Bachata refers to a type of guitar music that originated in the Dominican Republic. The birth of the genre was hardscrabble as it came from the ghettos and brothels of Santo Domingo. Eventually, it gained a following in the countryside and rural areas, eventually extending out to further locales in the Mediterranean and Latin America. Although the genre is typically associated with more upbeat lyrics and energetic dancing, it was initially a music based on themes and motifs related to bitterness, sadness and heartbreak; its original classification was that of "amargue", which loosely translates to "bitter music". Bachata is now primarily considered music of romance, or of the heart.
Upon closer examination, the music is actually stylistically very close to that of Bolero with a mixture of African, Latin and Caribbean rhythms blended in with it. A typical bachata band consists of lead guitar, bass, sometimes a rhythm guitar player and bongos or guira for percussion as opposed to a typical drum set. Adding a rhythm guitar provides additional syncopation. The addition of guira was to replace maracas; this was partially to facilitate the evolution of the music to more of a dance oriented style.
Although the first bachata signal was recorded in the early 1960s (*"Borracho de Amor" by Manuel Calderon), acceptance has only come in recent years; bachata was considered vulgar, crude and largely unacceptable as little as 25 years ago by much of Caribbean/Latino society, often being labeled as music of delinquency and associated with "rural backwardness" due to guitar music being associated with places of ill repute.
With the death of Dictator Rafael Trujillo in 1961, the local music industry was open to new entrepreneurs to record whatever and whomever they chose as the monopolization of the music industry was now over with the end of Trujillo's reign as dictator. At this point, the music was not yet known as bachata, but rather as bolero, or bolero campesino. Bachata is actually a word used to describe a gathering where guitar music was to be played, later it came to be the name of the music itself, albeit in a pejorative context.
Through the 60s to the 80s bachata continued to evolve and to be influenced by current events. The 70s saw bachata largely ignored by the mainstream or upper classes; in the 80s it penetrated the mainstream as a more dance oriented version of bachata began to get play on mainstream radio and in dance clubs. It was during this time that bachata was also fused with another type of indigenous Dominican music: merengue. By the 90s bachata had its own following and pop stars, achieving a level of popularity that was up to then unprecedented.
Upon closer examination, the music is actually stylistically very close to that of Bolero with a mixture of African, Latin and Caribbean rhythms blended in with it. A typical bachata band consists of lead guitar, bass, sometimes a rhythm guitar player and bongos or guira for percussion as opposed to a typical drum set. Adding a rhythm guitar provides additional syncopation. The addition of guira was to replace maracas; this was partially to facilitate the evolution of the music to more of a dance oriented style.
Although the first bachata signal was recorded in the early 1960s (*"Borracho de Amor" by Manuel Calderon), acceptance has only come in recent years; bachata was considered vulgar, crude and largely unacceptable as little as 25 years ago by much of Caribbean/Latino society, often being labeled as music of delinquency and associated with "rural backwardness" due to guitar music being associated with places of ill repute.
With the death of Dictator Rafael Trujillo in 1961, the local music industry was open to new entrepreneurs to record whatever and whomever they chose as the monopolization of the music industry was now over with the end of Trujillo's reign as dictator. At this point, the music was not yet known as bachata, but rather as bolero, or bolero campesino. Bachata is actually a word used to describe a gathering where guitar music was to be played, later it came to be the name of the music itself, albeit in a pejorative context.
Through the 60s to the 80s bachata continued to evolve and to be influenced by current events. The 70s saw bachata largely ignored by the mainstream or upper classes; in the 80s it penetrated the mainstream as a more dance oriented version of bachata began to get play on mainstream radio and in dance clubs. It was during this time that bachata was also fused with another type of indigenous Dominican music: merengue. By the 90s bachata had its own following and pop stars, achieving a level of popularity that was up to then unprecedented.
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