency regime within his military ranks that oppressed his country. Which 30 years later, his own military generals and freedom fighters will be the very ones to end his reign. To this very day, some of the Dominican people whether living in the United States or Dominican Republic are hesitate to talk about it, but are glad that it is in the past and
Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina reigned over the Dominican Republic in a dictatorship, extending over thirty years. He is known as having been the “most ruthless dictator in Latin America.” However, there is another side to the story. Trujillo was the third son of a humble sheep herder and worked as a sugar plantation guard in his adolescent years. He enlisted in the United States Marines Corp during the U.S.’s occupation in the Dominican Republic. He built himself up to National Commander and claimed presidency in 1930. He was a man known to be surrounded by “a surfeit of booze, women, wealth, power, and enemies.” Until his final years, he was admired by the Dominican people and seen as a demi-god and savior. During his first prosperous years
Foley, Eric. Cultures of the World Dominican Republic. New York: Marshall Cavendish Corporation, 1995. Print.
de Besault, Lawrence. President Trujillo: His work and the Dominican Republic. Santiago: Editorial El Diario, 1941.
Miguel Cabrera, also known as “Miggy”, was born in Maracay, Venezuela, on April 18, 1983. His real name is José Miguel Cabrera Torres. Miguel was raised by his parents, Miguel Sr. and Gregoria. As a young child, Miguel first started playing baseball with his neighbors. Baseball is one of the most popular sports in Venezuela.
Cumbia originated in the coastal region of Colombia in the early 1800’s. There were three predominant cultures in Colombia at that time: the indigenous peoples, the Spaniards, and the African slaves. The cumbia began with the essential instrumentation of the tambor drums and the gaita flutes, which derive from both indigenous and Congo-based African roots. The genre was entertainment for the slaves, beginning as a courtship dance. It later became an outlet for national resistance and protest as Colombia was contesting for its independence. The music was able to diffuse throughout the nation, spreading from the coast, primarily for the reason that many African populations were scattered in various regions. Barranquilla, a port city in Colombia, was the core of where the music became established and played for the masses, and where instruments such as horns and bass began to be incorporated into cumbia, giving it a more Latin feel. As cumbia evolved and spread to Mexico around the 1930’s, it changed from the influence o...
Music dates back many centuries ago. Music was used for an array of things. In some cases, it was used for rituals, to pass messages, or even for celebrations. There are approximately five to six hundred genres of music currently in existent today. Most music would have been said to originate or birth from folk music in America and evolved overtime to form different genres of music. Music has a long history and connection to human beings and their behavior. Music can also affect someone’s behavior whether it be negatively or positively. There have been many studies and research on the effect of music towards human behavior. Specifically hip-hop and soundscape music seem to have the most interesting effects on human behavior. Moreover, to gain better understanding of how music effects human behavior knowing how the brain functions is also essential.
During the course of this semester, the several musical styles that have been discussed and analyzed have displayed various similarities and differences. These differences in certain musical elements have accounted for the distinctiveness and uniqueness of each style of music. The culture behind these countries’ music adds even more to their individualism. Cultural aspects such as religion play a huge role in the music of each country as well. Styles of music in Africa might be more upbeat than certain styles in India, for example. Some cultures use music in religion, while others may not. Aspects such as dance are important factors in all three types of music. Despite the differences and similarities, however, without music, these cultures would perhaps not be as fascinating and unique as they are now.
Wolfgang Mozart was born January 27 1756. He died in December 5th 1791. he was born in Salzburg Austria and he died in Vienna Austria.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born on January 27, 1756, in Salzburg, Germany. Born to Leopold Mozart, a violinist and a minor composer, learning music was a must for Amadeus. He was the youngest of seven children, even though most of his brothers and sisters died in early childhood. His eldest sister, Maria “Nannerl” Anna, began keyboard lessons at the age of seven with her father, while three-year-old Amadeus watched and listened. This acted as the first footstep for young Mozart’s long musical journey.
Music is a form of communication, letting others knows what is going on in the country, political, social or economic and any other problems the people of the Caribbean faced. With so many different ethnic backgrounds in the Caribbean, they are people with Asians, Indians, and Africans descents. This created a language and culture barrier but each ethnic background shared a common link music. Music bridged the gap between the different ethnicities Music is part of everyone’s culture especially here in the Caribbean. Our culture is recognized worldwide for its music. The Caribbean has different genres of music such as calypso, reggae, dance hall, zouk and many others. Our music has roots in both African and European cultures. The drum rhythm comes from the African in...