Merengue tipico was developed in the 19th century after United States troops landed in the Dominican Republic for the first United States occupation. This occupation lasted from 1916 through 1924 and sparked a cultural movement, that included merengue tipico, that celebrated Dominican culture. Merengue tipico originated and was kept alive in the Cibao region (see figure 1), thus also earning the name merengue cibaeño. Santiago, located in the Cibao, became the center for the growth of merengue (Austerlitz, 31).
The term merengue derived from the meringue dessert (see figure 2) because of the rapid hip movements of the dance. It was danced at informal parties that were held weekly, in which the musicians were compensated with food and alcohol.
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Merengue is a mix of different cultures, this is seen through its ensemble. The ensemble includes the accordion, tambora, and guira (see figure 3); each of these instruments representing a part of the ethnic composition of the Dominican Republic (European, African and Taino). Merengue is danced in “the classical ballroom dance position” (Austerlitz,34). They slide the left foot to the left and then bring their feet together with their right, thus moving sideways along the dance floor (see figure 4). In the earlier times of merengue, the dance was slower and with little to no hip movements, then the dance evolved to include the movements we do today. Due to the fear of communism and German control, the United States invaded the Dominican Republic to prevent this possible growth of communism from happening.
This led to resentment from Dominicans towards the United States troops for invading the Dominican Republic and forcing their sovereignty onto the Dominican people. The Dominicans were angry and irritated that they lost their power. Thus, Dominicans resisted this occupation through the lyrics of the music. The music varied from everyday life to serious political issues (Austerlitz, 34). The lyrics of these merengues expressed musical nationalism against the …show more content…
occupation. The presence of the United States troops within the Dominican Republic influenced the social aspects of Dominican life whilst they were occupying the land. The troops did not only affect the music but also the dance. The troops influenced a dance style that received its name during the occupation even though it existed before. The United States marines that were stationed in the Dominican Republic sometimes attended merengue parties. These men were not good dancers, so they combined the fox trot into the merengue dance, thus creating the merengue estilo yanqui. Later on, the name shifted to pambiche, inspired by palm beach, to express that the dance “is neither merengue nor foxtrot” (Austerlitz, 41). Along with this dance style there was another version of the merengue that is still popular today, the sectional merengue. The sectional merengue cibaeño, begins with a paseo which was a sort of introduction, in which the man looked for someone to dance with and then presented her to the whole party before starting the dance. The merengue ends with a jaleo which later became known as the mambo. Merengue tipico was pivotal to the ideal of a Dominican nation because it became a national unifier and an important symbol of the Dominican culture. On another hand, Merengue tipico was associated to the poor people from the rural parts of the Dominican Republic, thus the elites did not listen to this music, “High society people did not customarily listen to [merengue], nor were they interested in it…” (Austerlitz, 46). To make merengue high society “appropriate”, composers made changes to the music to identify with other music types, thus tricking the listeners to think it was a different genre of music and making it “worthy” to be played at ballrooms. This caused the hate of merengue to slightly decrease and increase the cultural nationalism. Even though there was an increase of acceptance of the music, the actions of one man, Rafael Trujillo, made merengue the national staple of the Dominican Republic. In Spain, a dictator used flamenco to represent to the world howunique Spain was by showing the rural and expressive forms of the music.
Trujillo followed a similar route in which he adopted the music of the merengue cibaeño as the national music. Merengue was not performed in ballrooms outside of el cibao, it was shunned in high society dances and ballrooms until Trujillo made it the national music, “In 1936, Trujillo made an official declaration making the Cibao merengue the official music and dance genre of the Dominican Republic” (Ryan). He hired a band, renamed it la Orquesta de Presidensia Trujillo and made it his personal band. Trujillo had this band tour with him whenever he traveled for political campaigns or other reasons. People were shocked to hear this traditional and rough sounding music in these high society events. By using propaganda, Trujillo managed to bring merengue into the ballrooms and turn Merengue tipico Cibaeño into a national symbol. Trujillo also used merengue to unify the nation, thus homogenizing the
culture. When merengue comes up, the first thing that comes to mind is the Dominican Republic. Merengue is a unifying cultural entity that brings all Dominicans together and at times people from different nations. Merengue is something that Dominicans take pride in.
It is influential to have strong people who want to fight for their rights. It is often easy to focus on oppression than it is to change it. It takes courage to be able to go against the rules of law. In both “In The Time Of The Butterflies” and “The Censors” , Juan and the Mariposas not only reveal their courage, but also develop significant symbols to the roles of each one of them during their time overcoming oppression. The Mirabal’s behavior towards their determination to fight for freedom, symbolizes the hope for freedom. The Dominicans were blessed to have four courageous women who went against the law in order to better their country for all. In the other hand, Juan role to overcome oppression resulted in his death and death to many innocent people. His behavior symbolize distrust, one cannot trust anyone, not even yourself. He was so caught up with his job, doing what he believed was right, he ended up censoring
Creoles struggle loyalty to their motherland and birth country. In Document A Simon Bolivar stated that creoles are in a complicated situation. They are trying to decide which side they should support. In Document B it showed how unfair creoles were treated even though by blood, peninsulares and creoles are the same. The creoles had a lot less power and worst jobs. The
All throughout the 20th century we can observe the marked presence of totalitarian regimes and governments in Latin America. Countries like Cuba, Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic all suffered under the merciless rule of dictators and military leaders. Yet the latter country, the Dominican Republic, experienced a unique variation of these popular dictatorships, one that in the eyes of the world of those times was great, but in the eyes of the Dominicans, was nothing short of deadly.
At the hands of Trujillo’s secret police and cabinet members, the Dominican people faced oppression and fear in the midst of his tyranny. Opposition to Trujillo's
Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina is without a doubt one of the most known figures within the Dominican history. The “Era de Trujillo” (The Trujillo Era) occupied the Dominican Republic for the long period of thirty-one years. His dictatorship started in 1930 and ended with his assassination on May 30, 1961. Trujillo’s Career began with the occupation of the United States in 1916. During this time he was trained in a military school, and became part of the National Police, a military group made by the Unites States to maintain order in the Dominican Republic . Trujillo stood out during his military career and rapidly ascended within the military ranges. Under the government of Horatio Vasquez Trujillo received the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and was put in charge of chiefs and assistant commanders of the National Police . This new position gave him the opportunity to be part of the overthrowing of Horatio Vasquez. Trujillo was sworn into presidency on August 16, 1930. Marking the beginning of what is known as the cruel, violent and controversial part of history in the Dominican Republic.
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
Machismo is a Latin American ideology in which the men are superior to the women. Trujillo used machismo throughout his whole regime to give himself a foot above others. Trujillo had a very interesting nickname that is someway an indicator how he felt about himself and how it aided his ego and his machismo; the nickname was the Spanish word Tigre. Trujillo almost aimlessly got the pinnacle of his tigueraje with political control, utilizing violence, bravery, athletic build, and with his manliness he also achieved getting the nickname tigre gallo. Machismo is in many ways different in the Dominican Republic rather than different Latin American countries; they usually have the same basis but a different structure, For example, a father was distant figure who never actually raised a child, on the contrary, the father was ultimately represented by the daughter. Trujillo utilized his power that he had gained from a machista, by changing the divorce laws. By when he changed the divorce laws were one of the most liberal divorce laws on the Western Hemisphere, the reason for that is because Trujillo needed more lenient laws that would help during his divorces. With that being said, Trujillo utilized his machismo and his tigueraje to build a regime that was focused more on him and in someway people related to it, so it ultimately legitimized his
The Dominican Republic under the Trujillo regime was considered one of the most violent eras ever in the Americas. In The Time of The Butterflies, by Julia Alvarez, commemorates the lives of Patria, Minerva, and María Teresa Mirabal. These women were known as “Las Mariposas” because of their direct involvement in an underground revolution against Trujillo. In the story, the Mirabel sisters are women with childhoods, hopes, and dreams, who fight for the liberation of their country. After their assassination, they became symbols of freedom and revolution for persecuted peoples all over the world. The Mirabal sisters not only fought against the Trujillo regime, but also opposed the unfair gender roles of that time. In the Dominican Republic,
Once assuming the presidency, Trujillo took some of his most loyal men and created a small military force called the Servicio de Inteligencia Militar, or SIM. Their job was to control the public and eliminate any opposition, no matter how big. One of the biggest jobs SIM was ordered to perform was the Parsley Massacre of 1937. A year after a political compromise between the two nations, thousands of Haitians were illegally immigrated into the Dominican Republic. Many Dominicans were complaining about the settlements growing exponentially on the border, as it hindered trade. Trujillo responded with, “We have already begun to remedy the situation. Three hundred Haitians are now dead in [the city of] Bánica. This remedy will continue.” Trujillo had ordered his men to get rid of the Haitians occupying the borderlands. Approximately 20,000 Haitians and some dark Dominicans were killed. If you couldn 't pronounce "perejil" or parsley with a roll of the "r", it entailed you spoke French and as a Haitian you were killed. Women and children were as mercilessly killed as the men by bayonets, machetes, and rifles. Dominicans that tried to help were killed as well. The bodies were dumped in a body of water running between the two countries, as if to send a message. SIM was so effective that horrible genocide occurred during only five days. It was an event that tarnished the Haitian-Dominican
The unification under Boyer lasted for twenty-two years. The Dominicans regained their independence from the Haitians in 1844. The political unrest in both countries between the time of their independences and the United States occupation of the nations of 1915 and 1916 was staggering. “Haiti had 33 heads of state, with an average time in power of 3.4 years. Meanwhile, between independence in 1844 and the U.S. military occupation in 1916, the Dominican Republic had 61 heads of state, with an average time in power of only 1.2 years” (Jaramillo & Sancak). The political landscape on both sides of the island were identical. There was no foreign interest on the Haitian side of the island from the period of their independence to the American intervention. Due to a chaotic political landscape and with Haiti’s policy of no foreign landowners allowed there was no hope for the previous Caribbean powerhouse to take its place on the throne of sugar
I grew up in a Mexican family listening to corridos, which are a type of song, since at every party, every celebration, and every occasion, that’s what the family would play. As I became more aware and conscious, I began to realize what these songs were actually saying. These corridos were telling a life story, ranging from life issues such as poverty, hard times, immigration, social and political problems, and/or life in general. A prominent and recurring theme that I saw developing throughout was immigration. Many of these songs, were expressing strong feelings that many Mexican immigrants, including my parents and other family members, were feeling regarding they’re citizenship status, how they were being discriminated against, and ultimately how they were feeling.
To the persistent individual, though, there is a body of music in existence that merits regard. It is powerful music written by the youth of America, youngsters who did have a stake in the Vietnam War. There can be little question about the origins of the power which American protest music conveyed: those who wrote such music lived each day with the real knowledge that they were losing friends in, and could possibly be forced themselves to go to, Vietnam. One such group, Creedence Clearwater Revival, made its contribution to this genre near the end of the Vietnam War.
16 Nov. 2013 This song from the time of the Mexican Revolution puts into perspective to me how things were back then and how the citizens realized why people wanted to be president.
Political issues such as the war on terrorism is evoked as an issue throughout the song. American was divided “All across the alien nation” when troops were sent to Iraq to search for weapons of mass destruction. Metaphorical language was used to explore the issue. Audience positioning from techniques indorse concerns with a country divided and positions them to feel the need to cooperate and sort things out other than civil unrest and debate.
‘Taino’ language or their musical forms. Upon arrival, the Spanish colonists began a chain of events that re-routed the course of the Puerto Rican music. Both the Church and the army brokering change: Catholicism imported instruments and stablished what today are called ‘Local Festivals’, while the militia established small bands.