Bachta Rosa
(Courtesy Rain Ader)

Bachata is the name given to 1) a genre of guitar-based romantic, very politicized (yet amazingly apolitical) music derived primarily from the Cuban bolero and 2) the associated social dance - which might be crudely stereotyped as a sexy shuffle accented with a foot tap, leg jerk or trademark hip “pop” on the fourth beat - both of which originated in the Dominican Republic. The assassination of a dictator, addition of electric guitar and a cleaner image all helped catapult bachata to global fame. Today, bachata competes with salsa and merengue in Latin dance clubs around the world.

OK, that may not be entirely accurate. Once you’ve learned a little about bachata’s origins and explored the lyrics of a few songs, you may not find it so romantic. It can actually be amazingly sexist and even sleazy; tortured might be a better word for it, as you’ll soon come to understand.

Of course, there are individual bachata songs that are indeed romantic and uplifting, and who knows what direction this relatively new genre will evolve in?

If a picture’s worth a thousand words, a video must be worth at least a couple thousand. So before continuing, why not check out some of the links below, to give yourself a visual and auditory picture of bachata?

Music

The First Bachata Single
• “Boracho de amor” (José Manuel Calderón)
Merengue-Bachata
• “Yo Quiero Andar” (Sonia Silvestre)
Bachata or Not?
• “Bachata rosa” (Juan Luis Guerra)
Modern Bachata
• “Consejo a las Mujeres” (Blas Durán)
Urban Bachata
• “Obsesión” (Aventura)
• “Te Extraño” (Xtreme)
• “No Es una Novela” (Monchy y Alexandra)
• “Me Enamore” (Casilda Rodriguez)
Habla ingles?
• “My All” (Dominicanada)
Retro Bachata
• “Vocales de Amor” (Joan Soriano)
Bachatafied Music
• “Stand By Me” (Prince Royce)
• “Killing Me Softly” (Maricelys)

Dance

Dominican Style Bachata
• Dominican Style Explained (Troy & Jorjet)
• Nino & Kelly
Popular Bachata
• Xtreme te Xtrano (Jorge & La Alemana)
• Rodney “Rodchata” Aquino & Camille
Modern Bachata
• Cool Bachata Moderna Moves
• Bachata Moderna Dance Freestyle
Urban Bachata
• Alejandro Rey & Kate Blomquist
• Gabryel & Bego
BachaTango
• Henri & Christy Kam
• Figura di Bachatango
Bachata-Zouk
• Jaxen & Cecilia
Bachata Championships
• Alien Ramirez & Cristian Oviedo
• Winners of another 2009 World Championship

And here’s a quick bachata vocabulary primer...

Definition(s)

Merriam-Webster features definitions for salsa, merengue and even zouk, yet it doesn’t even list bachata. In fact, the music and dance genre we know as bachata has been known by a variety of names, including “bachata” - which has had different meanings and connotations. Though many of the details are poorly recorded, a good reference for piecing the story together is Deborah Pacini Hernandez’ book Bachata: A Social History of a Dominican Popular Music (Temple University Press, 1995). Page references (e.g. p 87) throughout this article refer to Hernandez’ book.

In fact, the word bachata has had various connotations and synonyms over the years.

Nameless Music

In 1966 - five years after the first bachata song was recorded - it didn’t even have a name; it was just well-liked popular music (p 87).

Bachata: An Insult (1970s)

Bachata originally described an informal rustic party. (In fact, it apparently meant “party” in its original African tongue.) In other words, the word was mood-neutral.

However, the term was applied to the music by people seeking to disparage it - primarily the higher echelons of Dominican society, who felt bachata was an expression of cultural backwardness. No one knows when the name bachata was first applied to the music. Many Dominican musicians think it happened some time in the 1970s, a period when merengue and salsa promoters also began to refer to bachata as cachivache (something worthless, a trinket) and música de guardia (soldier’s music, the music that low ranking soldiers listened to as they drank in brothels).

Early bachateros didn’t like the name bachata, preferring to call it romantic bolero (p 13). They didn’t object to the word bachata so much as the intent with which it was used (p 117).

Bachata star Leonardo Paniagua said, “What they are looking for with the word bachata is to keep it beneath the saxophone. To keep the guitar beneath the saxophone. It can’t be. The two instruments are equal.” Hernandez notes that this statement symbolizes the struggle between two musical genres (bachata and merengue), but it can also symbolize class struggle, with the saxophone representing the rich, the guitar the poor (p 103).

Música de Amargue (1980s)

The name música de amargue (music of bitterness) was promoted in the early 1980s by artists who wanted to distinguish themselves from the negative images increasingly associated with bachata (p 14). In particular, renowned bachata guitarist Edilio Paredes claimed that he, Ramón Cordero, and Ramón Cabrera - aka “El Chivo Sin Ley” (the outlaw goat) - gave bachata its new name when they starred in a show they called “Lunes de amargue” (Margue Monday) in an upscale restaurant in 1983. The media frequently commented on “amargue fever” throughout 1983 (p 195).

Bachata: Acceptance (1990s)

CD | Or buy the song Bachata rosa (MP3) only (from the album Encuentro)

Juan Luis Guerra’s Grammy-winning album Bachata Rosa (1990, 1991 or 1992, depending on the source) made bachata - both the music and the word - more acceptable (p 15). Guerra’s work was an example of a newer, more sophisticated bachata that was distinguished from older bachata by the more dignified term tecno-bachata. Ironically, the success of Guerra and other tecno-bachateros eventually helped make the term tecno-bachata obsolete; today, music recorded by Guerra can simply be called bachata, now that the stigma has been erased.

The term amargue is still applied to bachata music, but less frequently.

Definition?

So how does one define bachata? There’s no official definition, but here’s my suggestion:

And here’s a suggested definition for the dance.

Adjectives

Key adjectives associated with the word bachata include sexy, sensuous, intimate, romantic, sad, tragic and perhaps risque or even sleazy. Whether or not it’s sexier than salsa is a matter of opinion, but bachata is generally considered a more intimate dance. The lyrics have traditionally varied from sad to raunchy.

Weird Bachata

Before continuing, let’s examine seven things that will help you put the bachata story in perspective, things that might seem a little weird at first.

1. Men Only?

Women love to dance bachata, but the music was long virtually monopolized by men.

In 1995, Deborah Pacini Hernandez wrote that “The Dominican Republic probably has more women making commercial music than any other Latin American country” - not just composing and singing but playing instruments (p 183). Yet most bachata was (and is) composed and sung by men. Women are by far the most common subject of bachata music, but they’re depicted through men’s eyes - and the portraits aren’t always flattering.

Hernandez proclaimed Mélida Rodríguez bachata’s “most unique and powerful voice,” but she died in the late 1960s or early 1970s after recording a single LP and a few singles. One of her songs was appropriately titled “La solitaria” (Solitary woman) (p 179).

The only other bachatera to achieve national stature in the Dominican Republic by the mid 1990s was Aridia Ventura, though many of her songs were composed by others (p 182). Nicknamed The Executioner because she “annihilated men in her scornful songs” (according to Santo Domingo Blues - DVD, English subtitles), Ventura’s career ended when a botched operation left her blind.

Since then, women have become a little more prominent among bachata performers, but they’re still relatively rare. (See Bachata Trivia > Bachateras)

2. Ouch!

Classic bachata songs that focused primarily on unrequited love seem like a fairy tale compared to what came next. One could almost hear wailing and gnashing of teeth as bachateros sang of a deep-rooted anger that often expressed itself as frustration and anger with women. Indeed, bachata almost became synonmous with pain.

This is somewhat logical, because the bachata community suffered under a brutal government, racism and extreme poverty for decades, including a mass exodus from their rural roots to the big city that tore families apart. However, why bachateros take out all their anger and frustration on women isn’t clear.

Since the 1990s, bachata has been largely restored to its original cheery fare: unrequited love. Nevertheless, the dark side still lurks in many songs. An example is Aventura’s hit “Hermanita,” which describes a man who yearns to rescue his sister from an abusive boyfriend who beats her.

3. Old Enough to Drive?

In researching this article, I was struck by the number of bachata artists who began their careers when they were in their mid-teens. I don’t know how that compares to other Latin music genres, but I suspect it may be some sort of record.

I’ll list a few examples under Bachata Trivia > Bachata Kids.

4. Black or White?

Latin dance music is known for its complex, sometimes riotous rhythm, the most obvious reminder of Latin music’s African heritage. But bachata more closely resembles Spanish music in that percussive elements are subordinate to melodic ones. Moreover, there are no black people in the Dominican Republic, whose citizens are a mixture of whites and dark-skinned Indians, right?

In fact, the Dominican Republic has been hammered by racism - hammered so hard that Dominicans of African heritage may refer to themselves as Indians, even though the island’s native population was exterminated by the Spanish long ago. Similarly, many Dominicans rejected the notion that bachata might have Afro-Caribbean roots, just as an earlier generation rejected bachata itself.

You can learn more about the Dominican Republic’s race problem in the discussion of Politics. In the meantime, remember that bachata has long served as the voice of the poorest of the poor, and the poorest of the poor are seldom white.

5. Forbidden Fruit

You may have heard rumors that bachata used to have a bad reputation, for one reason or other. Many people just assume the dance is simply scandalously sexy.

Well, what if I told you that there was a time when people might have been executed for recording bachata?

It’s true! In fact, people didn’t begin recording bachata until a dictator named Rafael Trujillo was assassinated.

Even after people began recording bachata, many Dominicans considered it an embarrassment - and in some respects it was. It was an embarrassment because bachateros spoke (or sang) the truth about life in their impoverished country.

That’s one of the reasons bachata seems to have a split personality. Is it the voice of the countryside or urban slums, the Dominican Republic or New York City? Is bachata hopelessly romantic, or is it sleazy and sexist?

In fact, it’s all the above.

6. Political/Apolitical

A typical gringo would never guess there’s any sort of political association with a musical genre as romantic and enchantingly beautiful as bachata. But after learning about bachata’s origins, I did a 180 degree flip, wondering how the music could say so little about socio-political issues.

In fact, bachata reeks of politics. The difference is that the Latinos who created salsa in the barrios of New York City were protected by the First Amendment. In contrast, the people who pioneered bachata didn’t have the same free speech privileges; writing political lyrics could have been a one-way ticket to torture and even death. Thus, they learned to speak (or sing) in riddles, so to speak.

7. Country Blues

Bachata music is enchantingly exotic and eerily familiar at the same time. It’s sometimes referred to as the Dominican blues.

CD | MP3 Album

There’s even a vague similarity to country music. Lyrics that suggest bachateros are uneducated and ignorant may be misleading; composers simply choose a style that resonates with their target audience (p 25).

The migration of campesinos to urban areas in the Dominican Republic mirrors the never-ending exodus of farmers to big cities in the United States.

And what about that twangy guitar sound and emotional vocals? Add a harmonica, and one might turn a bachata group into a bluegrass band.

Origins & History

The music and dance genre we know as bachata originated in the Dominican Republic some time in the early 20th century, when rural folk combined Cuban boleros with traditional Latin/Caribbean rhythms. Associated with the underclass, the guitar-based music was long ostracized.

“Bachata took shape over a period of about forty years in the bars and brothels of Santo Domingo, not gaining acceptance in its native land until about ten years ago,” according to David Wayne’s The History of Bachata, which was apparently written in 2010.

Innocent Beginnings

In “The History of Bachata: Bachata-bolero,” David Wayne writes,

In fact, bachata wasn’t even called bachata until long after the first bachata song was recorded.

1960s: Liberation!

On May 30, 1961, Generalissimo Rafael Trujillo was assassinated.

Hooray! Trujillo was considered the cruelest of Latin America’s dictators by many. As a bonus, his termination ended thirty years of censorship, opening the doors for a bachata revolution.

José Manuel Calderón wasted no time in recording what are generally recognized as the first bachata singles - “Borracho de amor” and “Que será de mi (Condena),” released on 45 rpm. Following Calderón’s historic bachata debut came more recordings by such classic bachata artists as Rafael Encarnación, Ramoncito Cabrera, El Chivo Sin Ley, Corey Perro, Antonio Gómez Salcero, Luis Segura and Ramón Cordero.

Seemingly all that was needed was a name for this exciting new music, which was regarded as a variant of bolero. In fact, during this period, the music was known as bolero campesino.

The songs were slow, romantic and sentimental and featured a variety of instruments, including clarinet, saxophone, piano and violin.

1970s: Tough Migration

The 1960s and 70’s were an era of social and political turmoil in the United States and Dominican Republic both.

New York City’s Latino community created salsa in the 1970s, largely as a symbol of ethnic pride. But bachata fell on hard times during the 1970s. As related by Wikipedia,

The situation derived largely from the massive exodus of campesinos (rural residents) to the city following Trujillo’s assassination. In the city, these migrants lived in the poorest neighborhoods, often without running water or electricity.

As David Wayne writes in “The History of Bachata: Cabaret Bachata”...

In the Dominican Republic, a cabaret is a brothel. Even today, the Dominican Republic is a major destination for international sex tourism.

Not surprisingly, bachata music began to reflect its environment. To be brutally blunt, it might be called sleazy. Or one could simply call it honest - as in art imitating life.

According to David Wayne, cabaret style bachata was most defined by Marino Pérez, Bolivar Peralta, Blas Durán and Mélida Rodriguez, though “almost every bachatero before 1990 did some work in this style.”

Cabaret bachata dealt with themes that weren’t appropriate for the more refined bolero, in a sense helping bachata find its own unique identity. The music was generally rough, “often recorded in one take through one microphone.” (Many musicians and producers simply couldn’t afford a second take.)

The music became faster and simpler. Bachata songs often consisted of little more than two or three chords, with similar structures and melodies, and the vocals might be out of tune. But musicians like Edilio Paredes and Augusto Santos spiced the music with their intricate lead guitar riffs.

Despite its unofficial censorship, bachata continued to outsell orchestral merengue, which benefited from the Dominican Republic’s major publicity outlets. Leonardo Paniagua snubbed the raunchier music of his peers in favor of classier ballad style bachatas which made him the era’s most popular bachata star.

Cabaret bachata never completely died out. Juan Bautista and Teodoro Reyes are examples of contemporary cabaret bachateros, causing David Wayne to muse that bachata will always be associated with drinking and prostitution, similar to the blues.

1980s: Revolution!

As the seventies ended, bachata was becoming more danceable as it took on a more dance-hall sound, with faster tempos, punchier guitar playing and more call and response singing. Bachata-style merengues (or guitar merengues) were also becoming more important. A style known as the beguine, which consisted of a I-VI7-ii-V7 progression, became extremely popular in cabaret bachata around this time.

Even technology conspired against the anti-bachata elitists. In 1987, Blas Durán achieved a milestone by recording the first bachata featuring electric guitar - a bachata-merengue hit titled “Consejo a las Mujeres” (often referred to as Mujeres Hembras).

Unable to resist bachata’s growing popularity, more radio stations began playing bachata, and bachateros even began appearing on television.

In short, modern bachata began to take shape during this period. Yet the growing popularity of sexual double entendre maintained the reputation that kept bachata out of mainstream music even in the late 1980s.

1990s: Pop Bachata

Plugged in to electric guitar, bachata became an international sensation.

As the sound was further modernized, bachata was dominated by two new young stars who incorporated a large number of bachata-merengues in their repertoires - Luis Vargas and Anthony Santos. They represented a new generation of pop bachata artists who achieved an unprecedented level of stardom. At the same time, bachata was emerging as a music of Hispanic dance halls around the world.

Juan Luis Guerra’s Grammy-winning album Bachata Rosa is credited with making bachata more acceptable and helping it achieve legitimacy and international recognition. Ironically, just four of the ten songs on Guerra’s album were considered bachatas, including “Bachata Rosa.” Nor did Guerra’s relatively privileged position in Dominican society represent the underclass with which bachata was associated.

Deborah Pacini Hernandez compares Guerra to Elvis Presley, who introduced rhythm and blues music to white audiences in the 1950s (p 2).

2000: Millennial Awakening

Bachata can probably be called the most exciting new Latin music and dance craze of the new millennium. The 2002 megahit “Obsesión” (buy the MP3) helped make New York City’s Aventura the best known bachata group, and infusing the music with New York City’s energy and creativity helped popularize it around the world.

While Aventura has spawned its share of imitators, artists like Prince Royce are forging their own unique sounds. At the same time, some artists are pursuing a sound more faithful to bachata’s roots. But can retro-bachata compete with a super group like Aventura? My skepticism vanished when I heard Joan Soriano’s “Vocales de Amor” (buy the MP3).

Not to be left behind, dancers are making waves of their own. In fact, the first non-Caribbean bachata dance style was developed in the U.S. and Europe around the year 2000. (Ironically, it’s known as “traditional” bachata, a name that should be reserved for the original, Dominican style bachata.)

(Pending Permission)

International bachata competitions are even being held now, including the Mayan Bachata Competition (Los Angeles) and Reno International Bachata Festival. Similarly, bachata festivals have begun competing with salsa congresses, from Finland to Hawaii.

Thus, bachata survived a brutal dictatorship, prostitution and elitism to rival salsa as king of Latin social dances, bruised and battered but still sexy as Hell.

Bachata Music

Bachata music doesn’t like to be put under a microscope. It sounds like relatively simple, laid back music, yet musicologists have a hard time determining what makes a song bachata. According to Deborah Pacini Hernandez (Bachata: A Social History of a Dominican Popular Music), bachata has neither a signature rhythm nor “any deep structural feature” that distinguish it from other musical genres.

Rather, bachata is best identified by its instrumentation and vocal style. But what if the instrumentation or vocal style are modified?

To illustrate the confusion, consider Juan Luis Guerra’s “Bachata Rosa.” It’s one of the most famous bachata songs - featured on the album of the same name, which helped put bachata on the map - yet the experts still debate whether or not this song should even be classified as bachata (see Bachata Rosa Song Debate).

Going back to square one, bachata can be classified as music with a 4/4 rhythm which resembles Spanish music in that percussive elements are subordinate to melodic ones. Here’s a more thorough definition I came up with:

Instruments

Bachata instrumentation is very simple compared to salsa, a typical bachata ensemble consisting of a lead guitar, rhythm guitar, bass, bongos and güira - a metallic percussion instrument that originated in the Dominican Republic. Maracas are sometimes used in place of the güira, though less commonly now than in the past.

The lead guitar is typically a relatively small, high-pitched instrument known as a requinto. In the 1990s, the lead guitar was electrified, revolutionizing bachata music.

Modern bachata has increasingly embraced additional instruments, including keyboards and synthesizers.

Vocals

Bachata vocals often have a distinctive sound. It might be called soulful, though it could also be described as mournful, sometimes even whiny. Indeed, bachata has been called “crybaby music.”

Lyrics

Bachata is sometimes referred to as the Dominican blues. To put it another way, when people in the U.S. are feeling down, they sing the blues; in the Dominican Republic, they sing amargue, which translates as “bitterness,” or “bitter music.” Except amargue is now called bachata.

Though bachata is popularly regarded as romantic music, I prefer to think of it as “tortured sex.” In fact, bachata actually became quite raunchy for a while, an example of art imitating life. Dominicans were struggling to survive political repression and extreme poverty, and their lives were touched by crime, prostitution and despair.

In “The History of Bachata: Cabaret Bachata,” David Wayne writes,

In local parlance, a cabaret is a brothel. Wealthier, more privileged Dominicans boycotted bachata largely because of its raunchiness.

Juan Luis Guerra’s album Bachata Rosa (1990) did much to rehabilitate bachata’s image. But pain remains a key element in bachata lyrics.

Aventura’s megahit, “Obsesión,” is an example of a song about a man pining for a woman who belongs to another man. The lyrics end with “No es amor, no es amor, es un obsesión” (It isn’t love, it isn’t love, it’s an obsession). “Hermanita” - from the album Love and Hate - focuses on a man who’s saddened by his little sister, who’s stuck in an abusive relationship. In the video, she’s shot dead, then buried.

Xtreme’s hit “Te Extraño” (see English translation) focuses on a man in love with a woman who’s stuck in an abusive relationship. Do you see a pattern here?

Like rap music, bachata is still defined largely by lust and innuendo, though some songs are truly romantic.

Styles & Trends

Salsa music is often categorized into classic salsa, hard salsa and romantic salsa, but bachata is generally just known as bachata. After all, all bachata is romantic, right? Well, not necessarily, as we’ve already learned.

In fact, there are some striking differences between early bachata and modern bachata, with many styles and experiments in between. The bachata sound pioneered in New York City, as exemplified by the popular group Aventura, is often referred to as urban bachata. Prince Royce has a more distinctive sound, though it’s presumably still considered urban bachata.

Joan Soriano - a Dominican Republic native - pursues a more traditional bachata sound.

Young and more popular than ever, bachata is still evolving. Perhaps the lyrics of future songs will embrace the social and political issues that got left behind.

Bachata Dance

Bachata might be loosely described as a sexy shuffle from side to side - performed in either open or closed position - with four steps in each direction, each four-step sequence ending with a foot tap, leg jerk or a unique “pop” as the dancers thrust their hips in the opposite direction of the last step. After a four-step sequence, the dancers repeat the sequence, moving in the opposite direction.

That best describes what I call popular bachata, a style developed in the U.S. and Europe that is sometimes ironically called “traditional bachata,” even though it isn’t traditional bachata. The original (i.e. traditional) bachata danced in the Dominican Republic is called Dominican bachata; its basic dance sequence is a full 8 count moving within a square.

In its simplest, less risque form - danced in open position - bachata generally looks fairly tame. Things heat up a bit when couples dance in closed position. The action really starts when a man and woman embrace each other more tightly - chest to chest and pelvis to pelvis - bodies writhing as if they’re making love, with a characteristic climax performed with the woman straddling her partner’s left leg.

To the uninitiated, a steamy bachata dance can appear downright sleazy. Some people dance bachata only with significant others.

Technique

Bachata is a relatively simple dance compared to salsa, from which many elements are borrowed. In Dominican and popular bachata, turns are infrequent and generally pretty simple, while shines and lifts are seldom seen.

The bachata frame is similar to the salsa frame. The man places his right hand on the back of his partner’s left shoulder blade. He then holds her right hand with his left hand, with the arm bent at a forty-five degree angle.

The major bachata styles developed in the U.S. and Europe (Traditional, Modern and Bachatango) follow a basic dance sequence of a full 8 count in a side-to-side motion. The Dominican style basic dance sequence is a full 8 count moving within a square.

In popular bachata, the basic step begins with the man stepping to the left on his left foot, bringing his right foot next to the left foot, stepping on the left foot again, then tapping the right foot next to the left foot - step, together, step, TAP.

Counts 1 through 3 and 5 through 7 generate a natural hip motion. Beginners usually accent counts 4 and 8 with a foot tap. More advanced dancers perform what might be called a leg jerk, lifting one leg off the floor and pressing the ankle against the back of the other leg. Some dancers then flick the leg down sharply.

Alternatively, the fourth and eighth counts can be accented with the signature hip “pop.” Depending on individual style, the pop is executed by lifting or tapping a foot or by using stylish footwork while popping the hip to the side opposite of the natural Cuban hip motion.

The bachata fame and basic are clearly illustrated in the video Bachata Basic Dance Steps.

Bachata focuses largely on the upper body, with a special emphasis on exaggerated hip motion. The genre’s signature move is probably the hip “pop” that so commonly accents the fourth beat.

Bachata Dance Styles

Bachata is a relatively young dance. Until very recently, there were just two primary styles - traditional Dominican and the style popularized in the U.S. and Europe, which is ironically known as “traditional bachata.” And I’m going to bury that term, before it’s too late.

I call the most popular non-Dominican bachata style POPULAR bachata. So we have Dominican (i.e. traditional) bachata and popular bachata.

Newer styles include modern bachata, which has in turn spawned urban bachata and bachatango - a fusion of bachata and tango. The newer bachata styles generally include more complex moves and patterns than traditional/Dominican or popular bachata.

Zouk-bachata may be another major style in the making, and it would be fun to see a fusion of bachata and cha-cha-cha, if only for the inevitable name - bachacha.

In the meantime, some people are even dancing rueda bachata, inspired by Cuban casino de rueda (sort of a cross between salsa and square dancing). Whether or not bachata rueda will be recognized as a distinct style or just an excuse for fans of any bachata style to exchange partners remains to be seen.

Bachata Culture

Bachata culture is a study in yin and yang. For legions of fans around the world, bachata is simply a form of entertainment, recreation or escapism - enchantingly exotic music and intimate dancing to lyrics most fans can’t understand. In other words, bachata is very similar to salsa.

In fact, bachata sometimes seems to be salsa’s ward. Despite its popularity, there are few bachata clubs outside the Dominican Republic. Rather, people usually dance bachata in salsa clubs or at bachata socials or special events.

It’s a good bet that most bachata dancers outside the Dominican Republic learned salsa before they embraced bachata. They incorporate many salsa moves into bachata and follow similar Latin dance etiquette and conventions.

Of course, bachata and salsa are both widely regarded as sexy, sensuous dances. Perhaps the most striking difference between the two genres is the greater intimacy associated with bachata.

(Pending Permission)

Bachata can be danced in a very innocent open position, but some dancers look like they’re making love when dancing in closed position. Thus, some people will dance salsa with strangers but reserve bachata for significant others.

Not to be outdone by salsa congresses, bachata fans have launched “international” competitions and bachata festivals in lucky cities around the world. There are also a few bachata congresses, but the less stuffy term “festival” seems more appropriate for this laid back dance.

Bachata is a very new phenomenon outside the Dominican Republic, and the genre may well spawn a more distinctive bachata culture as it continues to evolve.

Political Bachata

This is where bachata and salsa diverge, which is ironic because bachata and salsa both have deep socio-political roots, beginning with slavery. The difference is that salsa was born in a democracy, where people were free to speak out and dissent, while bachata was born in a brutal dictatorship created and sustained by that democracy. The first bachata song wasn’t even recorded until shortly after a bloody dictator most bachata fans have never even heard of was assassinated.

As you know, bachata hails from the Dominican Republic. The second largest nation in the Caribbean (after Cuba), it shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti. And if you’re politically astute, you’ve probably guessed that the democracy that supported its dictator is the United States.

In 1916, U.S. military forces occupied the Dominican Republic due to threats of defaulting on foreign debts. When U.S. troops left in 1924, they left Rafael Trujillo - a man who might be compared to such historic U.S. allies as Saddam Hussein - in charge.

No bachata songs were recorded during Trujillo’s reign of terror for one simple reason: He didn’t like bachata; Trujillo was a merengue fan. Bachata was associated with the underclass, maybe even black people, and Trujillo was very racist; he even ordered the military to kill all Haitians living in the Dominican Republic, an event remembered as the Parsley Massacre.

The first bachata song was recorded shortly after Trujillo’s assassination in 1961. But the celebration was short-lived.

Trujillo’s replacement, Juan Bosch, was deposed in a CIA-backed coup after less than a year in office, after which U.S. President Lyndon Johnson launched another military invasion to quell the subsequent revolt. The troops left after one of Trujillo’s stooges - Joaquín Balaguer - was installed as the new president. Balaguer’s twelve-year tenure was marked by repression of human rights and civil liberties under the guise of warding off communism.

During this period, many poor rural Dominicans moved to the city (primarily Santo Domingo), where they generally lived in squalid conditions. Theirs was a world of political corruption and poverty, crime and prostitution. Thus, bachata music is an example of art imitating life: bitter lives were translated into bitter music.

The irony is that bachata music focuses so heavily on sex, while ignoring socio-political issues - presumably because Dominicans lived in a climate of fear for so long. While Nuyoricans (New York City residents of Puerto Rican descent) were making salsa a part of the turbulent, sassy sixties, Dominicans were forced to keep their mouths shut.

Bachateros had a little trick that let them inject raunchy sex into their songs - doble sentido (double entendre). For example, bachateros could write very suggestive songs where fruit or vegetables might symbolize sex organs.

It’s interesting to speculate whether all of bachata is one spectacular display of doble sentido, in which “tortured sex” is a symbol of tortured lives, of brutal dictators and all they represent - censorship, murder, torture, poverty and all the other hardships endured by Dominicans.

True or not, one of the biggest ironies is the striking absence of politics in bachata lyrics compared to salsa and some other Latin music genres. Rubén Blades - a salsa songwriter and singer who thrives on politics - remains one of that genre’s biggest stars. Political themes are even more prominent in timba, a salsa-like genre flourishing in Cuba.

So why do bachateros seem so oblivious to the socio-political forces that shaped bachata? Is the past simply too painful to remember? Or is it considered an embarrassment? (In her book Bachata: A Social History of a Dominican Popular Music, Deborah Pacini Hernandez writes that dark-skinned Dominicans don’t want to admit they have African blood, so they tell people they’re Indians, even though the island’s Native Americans were exterminated long ago.)

Though things have improved, corruption and various social ills still plague the Dominican Republic. Unemployment, government corruption, and inconsistent electric service remain major Dominican problems. The international sex trade thrives in the Dominican Republic.

Not surprisingly, living conditions in the Dominican Republic fuel an ongoing diaspora; one tenth of the Dominican Republic’s GDP comes from emigrants.

A stamp commemorating the 25th
anniversary of the Mirabal sisters’ death

I predict that bachata will become more politicized - or, at least, some bachateros will embrace a cause larger than commercial success. And if they don’t want to sing about homegrown poverty, they can always take on the Yankee imperialism that spawned and continues to nurture poverty throughout the Caribbean.

As I was working on this series of bachata articles, I learned about a movie based on the Mirabal sisters - a family who courageously fought Rafael Trujillo. The movie is Trópico de Sangre and will be released with English subtitles in December (2010) - just a few weeks after this article was published. Though bachata probably isn’t even mentioned in the movie, it should help people understand and appreciate bachata for what it is, rather than some quaint Caribbean novelty.

Bachata Trivia

Check out some bachata nicknames, bachata women, bachata kids, bachata honors and bachata films.

Bachata Nicknames

Royalty

K.O.B. Live (Aventura)
CD+DVD | MP3 Album)

Domenic Marte has been called King of Bachata. However, some bachata fans call Monchy and Alexandra the King and Queen of Bachata Music. To back up their claim to the title, super-bachata group Aventura released an album titled K.O.B. Live. (You can guess what K.O.B. stands for.) Marilyn Jimenez and Judy Santos - members of Bachata Girlz - are gunning for the title Queens of Bachata.

El Duque de la Bachata (Joan Soriano)
CD | MP3 Album)

Frank Reyes is popularly considered the Prince of Bachata - not to be confused with bachata star Prince Royce (CD | MP3 Album).

Joan Soriano muses, “Every artist in bachata has to have an artistic name. We were thinking, ‘Bachata has a lot of kings. But it doesn’t have any dukes.’ So that’s how I became the Duke of Bachata.”

We The People

José Manuel Calderón and Luis Segura are both known as the Father of Bachata, while Leonardo Paniagua is considered the Father of Romantic Bachata. Edilio Paredes is the undisputed Father of Bachata Guitar.

Aridia Ventura was nicknamed The Executioner because she “annihilated men in her scornful songs,” according to Santo Domingo Blues (DVD, English subtitles).

Dancers

World Champion Bachata Dancers include Cristian Oviedo and Alien Ramirez (Mayan, 2009), but Ataca Jorgie and La Alemana are said to be the most popular bachateros on YouTube. Maybe we can call them the King and Queen of YouBachata.

Bachateras (Singers)

Bachata is a very sexy dance, and women are the sexiest thing about it. Women clearly rule the dance floor - yet they’re virtually absent on the stage. There’s even a video that addresses the situation: LAMC Dominican Women Artists.

For three decades following the release of the first bachata recording in 1961, women bachata singers who achieved national stature in the Dominican Republic were pretty much limited to Mélida Rodríguez (who died after recording a single LP and a few singles) and Aridia Ventura - nicknamed The Executioner because she “annihilated men in her scornful songs” - whose career ended when a botched operation left her blind.

Juan Luis Guerra was reportedly inspired by Sonia Silvestre, who contributed to the background vocals on his album Bachata Rosa. Her song “Yo Quiero Andar” is a classic (and confusing) example of merengue-bachata.

So how many bachateras have achieved stardom since the mid 1990s?

Alexandra Cabrera de la Cruz was the feminine half of the bachata super group Monchy y Alexandra (1999-2008). Her biggest challenger is probably Judy Santos - the lady who sings the refrain on the most popular bachata song ever, “Obsesión.” Santos (no relation to Anthony Santos) also sings on Aventura’s songs “Angelito” and “La Guerra.”

Marilyn Jimenez joined the group NV in 2002 before teaming up with Judy Santos to form the first notable all-girl bachata group, Bachata Girlz. Promoted by Luis Vargas, a bachatera named Valeria released the album La Mujer that same year.

Mujeres En Bachata...Sensual (MP3 Album)

In 2007, J&N Records released an album titled Mujeres en Bachata (Women in Bachata), featuring ten songs by Alexandra, Vanessa Gil, Vicky Castro, Ivelises Novo, Josefina Batista, Rosaura Collado, Maria Diaz.

We’ve already met Alexandra. Vanessa Gil’s debut album was Mi Medida (J&N, 2004). She is also featured on a series of albums titled Bachata de Hoy.

I found very little information about the others online. I’m not even sure if the Dominican singer and accordion player named Maria Diaz who calls herself La Dama del Merengue is the same Maria Diaz mentioned in Bachata: A Social History of a Dominican Popular Music or not.

But there are still more bachateras vying for the spotlight. Casilda Rodriguez began singing with the new group her brother Raulín formed in 1992, after he left Agrupación de Antony Santos. Taking a cue from her brother, she also tried to go solo, releasing the albums La Señora de la Bachata (1995) and La Señora Perdoname (1996). Her biggest hit appears to be “Me Enamore.” (Buy the MP3.)

Mujer de Enamorada (Maricelys)

An artist named Maricelys recorded bachatafied versions of “Killing Me Softly” and “Feelings” on the albums Bachata Blues and Mas Bachata. She released albums titled Una Mujer Enamorada (CD) and La Sexy de la Bachata (CD) as well.

I’ve also discovered a Dominican bachatera named Melanie Tejada, though I’m not sure if she has recorded any albums.

Bachata Kids

Bachateros tend to start young, and there’s no better example than Aventura, which isn’t referred to as a “boy band” for nothing.

Romeo, Lenny Santos, Max Santos and Henry Santos Jeter were born in 1981, 1979, 1982 and 1979, respectively. Thus, the oldest couldn’t have been more than fifteen when they formed the group Aventura in 1994, while Max may have been as young as twelve.

Edilio Paredes apparently began recording at age thirteen. In comparison, Ramón Rijo (born 1977) and Alexandra Cabrera de la Cruz (1978) were old-timers when they formed the group Monchy & Alexandra in 1998.

Birthdays for most famous bachateros are hard to track down, but I think I see a trend here.

Bachata Honors

The Governor of the State of New York honored singer Andy Andy with a proclamation for his arduous work and development as an example for the Latin American youth, while the Governor of Connecticut proclaimed April 17 as “Andy Andy Day” in honor of his successful career.

Of course, money is a nice honor. Aventura is presumably the highest grossing bachata group in the world. But Wikipedia lists Antony Santos as the best paid bachatero in the Dominican Republic. His record label was reportedly paid an unprecedented $90,000 for a concert at Puerto Rico’s Roberto Clemente Coliseum on May 12, 2007.

Films

Although there’s no shortage of salsa movies, I’m not aware of any real bachata movies. However, bachata fans might be interested in the DVD Santo Domingo Blues (75 minutes, English subtitles). Amazon.com features the following description:

There is a movie I think all bachata fans should see, even though it features no references to bachata, that I’m aware of. Starring Michelle Rodriguez, Trópico de Sangre is scheduled to be released with English subtitles in December 2010.

(Pending Permission)

References

My primary references for this article are Bachata: A Social History of a Dominican Popular Music (Deborah Pacini Hernandez, Temple University Press, 1995), a series of articles about The History of Bachata (David Wayne, IASO Records) and Wikipedia’s articles Bachata (music) and Bachata (dance). Listed below are some additional resources.