I have never heard of Bachata, it is another type /spin of Black American rap, It was not Dominican music when I was growing up there. The little school use to hire complete fifteen piece bands. They really knew most music that was Dominican. Rap is not Dominican! Here Bachata is a rice drink sold in the Hispanic part of town. It comes in several flavor, but not in music.
- Thread starter mariaobetsanov
- Start date
What on Earth is Bachata? Last time I hear it was a Rice Drink!
Lost here- what's your concern bachata or rap???
What....are you talking about?
What....are you talking about?
mariaobetsanov said:
Books have been written about this. Bachata is a variation on ancient Spanish/Latin American guitar music. Here's a snipet introducing one of the books:
"Derived from the Latin American tradition of guitar music, bachata emerged in the 1960s only to be denigrated by the media, mainstream musicians, and middle- and upper-class Dominicans, mainly because the lyrics?often about hard drinking, women troubles, illicit sex, and male bravado?were considered vulgar and worthless. While popular radio filled the air waves with merengue and salsa, bachata musicians were forced to develop their own system of producing and distributing their music."
Maria, I suspect you've heard bachata or one of it predecessors blaring from a cabaret as you were driven by it as fast as possible. But you probably didn't know what it was (or, as Jane notes, you may have known it as "amargue").
Brugal was not an option with classic bachata music. It was mandatory. Ay Dios I miss those days.
"Derived from the Latin American tradition of guitar music, bachata emerged in the 1960s only to be denigrated by the media, mainstream musicians, and middle- and upper-class Dominicans, mainly because the lyrics?often about hard drinking, women troubles, illicit sex, and male bravado?were considered vulgar and worthless. While popular radio filled the air waves with merengue and salsa, bachata musicians were forced to develop their own system of producing and distributing their music."
Maria, I suspect you've heard bachata or one of it predecessors blaring from a cabaret as you were driven by it as fast as possible. But you probably didn't know what it was (or, as Jane notes, you may have known it as "amargue").
Brugal was not an option with classic bachata music. It was mandatory. Ay Dios I miss those days.
I believe you mean "Horchata"
It is a Mexican drink made of rice.
About the bachata, It has become very popular.
I agree that I never noticed it during my childhood summers in the Dom, Rep.
Carabella
It is a Mexican drink made of rice.
About the bachata, It has become very popular.
I agree that I never noticed it during my childhood summers in the Dom, Rep.
Carabella
I agree with ccarabella
I grew up in the DR in the fifties and sixties I never heard of Bachata until I bought JLG's cd, Bachata Rosa and got on this board about five or six years ago.
I grew up in the DR in the fifties and sixties I never heard of Bachata until I bought JLG's cd, Bachata Rosa and got on this board about five or six years ago.
You've come a long way, baby...
The first time I heard bachata was in 1993, I guess, in a carro p?blico, and I was all, what IS this AWFUL, DEPRESSING, WHINING music?
I remember the song, too: It was the one that goes, Vuelve mami con tu pap?aaaa.....by Teodoro Reyes, I think. I was in extreme culture shock anyway, though...
The first time I heard bachata was in 1993, I guess, in a carro p?blico, and I was all, what IS this AWFUL, DEPRESSING, WHINING music?
I remember the song, too: It was the one that goes, Vuelve mami con tu pap?aaaa.....by Teodoro Reyes, I think. I was in extreme culture shock anyway, though...
Bachata is evolved from Bolero and has nothing to do with rap. Hip Hop and R&B have colored every other musical style known though so why not bachata too?
Response: I am in San Fernando Valley,Los Angeles
My causin was insisting that it Was original from the merengue area, and try to tell me that it was an old traditional music. Grew up in Santiago, Magdalena grew up in San Christibal, our family structure is quite different. I grew up quite protected never got to play in the streets. Married and stayed in the states. Just about the time this music was developing I was in N YC in Catholic schools. My grandmother was a songso where her brothers and nephews they had a live radio musical program in Santiago,writer so I grew up around poets and musicians. Been in the state since late fifties but that particular music never made to the States from DR.
My causin was insisting that it Was original from the merengue area, and try to tell me that it was an old traditional music. Grew up in Santiago, Magdalena grew up in San Christibal, our family structure is quite different. I grew up quite protected never got to play in the streets. Married and stayed in the states. Just about the time this music was developing I was in N YC in Catholic schools. My grandmother was a songso where her brothers and nephews they had a live radio musical program in Santiago,writer so I grew up around poets and musicians. Been in the state since late fifties but that particular music never made to the States from DR.
dominican blues?
bachata is more akin in spirit to the blues. like the blues, it was transformed from rural to urban, it is rythmically pretty simple music, its lexicon is often vulgar, its themes frequently lewd and tragic, the guitar is centerpiece...
bachata has never been to my taste, but its popularity (with all of its sociological permutations) cannot be ignored in most Dominican communities.
why does it have to be played so loud? i honestly don't know.
-Tordok
bachata is more akin in spirit to the blues. like the blues, it was transformed from rural to urban, it is rythmically pretty simple music, its lexicon is often vulgar, its themes frequently lewd and tragic, the guitar is centerpiece...
bachata has never been to my taste, but its popularity (with all of its sociological permutations) cannot be ignored in most Dominican communities.
why does it have to be played so loud? i honestly don't know.
-Tordok
When I was kid spending my summers in DR, Bachata was called Chopa music. It was the music that all of the "sirvientas" would listen to. Obviously it has evolved over the years to a popular style of music for all. I still don't care much for it, but hey, to each his own.
Check out this website
Maria
Like a few posters have said Bachata has had the evolution similar to American blues, a once ostracized music that is now revered. It gained
"respectability" when Juan Luis Guerra sang Bachata Rosa. However, it's commercial viability and sustainability in popular culture has come from
poor dominicans that have immigrated to the US and Europe. As such,
it places a face on Dominican (and Latino) immigration in the last two decades.
Alex Wolffe did an excellent documentary of this music. If you are interested
and are able to bring it to your community it would be great. He has shown it throughout the US and Europe. Alex also eloquently writes on the background of the music and how it is perceived. As you can tell from this thread it is perceptions that still very much exist and are engrained in class differences.
www.santodomingoblues.com
Best.
Maria
Like a few posters have said Bachata has had the evolution similar to American blues, a once ostracized music that is now revered. It gained
"respectability" when Juan Luis Guerra sang Bachata Rosa. However, it's commercial viability and sustainability in popular culture has come from
poor dominicans that have immigrated to the US and Europe. As such,
it places a face on Dominican (and Latino) immigration in the last two decades.
Alex Wolffe did an excellent documentary of this music. If you are interested
and are able to bring it to your community it would be great. He has shown it throughout the US and Europe. Alex also eloquently writes on the background of the music and how it is perceived. As you can tell from this thread it is perceptions that still very much exist and are engrained in class differences.
www.santodomingoblues.com
Best.
mariaobetsanov said:
Is it just me? I never understood what was 'Bachata' about JLG's Bachata Rosa. The songs on that CD are melodic ballads without any of the the 'plinky plinky' guitar that is the hallmark of Bachata.
Chiri
PS Where I come from "Horchata" is an ice-cold drink made with tiger nuts (chufa). They sell it in Super Nacional - for a price. I water it down a little and serve it ice cold. It is divine.
Chiri
PS Where I come from "Horchata" is an ice-cold drink made with tiger nuts (chufa). They sell it in Super Nacional - for a price. I water it down a little and serve it ice cold. It is divine.
Last edited:
Quisiera ser un pez....
(Tiger nuts? Mmmmm - sounds good....
)
You're right, Chiri, Bachata Rosa is not so t?pico, but you can dance bachata to it...
By the same token, Jennifer Lopez's "Let's Get Loud" is also a bachata. My husband & I figured this out at my friend's wedding last summer....
Er, yes, it was open bar - why do you ask? :nervous:
(Tiger nuts? Mmmmm - sounds good....
)You're right, Chiri, Bachata Rosa is not so t?pico, but you can dance bachata to it...
By the same token, Jennifer Lopez's "Let's Get Loud" is also a bachata. My husband & I figured this out at my friend's wedding last summer....
Er, yes, it was open bar - why do you ask? :nervous: