Chichi Peralta- A unique Dominican artist

I very rarely watch Freddy y Punto but last night I was drawn to it because the featured artist was Chichi Peralta. A Dominican tropical music artist from Santo Domingo who is extremely talented and creates a brand of music that is unique acoustically and also named fus?n by the artist himself. His trademark is his ability to fuse tropical rhythms to create a genre of music that in my opinion is an example of Dominican folklore and in his opinion as stated by Chichi Peralta himself in the interview "merengue africano" with a mixture of predominantly Brazilian percussion and beats, bachata, plena (Puerto Rican native music), cumbia, vallenato, son, and bolero among other rhythms. Chichi was highly inspired by his father and his love of art (music being a form of art too) and was also influenced by Juan Luis Guerra's style of music and collaborated with 4.40. Then Chichi formed his own formidable orchestra and career. In many songs you can definitely hear the JLG influence.

His first album Pa' otro la'o was a hit. Released in 1997, it quickly spread throughout Latin America due to its uniqueness and catchy rhythms. The most popular songs of the album were Amor narc?tico and La ciguapa. Those were the two songs that inspired me to buy the album. I remember I bought my copy in Colombia at the time and it was the hottest album on the shelf. His second album De vuelta al barrio is where Chichi Peralta lost me. I remember listening to it and feeling totally lost. It was a complete change from his first album acoustically and rhythm wise. I remember thinking "he will lose some followers with this album". However, my belief is that every artist has a not so good album here and there whether it is sophomore jinx or just not a well managed production, it happens. After that album I always hoped that Chichi Peralta would make a strong comeback and he did. His third album M?s que suficiente is representative of the talent music followers of his music know he has. Although I don't own the album (yet) I have heard songs from it and one song I know for sure is a hit is La zalamera.

The show last night was a treat and a reminder that Dominican music (all styles) has many "unsung" heroes that have been overshadowed by mainstream groups who in my opinion still need to prove themselves. Artists like Chichi Peralta are already in that exclusive category which can't be measured by the number of albums they produce but rather by the quality of their music. What sets Chichi Peralta apart from many artists is:

- fusion of rhythms and tropical beats (Great examples are song #6- Ella tiene from the album Pa' otro la'o and #7- Procura)
- doce tamboras
- his folkloric style
- creativity

What I especially enjoyed about the show besides the music was Chichi Peralta's composure, professionalism, comportment and self-expression when describing his love for music. He is definitely an exceptional Dominican artist that should not be overlooked.


-LDG.

A. Hidalgo-

Thanks for the video. It's actually quite good. It's the next best thing other than being at a live concert performance by Chichi Peralta y Son Familia. From the performances I saw on Freddy y Punto they are great live performers. Turns out that a repeat of the show was on last night so I watched a bit of it again to focus on other areas of Chichi's musical talents. He's definitely a talented musician, songwriter and percussionist.

Just to add to my first post, here is a short interview with Chichi Peralta. You can find the bio or interviews of other good Dominican artists here as well.

Entrevista con Chichi Peralta - AmericaSalsa.com

The performance I focused on last night was a song that was in the category of son (cubano) which is the category of music Chichi classifies himself as, as an artist. Once again he rose to the occasion because one would never be able to decipher his musical background just by listening to the song. The musical arrangements were perfect and very true to the origin of this tropical rhythm. One aspect to keep in mind in broad terms is that all these beats that Chichi exemplifies and defines as his exclusive rhythm fus?n fall under the umbrella category of Afro-Latino music.

Once again, I maintain that Chichi Peralta is a unique, unparalled Dominican artist for his rhythms, creativity, and innovation in tropical music who is strongly influenced by other sister genres and other artists who represent certain categories of tropical music. Not too many Dominican artists fall in this class but if I had to choose one other IMO it would be Luis Segura, an artist who is totally out of the mainstream but deserves special recognition for his style of bachata.

Luis Segura in my book is unique for his masterful bachatas that sound like boleros with great rhythm. His name is not usually mentioned in the mainstream group of artists of the genre but his nick name El Pap? de la bachata says it all. However, he is always mentioned among those who know about great bachata music. Ideal for listening and/ or dancing Luis Segura has a classic repertoire. Some great albums include (and I own) :


Hasta cuando
Como yo
La raz?n de mi vida
Te perdono

When I hear the type of music that is being produced today, I refer to the popular tropical genres such as salsa, merengue and bachata, the more I appreciate these unique artists and unsung heroes of Dominican music. There are other non-Dominican Latin artists who fit in this category as well and one who immediately comes to mind is the Cuban sonero Isaac Delgado. If you are a fan of Latin/ Cuban music, I need not expand any further. In one word he is "extraordinary". Earlier this year I lent a friend of mine his most recent album (at the time) titled Prohibido. When I got it back my friend said to me: "Who is that singer?" "That is tremendous music!" If you read the interview you will learn that Chichi Peralta and Isaac Delgado are very good friends.



-LDG.