€€€INTEGRATION AND IDENTITY IN THE HISPANIC CARIBBEAN ISLAND: THE BACHATA EN LA

€€€DOMINICAN URBAN CULTURE

€€€Alejandro Paulino Ramos
€€€(Historian and university professor)

€€€(Text of the c onference dictated by the historian Alejandro Paulino Ramos

€€€XI in the Dominican Congress of History, dedicated to Francisco Henríquez
€€€Vasquez, Lina Hotel, 19-21 October 2007, under the auspices of the Institute
€€€Geography and History, Geography and History Museum,
€€€Dominican Academy of History, and the Archivo General de la Nación)

€€€This musical genre was invented "in large measure on the march
€€€popular musicians at parties in neighborhoods, "and was long
€€€considered by Dominicans as "guaracha" or "Dominican guaracha"
€€€although more recently it has also been known as music of bitterness.
€€€The bachata is its more distant roots in Cuba and Puerto Rico, the
€€€guaracha, Bolero and dance, and very reminiscent of the Cuban bolero-son, and
€€€as explained by Enrique Deschamps in 1906, the "Puerto Rican dance"
€€€due to hybridization with the "Mexican air and guaracha and danzón
€€€Cubans. "
€€€So these Caribbean rhythms have become integrated with our
€€€rhythms, musical taste and adapting to the idiosyncrasies of our people,
€€€and facilitating musical syncretism that has made possible, which over
€€€dominicanizando time to leave, taking characteristics of both
€€€in interpretation as in the dance, becoming essential for
€€€interpretation guitars, marimba instrument known as the
€€€calabash, bongos, maracas, timbales and tambora latter
€€€especially when it comes to meringue.
€€€Throughout the process of its formation has been significant common history
€€€Caribbean, and the constant migration and economic changes and
€€€technological speakers hit the Hispanic peoples of the region.
€€€The word bachata seems to have originated in Cuba, from there became
€€€Puerto Rico and in the late nineteenth century, it adopted from the Dominican
€€€immigrants from those islands. But before that word to Santa
€€€Sunday, here was the word fandango, with the same or similar meaning.
€€€The Martinique Moreau de Saint-Mery, describes the fandango in 1783, as a
€€€dance which were accompanied by "guitar or pumpkin or maraca sound
€€€waving ", while William Walton in 1810 describes him as one of
€€€national music, more upbeat than the bolero and is also accompanied
€€€voice and guitar, and was considered repulsive by its obscenity. Of
€€€So the fandango and early nineteenth century, was seen as dance and
€€€music, mainly from rural areas.
€€€On the other hand, although it is said that of African origin, the term bacha
ta is
€€€Hispanic Caribbean own speaker and there is evidence that both Cuba,
€€€Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic for at least the nineteenth century
€€€is present in dance related activities and diversions
€€€"Poor people", but especially for the poor linked to marginality
€€€urban. According to the "Cuban Vocabulary, 14th supplement. Edition
€€€Dictionary of the Royal Academy of Language, by Constantino Suarez
€€€Bachata is the same as "partying" frolic, "carousing", and in some cases
€€€"Joke." For Suárez, "bachata" means something of little use, fun and
€€€joke.
€€€In addition, Malaret Augusto Santo Domingo said that is fun and bachata
€€€Cuba and Puerto Rico in revelry, merriment, and bachata is fun. For its
€€€hand, Patin Maceo "Dominican Americanisms in language, brings
€€€word by relating it to the dance bachata slum. "And in 1938
€€€Enrique Aguiar defined as having fun dancing with the villagers.
€€€There is also a definition of bachata, not quite curious: Esteban
€€€Rodriguez explains that the word was used in Puerto Rico, and Santamaria,
€€€Glossary Cuban author, said that Bachata is "the name given to binges or
€€€course of the country with women in gay life, and in Puerto Rico is "species
€€€country dance ":
€€€Insular Caribbean Cultural Unit Hispanic
€€€The Cuban historian Hernán Venegas Delgado Antillean Confederation:
€€€reality and hope, "review the economic process, adaptation and hybridization
€€€West Indies, where plantation "settled in the same location,
€€€with a common climate and physiographic characteristics very similar. It
€€€left, "he says, the same historical process of genocide on
€€€original indigenous population and reached the same mixing process .. "And
€€€referring to the dances and music of the Caribbean, made the process
€€€hybridization went early in the culture of
€€€Antilles: "It is precisely the music and dance one way
€€€essential expression of that mixture, as is commonly recognized,
€€€the guaracha and son, rumba and merengue, calypso and cumbia,
€€€reggae and zouk, intermingle to give rise to highly debated whether
€€€rhythms like salsa. "
€€€For the Puerto Rican poet Pales Matos, the West Indies were the space
€€€conducive to a "delicious mix" racial and cultural who had founded a
€€€new national and regional character. For him, talking about West Indian poetr
y
€€€was not talking about white or black poetry, European or African, but a
€€€new cultural expression born of the harmony of man and landscape and
€€€racial fusion mulatería represented in the ". White impose its law and
€€€culture, the tolerant and adapts black ... the black expands and evolves
€€€as at home. "In Santo Domingo, Cuba and Puerto Rico was repeated
€€€history and the integration is embodied in the model through the development
€€€Spanish colonial bans and punishments. The tam-tam brought
€€€Africa became more drum and bass drum then I remembered the
€€€African pump characteristics .... The Andalusian guitar, the tam-tam
€€€güiro muzzle and Indian are the holy trinity of music
€€€Puerto Rican, melted in the same degree that the races have merged. "
€€€Migration and Cultural Unity in the Caribbean
€€€Against Indians in the Caribbean islands, migration activities
€€€the Spanish colonizers who came to Santo Domingo in the sixteenth century
€€€while gold was running out of the mines, forced to change
€€€and economic way for the use of African slave labor as
€€€fundamental strength of the sugar industry. At the rate that occurred
€€€These changes were initiated conflicts faced powers
€€€Europe. Privateers, pirates, smuggling and devastation at the beginning of
€€€seventeenth century, struck the town of Santo Domingo and as a result of
€€€same impoverishment of the people, dependence on a set
€€€which never arrived and a prolonged economic crisis that will force some
€€€the Spanish major who lived on the island to migrate in search of
€€€better life. In this regard, said Antonio Sanchez and Valverde in "Idea
€€€the value of the Spanish island "(1785):" After those demolished
€€€Plazas, which was the year of 606, gradually emerging from the Spanish,
€€€or whole families or individuals who were still to some
€€€flow before gradually consume you without hope to overtake (....)
€€€Executed so many throughout the last century and the early
€€€ours. The same trans-treated him and so provoking other
€€€that barely stayed in the Spanish who by their very misery
€€€were unable to shun them. "
€€€This situation of crisis which deepened with the establishment in
€€€western part of a French colony and the conflicts that this situation
€€€generated, will cause the permanent exodus of the Spanish Dominicans
€€€to Caribbean territories, carrying a part of the workforce
€€€slave. For example, when France and Spain signed the Treaty of Basel
€€€(1795), migrated between 15 and 25 000 people to Cuba, Puerto Rico and
€€€Venezuela. -Spanish Dominicans who migrated from Santo Domingo would
€€€reside in other Spanish possessions where they hoped to find better
€€€economic opportunities, especially Cuba and Puerto Rico, in those
€€€the presence of the settler areas of Santo Domingo due to impact
€€€culturally in the places where they settled. But at the same time, according
€€€Herman Reichard, during the war of conquest between 1808 and 1809,
€€€and in 1863, both times had battalions
€€€Puerto Ricans in Santo Domingo.
€€€With those who emigrated from Santo Domingo are also expatriate customs
€€€and folklore of the Dominicans, but the trend began to reverse itself
€€€Since the birth of the Dominican Republic, leading to the presence
€€€many Caribbean immigrants and the mainland, which will
€€€substantial effect on the population growth and changes
€€€cultural to be registered in the country was back, but
€€€transformed the culture that had left many years ago, which
€€€was integrated and retrain to the training of Dominican.
€€€Especially following the annexation to Spain in 1861, will enter the country
€€€a significant contingent of Spanish and with them thousands of Cubans and
€€€Puerto Rican€yet after the war of the Restoration
€€€many Dominican families emigrated partner annexation scheme
€€€primarily located in Cuba: Juan J. Sanchez, in "Sugar cane
€€€Santo Domingo "provides the data for the presence of 27,000 Spanish-Cuban
€€€during the Spanish annexation. And Roberto Mars traces the abrupt departure
€€€Dominicans in 1865.
€€€A migratory movement that we are obliged to study, to understand
€€€cultural syncretism of Dominicans is related to
€€€Haitian revolution and the exodus of French on the island of Cuba and Santo
€€€Sunday.. "The migratory movement in the Caribbean region (including
€€€Haitian migration process after its antislavery revolution), will
€€€cause shared features of an identity that is still waiting to be
€€€studied.
€€€Dominican Caribbean Migration and Culture
€€€The Dominican migration process will reverse from the changes
€€€began to perform in the Dominican economy in the seventies of
€€€nineteenth century, and which relate to the Cuban war of independence
€€€ten years (1868-1878), and "Little War" started in 1895, and
€€€also with the cry of Lares in 1868 and the Puerto Rican sugar crisis
€€€the last quarter of the nineteenth century: "From the decade of the seventies
€€€produces a considerable migratory movement from the jurisdictions
€€€Eastern Cuba. The devastating ferocity of the Ten Years' War
€€€Santo Domingo drove five or six thousand Cubans who served in the course
€€€the years a large-scale positive influence on the economy
€€€insular. "Before thousands had already arrived. In 1862 Roberto says Mars
€€€in Santo Domingo had some 4,000 Cubans. Twenty years later, Javier
€€€Angulo Guridi stands out as the presence of strong influence in the Caribbean
was
€€€population growth, especially in the presence of citizens
€€€Cubans and Puerto Ricans.
€€€From the State's interest groups and intellectuals who dreamed of
€€€off the country on the path of modernization, the arrival of a
€€€immigration "wanted" was out to many of the problems affecting
€€€historically the country, as Cuban immigration was encouraged
€€€by some media, highlighting El Porvenir "of Puerto Plata.
€€€But other circumstances also pushed the Puerto Ricans to migrate
€€€Santo Domingo. On the one hand Cuba with its war of independence does
€€€was appealing to the migration of Puerto Ricans and the process of
€€€Borinquen sugar production was in crisis, and the conflicts
€€€generated by the struggle for independence of Puerto Rico. The heyday of
€€€colonial sugar industry was neither too large nor last long. From
€€€1870, when he began to feel the negative effects of the crisis
€€€sugar, Puerto Ricans began a stream of emigration to
€€€Cuba, Santo Domingo, St. Croix, St. Thomas and to Hawaii, apart from
€€€Indent a New York.
€€€What was happening in Cuba and Puerto Rico and the investment process
€€€capital had begun in the Dominican Republic in the third
€€€quarter of the nineteenth century, will result in the birth of a process
€€€that will produce irreversible economic changes and changes
€€€substantial in the life of the Dominicans: the rise of capitalism
€€€industrial dismantling of the Dominican peasantry, the emergence of
€€€labor sector, the strengthening of urban development, changes
€€€the land and the activation of trade and both the need
€€€to encourage the immigration of people from the Antilles.
€€€As the sample is sufficient to note that for 1899 and resided in San Pedro de
€€€1.142 Macoris about Puerto Ricans, a number that was gradually increased
€€€during the first two decades of the twentieth century, especially from
€€€1910, immigrated from Puerto Rico to work in large quantities
€€€in central Rome.
€€€Harry Hoetink, referring to the impact caused by groups
€€€immigrants relates this situation to rise and urban growth and
€€€emergence of new neighborhoods where these immigrants lived and step
€€€appearance of the cabarets: "Prostitution in the capital acquired in the
€€€nineties such forms, the authorities resorted to the registration
€€€mandatory. Many of these prostitutes came from neighboring islands, with
€€€whose names were known neighborhoods in which they Vivian: 'women
€€€gay, young, white, educated and beautiful, coming from Puerto Rico and
€€€Cuba. Some of these girls had received good education,
€€€spoke more than one language, had pleasant conversion, and played to perfecti
on the
€€€piano. "€The same approach makes Enrique Deschamps in his work The Republic
€€€Dominican published in 1907, when he says that a large number of women
€€€encouraged the vice of prostitution came from abroad, leading
€€€to many neighborhoods where these were known ironically lived
€€€with the name of the cities or countries of origin. Save login
€€€regarding the presence of Cuban and Puerto Rican prostitutes,
€€€are knowledgeable and dancers, boleros and guarachas with the rise taken by
€€€this music in the cafes and cabarets of the early twentieth century and the
€€€social rejection that hit after the bachata, as music by tenérsele
€€€relating to such places of amusement? Recall the aforementioned definition
€€€Bachata Santamaría that Cuba is "the name given to the partying or rumbas
€€€women in the country with a happy life "
€€€Sugar Industry and Social Changes
€€€Before the advent of the sugar industry, the Dominican Republic
€€€live cattle herd, cutting wood, the mill operation
€€€and production conuqueros: The "arrival of the 70s of last century
€€€Dominican society rested on an export-based economy
€€€of precious woods and dyeing the exploration was taking place in
€€€workshops of the band south and in certain coastal areas in the north
€€€as Monte Cristi, in the production of snuff that had settled in the
€€€Cibao based on family farming units subject to
€€€layered network of dealers in Santiago had its principal place
€€€collection and Puerto Plata in their port of departure to Europe (...) in the
€€€operation of sugar mills and character meladores
€€€family basically swarmed in sugarcane geography
€€€traditional (...)., for the traditional cattle ranch established in the
€€€vast plains of the East, for production-oriented conuqueros
€€€supply the nutritional needs of the population.
€€€The Dominican population in 1870 was nothing of 625.000 inhabitants,
€€€devoted mainly to grazing, wood cutting, agriculture and
€€€the conuco also little experience in industrial work in sugar:
€€€"The low rate of population (...), was established," says Antonio Lluberes-
€€€promoting factor in the first immigration of laborers. Since 1882
€€€existed in the country about 30 mills: "Between 1875 and 1882 were founded
€€€thirty 'sugar plantations. " (...). Of these thirty-three mills were in
€€€the north, two in the District of Samaná and 1 in the District of Puerto Plat
a;
€€€these three were the first to be founded (in 1877 and 1978). As part of
€€€the replacement of labor by foreign Dominican, which was
€€€taking place in this industry because of alleged in the country had not
€€€enough hands, and political conflict triggered in Cuba
€€€and Puerto Rico in their struggle for independence, it quickly generated a
€€€process of immigration from the British Isles, Cuba and Puerto Rico. To the
€€€Referring to the arrival of the cocolos, said the British consul from a
€€€discriminatory position against these immigrants, those workers not
€€€were allowed "because of their race and because of their inferior quality eti
ology.
€€€Moreover, the immigrants brought with them their "race, customs, religion and
€€€language. "Although the population were discriminated cocola, was given great
er
€€€consideration of the Hispanic-speaking Caribbean, to be more compatible with
€€€cultural tradition of Dominicans
€€€In addition, economic modernization led to the development of important
€€€cities, the establishment of railways in areas of the mills and
€€€trams in the capital and Monte Cristi, rail and Sanchez-La Vega
€€€Santiago, Puerto Plata, telephone lines, the first commercial bank
€€€first bridge over the River Ozama, the submarine cable, the first
€€€daily newspapers, the establishment of the Normal School and the reopening
€€€University, but particularly the urgent need for immigrants
€€€for work in the mills. Of all the localities with conditions
€€€to receive immigrants in the late nineteenth century, Puerto Plata was mainta
ined
€€€the forefront of this process for several years, not only by the movement
€€€economic, commercial and industrial, but also for the support and protection
€€€Blue Party that gave the Caribbean who fought against Spain
€€€those times.
€€€Puerto Plata and the Caribbean Immigration
€€€Puerto Plata was icon of urban development over the past three
€€€decades of the nineteenth century and one of the locations of the Dominican R
epublic
€€€most preferred by Caribbean immigrants, especially the flow
€€€trade was between this and other Caribbean islands as well as
€€€mainland immigration of Cubans and Puerto Ricans was
€€€related to political and economic aspects. "."
€€€Emilio Rodríguez Demorizi in "News from Puerto Plata records the flow
€€€Cubans and Puerto Ricans in the mid-Seventies: In 1875, the
€€€"Civilian town of Isabel de Torres was the most active center of
€€€Cuban and Puerto Rican patriots who agree with lovers Dominicans
€€€freedom working resolutely towards the independence of Cuba,
€€€insurgents, and the projected insurrection .(..). Puerto Rico Miles
€€€Cubans were given to work in the city or in neighboring fields, to
€€€while plotting against Spain and also considering that the
€€€Dominican and Cuban culture bound us: "Origin, language, customs and
€€€trends: more desired all this immigration than any other. "
€€€Puerto Plata, Santo Domingo and Santiago were the main centers
€€€receipt of the Cuban and Puerto Rican immigration to the country arrived
€€€Following the war of the 10th anniversary of Cuba (1868-1878). "And because P
uerto
€€€Silver things "went with bias in favor of the Cubans and why
€€€these piled one there to form a street called
€€€Cuba-free .. "but in that city was also a significant amount of
€€€immigrants cocolos. "
€€€Syncretism in Caribbean Music
€€€The roots of Dominican culture are based on a syncretism
€€€where different ethnic groups were integrated elements that allowed the
€€€emergence of a new town in the Americas. : Neither race nor
€€€Aboriginal culture was lost without trace. "Elements" African and
€€€merged indigenous undoubtedly reduced, from the beginning
€€€hybrid situations perpetuates the black man on the island of Santo Domingo, a
nd
€€€in the other Antilles. The forced African immigrants "brought the
€€€patterns of their own cultures. "In the case of music, sticks,
€€€tambourine and conga drum, bongos and timbales marked, together with
€€€guitar and tambourine of Andalusia, the roots of Dominican bachata:
€€€Dominican at parties there was always "the succulent chicken stew
€€€Rhythmic and notes of four and the guitar.
€€€For years, the dances of the poor were related to
€€€the fandango, as provided in the work of William Walton, published
€€€in 1810 and explaining that this was "much more upbeat than the bolero and
€€€also comes with voice and guitar. (...) "In addition to review it
€€€lewd ..
€€€One hundred and eight years after Schoenrich Otto in 1918, said the preferenc
e of
€€€Dominicans for the music of the Caribbean region in its process
€€€integration and adaptation gave way to the Dominican bachata "Music
€€€Waltz is very popular, but the favorite dance music is the beautiful "dance"
€€€Puerto Rican, which is a relative of the Mexican air and "guaracha"
€€€Cuban, and can be compared to the flow of a stream, now slipping
€€€calmly, now running waterfalls. "
€€€For its part, July Arzeno, possibly the first student of music
€€€Dominican popular, contributed in 1927 an approach to the definition of
€€€bachata music genre that was born: "There is no doubt that
€€€basic foundation of the popular song, was the liturgical chant, and the only
€€€artistic expression mainly enjoyed our society
€€€old, with the music of immigrants from feelings or
€€€Spain, the Caribbean and Venezuela, were amalgamated to the sound
€€€rudimentary Creole influence sufficiently to be
€€€completely naturalized. Thus, the most used by our people
€€€to externalize urban passions and feelings through song after
€€€Bolero was the beautiful literary style of the song (...). Past,
€€€while in the fashionable circles, ceremonial dance the Gang, the
€€€French quadrille, the Schottische, the gull, the Polka, the Mazurka and
€€€Cotillion introduced by the strong German and foreign mass
€€€Spanish, especially the youth of the town is fun in its own way
€€€doing their dance parties armed with Moorish and Spanish guitar,
€€€maraca and tambourine, animated with joyful warmth, sometimes accented
€€€with noisy tools. "
€€€Citing Argeliers León, Helio Orovio said that emerged in mid boleros
€€€nineteenth century in Santiago de Cuba, expanded rapidly in the Caribbean,
€€€heir of Hispanic ancestry, underwent a process that Cubanization
€€€associated with the dance and the habanera, "emerging in the last century a n
ew
€€€style rhythm guitar accompaniment, a mix of strumming and
€€€points which, no doubt, reached us on the road again
€€€renewed contracts with Yucatecan sones. Just joined the Spanish bolero
€€€the name and structure is to quadruple time. "In this bolero ago
€€€rReference Enrique Deschamps in 1906, when he says that dance is a "piece
€€€West Indian musical rhythms pleasantly gentle and lilting the
€€€movements slow and sensual rhythms "of peasant and self-
€€€of "the three great West Indies," but that was defined on the island of Puert
o
€€€Rico as Puerto Rican Dance "because of its hybridization with the" air
€€€Mexican and Cuban guaracha and Danzon. "Possibly this
€€€entrenchment Caribbean music was that music was contagious bachata
€€€Dominican, who undoubtedly finds its earliest roots in the
€€€integration of the bolero, guaracha, son and merengue and other rhythms
€€€but with proper instruments of neighborhood parties, as happened with
€€€Cuban bolero played by the septetos and trios in the twenties.
€€€The Dominican bolero says Julio Alberto Hernández, very different dance
€€€Spanish of the same name, is often love letters, and is one of
€€€the genera most commonly grown throughout the country. He entered the country
along the
€€€guaracha by the city of Puerto Plata, as explained in July Arzeno
€€€1927: "In our beautiful and beloved northern region, before we invaded
€€€Fox Trot hilarious and vulgar, were improvised and composed songs for more
€€€pleasure and enthusiasm that we now hear, especially songs, and
€€€above all, Boleros, whose origin can not try or is our purpose in
€€€this volume, find out, but we can say that the Cuban immigrants by
€€€the 70 and 96, were brought him here. "The same thing happened with
€€€guaracha, some of which were very popular in Puerto Plata in 1874:
€€€retreats in the city of Puerto Plata, the orchestra played the
€€€Cuban guarachas known as "Los Mangos", The Black good ", the flower
€€€squash, and guaracha "La Adela.
€€€In a way, the insular Caribbean music, with varied shades, was the
€€€same roots and in the case of Santo Domingo was understood by many times
€€€as their own what others understand others. It is perhaps for this reason tha
t
€€€1927 Enrique de Marchena son said in the magazine Black and White, the
€€€"Dominican folklore because it will develop and alienate potential
€€€regarded as typical compositions, styles imported from Puerto Rico
€€€and Cuba, including Dance and Havana. "In the Hispanic triangle
€€€Caribbean area, bachata was a reality Cuban, Dominican and
€€€Puerto Rican in origin because they showed very cultural practices
€€€similar, as evidenced by the tenth of Puerto Virgilio Davila
€€€written during the nineteenth century: "Disiembre! In the land mine / I month
€€€know glory / Gualda month in its history / Mary's. / Disiembre!
€€€Month joy / in the plain and the Sierra ./.../ is that the time /
€€€in that distant time / selebra the Christian world / the Nabidae of Moesia /
Y
€€€coyunta to me, / that has a great dolama, / has strip Bed
€€€dibeltilse strives pol, and the fun you want Dilsen, / because the dance and
the
€€€Nama. / A dance that no toy is / are there get ready / with a four well
€€€templao / and the treble of the not calm her / it's like the ifDSSput dils pa
/ on the wings
€€€of six chorriao. / A imagine it now / we are in the bachata / Wield usté its
€€€mulatta, / and a good and other ba sei. "
€€€The Fandango and Bachata music in the Dominican
€€€Ramón Emilio Jiménez explains, referring to merengue, without entering
€€€detail how the late nineteenth century was disappearing the fandango "Y
€€€birth of a new dance with the appearance of the accordion, the result of
€€€evolution of ancient dances. "Julio Arzeno explains musical Folklore
€€€Dominican (1927), the "joy of the peasant for dancing or
€€€"Fandango" - who among us is not gender specific but dance
€€€farmer-general holiday is evident in the diversity of styles
€€€possess, such as "Zapateo." These festivities were called fandangos
€€€happened decades later, the famous bachatas who had the same sense
€€€previous: picnics, parties, fun where they sang, danced, and
€€€drank alcoholic beverages to the rhythm of the instruments and music that
€€€were in vogue then, but with the difference that the former was
€€€fun of the rural poor, while the second was what the
€€€urban marginality.
€€€The word bachata appears in the Dominican Republic in the late
€€€XIX but emerges in several publications in the early twentieth century. In 19
24
€€€Augusto Ortega (Professor Santiago), wrote an essay about schools
€€€rudimentary Santo Domingo, leaving the word entered bachata
€€€was customary among the peasants and meaning "ball,
€€€jarana and joke. "The Dominican Rafael Brito P., published in San Francisco
€€€Macorís his "Dictionary of criollismo" (1930), which contains the word
€€€bachata and explains it as "Dance of neighborhoods."
€€€For its part, Patin Maceo "Dominican Americanisms in language", brings
€€€The word bachata dances relating it to the poor neighborhoods: "In Cuba
€€€and Puerto Rico, "he says, revelry. In the Dominican people, little dance
€€€more or less: "On Sunday we had the bachatas neighborhoods
€€€poor and in which we a lot of fun. "In 1938 Enrique Aguiar
€€€bachata defined in the glossary of his book "Eusebio Sapote" (sic) as
€€€"Dance of guitar, tambourine, guiro and having fun with people of
€€€people. "
€€€During the colonial period, with a company related to extremely
€€€the cattle herd and therefore it was the daily hunt, the
€€€fandango was the popular party as opposed to Dominicans
€€€ballroom of the lower nuclei of ranchers, slavery and oligarchy
€€€colonial officials. While this was happening in the field of
€€€peasants who were considered descendants of the Spanish in the sector
€€€of slaves and freedmen whose roots went back to Africa, the parties
€€€drums sticks or spread constrained by prohibitive laws
€€€trying to root out this important component of ethnic
€€€Dominican ancestral roots of a culture that not only survived
€€€Santo Domingo, but in the whole area of the West Indies. The word fandango,
€€€to name the peasant party was definitely disappearing during
€€€the first twenty-five years of the twentieth century, and it was bachata
€€€replacing both the cities and in the Dominican countryside. On this
€€€greatly impacted the result of economic transformation process
€€€industrialization and the arrival of thousands of Puerto Rican immigrants and
€€€Cubans since the late nineteenth century. At any rate, the country resisted a
nd
€€€many places in the Cibao, as expounded by Eulogio Cabral, including areas
€€€urban fandango preferred to call it fun, a term that included
€€€both the party areas such as block parties "
€€€As for the music of drums or sticks danced by slaves and
€€€freedmen, it was limited and marginalized from the earliest times
€€€of the colony. The bans throughout history were constant
€€€but indelible mark of identity shared and inherited, the
€€€legislation and resolutions not to disrupt or disassociate the
€€€Dominican people. In the festival of drums were contained the most
€€€roots of early African contribution to Dominican music.
€€€In "Letters to Avelina" (1941), Francisco Moscoso Puello certify that
€€€Extended dance forms among Dominicans: "Then, at night
€€€sometimes I can not sleep (...). The suits come at that time in activity.
€€€(...). And my extension is peopled with strange music and strange and monoton
ous chants
€€€and sad. Everywhere sticks. And even I think the mountain
€€€melancholy songs come from or the Mafia Maboba. And with his eyes
€€€hard, like stones, I guess there in the section of Santa Maria, where
€€€the drums fame brought on by the other African grandfather, touch
€€€as anywhere, in the light of the jumeadoras or some Jacho of
€€€Cuaba, rushes in too lavagallos and danced to the most unlikely
€€€dislocation. "
€€€African dances were not always allowed in Santo Domingo. The
€€€more severe penalties applied to those who were played with drums,
€€€even if they were purely recreational dances. Prohibitive provisions
€€€1862, 1874, 1878, 1881, 1924 and 1930 testify to this. These dances were
€€€persecuted for being regarded as undesirable, disordered and
€€€scandalous. edifying are the following examples: in 1924
€€€Santo Domingo City Council had before it was banned in the urban area
€€€instrument known as balsié, in order to preserve "everything
€€€appropriate to the greater prosperity and culture of the municipality, and to
avoid
€€€the spread of harmful habits "and because" the use of that
€€€instrument was demoralizing effect, "disturbs the rest and disturbs
€€€neighbors, "and starting the Trujillo dictatorship in 1930, were banned
€€€SANCO and dances such as the Voodoo being harmful, undesirable and immoral
€€€also€because in the holidays, "is danced in an immoral way." La Conga
€€€Cuba was widely criticized in 1941 by a journalist to understand the time
€€€that this "is not lounge music circles or where it should prevail
€€€aesthetics, culture and urban manners, but typical of black music
€€€Congolese have never seen the sun shine or the beauty or the
€€€civilization. "
€€€Returning to the training of bachata, which was first party and
€€€fun and then became musical genre taste in the marginalized
€€€urban areas, Federico García Godoy "Rufinita" (1909), referring to
€€€Dominicans diversions provides the following testimonial: "The
€€€chapter of distractions, as expected, was relatively small. The
€€€crowded cockfighting (...), excursions on horseback to nearby fields
€€€(...), The nine days of celebrations, and some other dance fig
€€€figs carried out to youth and even some that she did not belong;
€€€with music that is timely requested the nearby city of Santiago,
€€€expansions formed the repertoire of the neighborhood. There was no shortage,
€€€Nor, intimate meetings that did the honors to succulent
€€€chicken stews are talking to the dozen and often echoed
€€€Rhythmic notes of four and the guitar. "
€€€In "Alma Dominican (1911), Garcia Godoy insists on describing
€€€entertainment of the people and uses to refer to parties using
€€€bachata terms, fandango and rustic revelry and parties and step
€€€insists on the instrumentation used in them, ignoring the typical
€€€accordion: "The orchestra, consisting of a treble, four, drum and guiro,
€€€popped the soft notes of a rhythmic merengue (...). While
€€€Tulio M. Cestero, in "The Romantic City" (1911), shows the presence of
€€€music reminiscent of Africa in the celebrations of the marginal
€€€Dominican capital, as distinct from the "party society" that
€€€held in the Colonial Zone or intramural, where "the dance cast their
€€€voluptuous notes, his hands are pressed, the bodies are close, but
€€€women's honesty and modesty of the gentleman watch the fire, impressing
€€€turns to some gracious languor. But the picture is one in the balls
€€€public outside the walls, where city councils couples drunk liquor and lust,
and
€€€bodies move in rhythm wise brothel on the edge of
€€€mountain, hill Galindo, Indian dance is adulterated ways
€€€imported, and the sound of four, and the accordion and a drum made of
€€€hollow log covered with the ends of a taut goatskin on
€€€expert hands beat which, in infamous atmosphere, which in the light of
€€€African forests, movements, couples intertwine and separate,
€€€stomp on the concrete floor, take the breasts of females and
€€€swirling bellies join in epileptic shocks "
€€€It is even more interesting, the data provided for the study of
€€€the formation of the bachata a novel about the "revolutions caudillistas"
€€€the beginning of the twentieth century, published in 1916. Chapter II brings
in curious
€€€title: "General Babieca says politicians have failed, and is
€€€Patricio save from the bachateros "and it refers to
€€€the guarachas of the time: "As I was talking the general,
€€€Patrick appears with two more, at about eight o'clock at night, singing
€€€guarachas and songs to the beat of a guitar, but staggered in such a
€€€so so drunk they were, the General rose angrily, and
€€€got into the room, leaving his partner with those bohemians.
€€€Don Pepe Hernandez allowed to sit, and sang in the retail and
€€€solved in C major song: "This love is so violent /
€€€that does not learn how to see, / I would not love you, / because it is much
€€€suffering. / When I see you at the time / I suffer a passion so strong / that
€€€more like death / to feel like I feel. / It can not
€€€love me, / I understand and despair, / but my God what me? / If this
€€€love is real / and you can not love me / and I love you. "More
€€€later you can read in this novel: "Patrick wanted to stay with her
€€€Dulcinea, saying it was unwise to sing at night as guarachas
€€€darkness. "care calls it, would it be that bad guaracha was held or
€€€rejected and could be dangerous to sing?
€€€These guarachas, who according to Don Julio Alberto Hernandez were guarachas
€€€Dominican, were undoubtedly the earliest stirrings of the
€€€Guarachita, music of bitterness or Dominican bachata, that were already
€€€interpreted as the feasts of the barrios of Santo Domingo and Puerto Plata:
€€€Eulogio C. Cabral in "Cachimbolas" (1922) brings in a poem written by him
€€€a description of the feast of bachata Lilís time: "By the year
€€€eighty-nine, / I was an unbridled colt, / As my greatest enjoyment /
€€€Flirt with the girls. / In a block party / From then
€€€were made, / With stews and songs / Y bebentinas noisy.
€€€In "Eusebio Sapote: the story and the novel of a moron", published in 1938,
€€€Enrique Aguiar author episodes of the life outside the city
€€€capital, and defines what for him were held in City bachatas
€€€New: "The nights of calm, as it was when they were not ready
€€€of war, ran full of great enthusiasm: when entering the neighborhood
€€€you are, on either side of the street, groups of people standing in
€€€the doors of the houses where they were celebrating this so-called bachata
€€€is a dance of guitar, guiro and tambourine in a small room where
€€€barely there were three couples, but such was the amount of Bachata
€€€everybody could dance with comfort. .
€€€Ramón Emilio Jiménez confirms what we have tried to explain in that
€€€Bachata music and dance was neighborhoods and emphasizes the implementation
€€€used. For him the instruments of the orchestra are typical accordion
€€€güira and drums and sometimes the saxophone and with them were celebrated
€€€dances called merengue, cassava, bug, tap, and others, but when
€€€meeting is a bachata, then the instruments are guitars, Mongo,
€€€sticks or spoons and dancing bolero and guaracha. The same observation was
€€€made by Jose Medina P. In its report about race, character,
€€€customs, religion, people and Monción Sabaneta. in 1922. To the
€€€refer to the cockpits, offers the following definition of bachata: The
€€€cockpit is "are all that can gratify their vices and bad desires
€€€Contents: cockfighting, sweets and rum, but what he loves and
€€€appeal is the party (if accordion), or if bachata guitar and
€€€edges or boleros .. "For the same Porfirio Golibart recalls his adolescence a
nd
€€€bachatas the holiday at the beginning of the twentieth century. Referring to
€€€sancochos yard, "dinner alley bachata with the guitar,
€€€guiro and bongos (...). All my life I feel rooted in the Dominican.

€€€There are many details that prove our approaches

€€€relation to the bachata as a social and related musical
€€€marginalized urban culture, as shown in the authors we have cited and
€€€others have collected, but that we have available for other writings.
€€€I will conclude with two statements: the first Dominican musicologist
€€€Américo Cruzado, taken from his musical "Songbook of yesterday and today"
€€€when he explains that the generation of the fifties were not aware of a group
€€€songs that were sung at the beginning of the twentieth century and that he le
arned
€€€while still a teenager, they were not under the rhythms songs, but
€€€were interpreted at the whim of the singer, "with accompanying base
€€€arpeggios, some with rhythm of waltz, dance, bolero, in Creole, and
€€€guaracha call at the time, it was a kind of bolero
€€€faster pace than the slow and soft Mexican bolero. "
€€€And the second copy taken from the novel The Dance Blue, written by
€€€Victor M. Coradín in 1928:
€€€"It was 10:45 pm when the youth group went into a
€€€Cafe situated at the banks of the mighty river Ozama, in
€€€near the pier. Refuge pimps, dock workers,
€€€marine and other characters of low social class, was that nasty
€€€establishment, where a lost youth indulged in the most
€€€vices rampant.
€€€It was long and spacious, divided into several apartments, where dirty whores
€€€had their own bedrooms. There were young people equivocal, with
€€€retina of the eyes too red, excess of alcohol. Old sailors
€€€English, who in those days visiting the city on an ocean liner,
€€€stood trembling with joy by waste liquor.
€€€Others, leaning at the bar, glasses of Brandy rushing lanes. In the first
€€€some guys playing pool hall, you hear the voices and the clash of
€€€balls. In another inner apartment, sitting on wooden benches;
€€€others were given to all kinds of gambling.
€€€And beyond that, to the beat of bachata music, some nearly naked women,
€€€were unabashedly embracing men, given to the most
€€€wild orgies, while the orchestra consisted of guitar,
€€€guiro and drums, sang a song parodied in dirty words
€€€obscene.
€€€People of false face, brutal, vengeful and criminally, was left note
€€€there for its look suspicious and unpleasant. (...) A few scattered in the
€€€Ballroom, enjoying the joy of this fictional party, delivered
€€€in the treacherous hands of those unworthy women who sell their
€€€caresses to the highest bidder. "
€€€€
€€€Alejandro Paulino Ramos is a historian and documentary filmmaker, director
€€€Library Archives of the Nation.
€€€€

€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€All text is referred to in this

€€€part of the book, in print, "BACHATA: Origins Caribbean genre
€€€Dominican musical. The Bachata has been considered by several
€€€Dominican cultural researchers as a marginal genre
€€€which is based on Spanish guitar instrumental and the
€€€instruments originating in Africa, associated with the neighborhoods and fun
€€€Dominican countryside, but few have seen this as a cultural phenomenon
€€€part of the integration process of the people who constituted the
€€€Caribbean islands and especially in the Hispanic Caribbean speaker.