The good news is that the organizers of the Latin Grammy Awards are incorporating a Best Merengue/Bachata category, honoring the two Dominican music genres. This coincides with the launching of new albums by Juan Luis Guerra and Romeo Santos. The requirement is for at least 51% of the content of the albums to be new material.
The last time that a Latin Grammy for Best Merengue Album was awarded occurred in 2003. In 2004, merengue was grouped with salsa, and later it could be awarded in the Contemporary Tropical category. In 2012 Mily Quezada won with her merengue track “Aquí estoy yo.”
Wilfrido Vargas, a legend in merengue production, celebrated by saying: “The makers of Dominican music are celebrated by the reinstatement of merengue in the Latin Grammy, a category shared with bachata.
Frank Reyes, one of the leading bachata singers, also praised the Latin Grammy academy for taking into consideration the work of Dominican artists. “Now, the exponents of bachata and merengue should worry about making good recordings, taking into account the mix, mastering and other details,” he said.
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Diario Libre
11 April 2019