Bachata is a genre of music that evolved in the Dominican Republic in the 20th century. It contains elements of European (mainly Spanish music), indigenous Taino and African musical elements, representing the cultural diversity of the Dominican population. A form of dance, bachata, also developed with the music.

In the 1990s bachata's instrumentation changed from nylon string Spanish guitar and maracas of traditional bachata to the electric steel string and guira of modern bachata. Bachata further transformed in the 21st century with the creation of urban bachata styles by bands such as Monchy y Alexandra and Aventura. These new modern styles of bachata became an international phenomenon, and today bachata is one of the most popular styles of Latin music.thumb|Bachata

The original term used to name the genre was amargue ("bitterness", "bitter music"), until the mood-neutral term bachata became popular. The genre mixed these and the troubadour singing tradition common in Latin America (and later, from the mid-1980s, merengue). The first recognised bachata recorded was composed by José Manuel Calderón in 1962 ("Borracho de amor").

:"It has been compared to the blues in the past in terms of, structurally, the kind of folks who were making it, people on the margins of society. It's a little more cheerful, though, than the blues. Even songs where they're singing about the treachery of a woman ... if you just listen to them musically, they still sound kind of sweet."

thumb|A couple dancing bachata

Instrumentations

The typical bachata group consists of five instruments: requinto (lead guitar), segunda (rhythm guitar), bass guitar, bongos and güira. The segunda serves the purpose of adding syncopation to the music. Bachata groups mainly play a straightforward style of bolero (lead guitar instrumentation using arpeggiated repetitive chords is a distinctive characteristic of bachata), but when they change to merengue-based bachata, the percussionist will switch from bongo to a tambora drum. In the 1960s and 1970s, maracas were used instead of güira. The change in the 1980s from maracas to the more versatile güira was made as bachata was becoming more dance oriented.

During much of its history, bachata music was disregarded by middle-upperclass Dominican society and associated with rural underdevelopment and crime. As recently as the 1980s, bachata was considered too vulgar, crude and musically rustic to be broadcast on television or radio in the Dominican Republic.

1950s: Trujillo's dictatorship and the origins of bachata music

Although the first official bachata song was released in 1962, bachata music had already existed informally in el campo (here refers to the rural areas of the country), the rural or countryside parts of the Dominican Republic where it originated. Prior to the 1960s, when Rafael Trujillo's dictatorship over the Dominican Republic was marked by heavy censorship, the word bachata referred to an impromptu party in el campo, characterized by its melancholy and bittersweet lyrics, singing, and dancing. Informal bachateros at the time were majority poor, working class people and so was their audience. Given the initial demographics of bachata music's audience and musicians, Trujillo harbored negative emotions towards bachata music and stigmatized it. As a result, bachata became synonymous with poverty, delinquency, lack of education, and prostitution to the middle and upper-class Dominican society. Middle and upper-class Dominican society denounced bachata, calling bachata music a form of cultural backwardness. Since Bachata music was not widely accepted by society for its "vulgar and sensual" nature, middle and upper-class people refrained from listening and dancing to Bachata music to protect their reputation. They attached a negative connotation to the word bachata and used it as an insult to the music. Despite its unofficial censorship, bachata remained widely popular, while orchestral merengue benefited from the country's major publicity outlets.

By the 1980s, different styles of Bachata music began to appear. Blas Durán took la musica de amargue and "introduced musical innovations such as an electric rather than acoustic lead guitar, faster tempi, and multitrack recording."

By the early 1990s, the sound was further modernized and the bachata scene was dominated by two new artists: Luis Vargas and Antony Santos. Both incorporated a large number of bachata-merengues in their repertoires. Santos, Vargas and the many new style bachateros who would follow achieved a level of stardom that was unimaginable to the bachateros who preceded them—they were the first generation of pop bachata artists. It was also at this time that bachata began to emerge internationally as a music of Hispanic dance-halls.thumb|right|300px|Dominican singer-songwriter [[Juan Luis Guerra.]]

Juan Luis Guerra's Grammy-winning 1992 release, Bachata Rosa, is credited with making the genre more acceptable and helping bachata achieve legitimacy and international recognition. Although he used the word bachata in the album title, his songs have a more traditional bolero sound.

By the beginning of the 21st century, the bachata group Aventura had taken the bachata envisioned by Juan Luis Guerra in the early 1990s to new heights. Led by lead singer Anthony "Romeo" Santos, they revolutionized and modernized the genre. They sold out Madison Square Garden numerous times and released countless top ten hits on the hot Latin charts including two number one hits "Por un segundo" and "Dile al Amor". Other big bachata acts in the decade included "Monchy y Alexandra" and Los Toros Band.

2010s–present

Today, parallel to bachata music, fusion genres arose in Western countries such as the US, combining some of the rhythmic elements of bachata music with elements of Western music such as hip hop, R&B, pop, techno and more. This fusion genre became popular among Western audiences, and often includes covers of Western pop songs played on MTV and non-Latin radio stations. Notable artists of the new fusion genre are Prince Royce, Xtreme, Toby Love, and Toke D Keda, among others. By 2011, former Aventura member Romeo Santos also joined the fusion bandwagon, releasing several new albums which became popular in the US and other Western countries. Not only has bachata's popularity changed but so has its lyrics; before the lyrics were mostly about a cheating relationship and hurt feelings but now it talks about love and is more romantic. According to Bachata: Música Del Pueblo ("Bachata: Music of the People") the writers said: "In the past decade, bachata has been transformed from a ballad-style guitar music of the rural poor in the Dominican Republic to the hottest new music in the international Latino music market."

See also

  • Latin Grammy Award for Best Merengue/Bachata Album
  • Latin music
  • Brown-eyed soul

References

  • Comprehensive history of bachata with music and video clips
  • Bachata Site: About Original Bachata incl. Dance-Videos and Dance-Tutorials
  • National Geographic.com - Nat Geo Music: Bachata page
  • History of bachata