Puerto Rican Merengue o Dominican Merengue

[conciencia]

I agree merengue is merengue, but the distinction is there....cannot escape from facts.

I learned so much in this post, that I am greatful to keep learning. Much love to Dominican Brothers!

[adalgisa_marte]

Originally posted by raquelita

I agree that dominican merengue usually has a double meaning so I am careful. But when it comes to dancing I prefer dominican merengue because I feel it has a faster and more catchy beat. When it comes to listinging to merengue for the words, not dancing just listining, I prefer puertorican merengue, I feel it has more meaning.

I'm glad you had fun Italia, don't give up on Salsa though

I must say that obviously you have not been exposed to the lyrics of Juan Luis Guerra, Chichi Peralta, Segio Vargas, Fernando Villalona,....etc...etc...Merengue is music to have fun while you dance and it is expected to have variety on what the artist is trying to portray.If you want pure meaninful lyrics without being dissappointed you would probably ejoy Boleros.

[dulceAMOR]

IM FROM PUERTO RICO AND THE ONLY THING AM GOING TO SAY IS THAT I DONT CARE WERE IT COMES FROM OR WHAT IT CONTAINS. I JUST GO WITH THE BEAT AND DANCE MY HEART OUT GIRL!!!

[SexyMorenoPaTi]

Mexicanos puedan hacer interpretaciones de Reggaeton... Venezolanos pueden hacer interpretaciones de bachatas... Cubanos puedan hacer interpretaciones de Vallenatos... Colombianos puedan hacer interpretaciones de Bomba o Plena... Y Cantantes Puertorriqueños (Como Elvis Crespo, por ejemplo) tambien puedan hacer interpretaciones del Merengue... Pero saben que? Eso no cambia la historia y el origen de donde vino! Aunque sea interpretado por unos cantantes boricuas, El Merengue empezò como el Perico Ripiao, y es y siempre será musica Dominicana.

[JaneMas]

Merengue History

Merengue is a dominican folkloric dance widely spread and considered by many as the dominican national dance. Origin The origin of merengue is still discussed. Among the different opinions we find: * It was Alfonseca who invented merenge (according to Flérida de Nolasco) * Its origin and apparition is lost in the foggyness of the past. (Julio Alberto Hernández). * It was born as a dominican melody after the dominican victory at the Talanquera battle. (Rafael Vidal). * It seems that merengue comes from a cuban music called UPA, which had a part called merengue. UPA arrived to Santo Domingo in the middle of 19th century from Puerto Rico. (Fradique Lizardo). Apparently Lizardo comes closer to the truth. In 1844 merengue was still not popular, but in 1850 was in vogue, displacing the Tumba. From that moment on it had many detractors. In the early 1850s a campaign was started by local Santo Domingo newspapers defending the Tumba and attacking merengue. This campaign was a signal of the popularity merengue was taking away from Tumba. Mr. Emilio RodrÃ*guez Demorizi says: "Merengue origins still are foggy. It does'nt seem it can be said it originated in Haiti. Had it had that dark procedence it had'nt been in such vogue as it was in 1855, when there were such bloody battles against Haiti; Nor had it been overlooked as a reason for those who rejected the rythm. Ulises Francisco Espaillat did'nt mention it in his papers against merengue in 1875 either". There is very little proven facts about merengue origins. In the mid-1800s, from 1838 to 1849, a dance called URPA or "UPA Habanera" (UPA from Havanna) made its way around the Caribbeann being welcomed in Puerto Rico. This dance had a movement called merengue which apparently is the way selected to call the dance as it arrived at dominican soil where it remained unknown for a few years. Later on, it was well accepted and even colonel Alfonseca wrote pieces of the new music with very popular titles like "¡Ay, Coco!", "El sancocho", "El que no tiene dos pesos no baila", and "Huye Marcos Rojas que te coje la pelota".....
http://www.manigua.org/resources/art...e_history.html

Taken from "merengue", Enciclopedia Dominicana, Primera Edición.

Loosely translated and edited by Tambora y Guira at:

http://www.mindspring.com/%7Eadiasca...a/merhst-e.htm

Truth is we been sharing music as long as we've been sharing Casabe and language. They say the Son came from the Dominican Republic by way of a woman called Mama Theodora (stated in the Cuban Music Encylopedia documented in a song). And this is most likely true since DR is next to Haiti where the Mambo came from. We say Seis, Cubans say Son. We say Plena, Dominicans say Merengue. Cubans say Boleros, Ricans say Trios, Dominicans say Bachata....we all had a hand in it's roots, but we each made it a little different to make it our own. As for me give me some not too old fashion Johnny Ventura or Joseito Mateo any day over these horrible fast merengue recordings you have today. Check out Putumayo label for the Dominican Republic's SON:

#1,2,4,7,9, are Bachason!


http://putumayo.com/catalog/item.php...&item_id=00038


[Edited by JaneMas on 12th January 2005 at 06:16]

[Yujike]

In the beginning, the merengue was played with the same instruments of Puerto Rican Folkloric music and as the germans and the americans brought their musical instruments to the americas they were incorporated into the modern merengue band.

As a musician I have played both merengue and salsa but was very dissapointed with the merengue because even tough the rhythm and the beat are superb and move the masses the lyrics sucked big time with their "negros" doing all the bad deeds and the "suegras" portrayed like ogres and monsters bent on destroying their "yernos". The overt racism and sexism of the lyrics, specially from a land of very mixed races left a bad taste in my mouth. Bachata seems to be following the same pattern with "QUE ME LA PEGUE PERO QUE NO ME DEJE crap. One notable exception: Juan Luis Guerra.

Salsa went through the same thing that the merengue went through with the "sabanas mojadas", with their salacious and downright dirty themes disguised as romantic melodies.

In my band Bentetu, we play the so called "classic" salsa with rhythms from bands from the 70's and 80's,truly romantic boleros, bomba y plena and some cha-chas from Santana. This combination seems to be well liked by latinos and anglos alike which is the composition of most of the public we play for this days.


As to the name merengue I heard years ago in PR that the movements of the danza are called merengues and one of those, the side step of the danza, became the basic step of the merengue. Danza was and still is very popular in la Republica Dominicana.

Why don't people listen to lyrics anymore? They almost all have double meanings outside of musica cristiana. There may be a different rhythm here or there 6/8 vs. 8/8, but that is subtle and not uniform. I just think sometimes when Puerto Ricans do merengue the lyrics tend to be peppered with current events/issues and that's where the "double-meaning" may come in. But most of the Dominican artists who do merengue tend to be pretty "indecente" and straight-forward, with no real latent (that is, hidden or double-meaning, etc...) it's pretty obvious -- yet these young women DO INDEED shake and dance to this without giving thought to the lyrics.

And please do not get me started on this gasolina and reggaeton, it's even worse.

We wonder why our youth are the way they are...