Bachata A Social History of a Dominican Popular Music

304 Pages·1995·43.934 MB·English

by  Deborah Pacini Hernandez

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Deborah Hernandez
Pacini
A Social History of a Dominican Popular Music
Library
Boston Public
MA 02116
Boston,
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Social History
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Deborah
Pacini Hernandez
Temple University Press
Philadelphia
Temple University Press, Philadelphia 19122
Copyright © 1995 by Deborah Pacini Hernandez. All rights reserved
Published 1995
Printed in theUnited States ofAmerica
@ ThepaperusedinthisbookmeetstherequirementsoftheAmericanNational
—
Standard forInformationSciences PermanenceofPaper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSIZ39.48-1984
Textdesignby Ellen Dawson.
Library ofCongressCataloging-in-Publication Data
Pacini Hernandez, Deborah.
Bachata : a social history ofa Dominican popularmusic /
Deborah Pacini Hernandez,
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references, discography, and index.
—
ISBN 1-56639-299-3. ISBN 1-56639-300-0 (pbk.)
— —
1. Bach—ata Historyand criticism. 2. Popular music —Dominican
Republic History and criticism. 3. Dominican Republic Social
conditions. 1. Title.
ML3486.D65P3 1995
781.64W293—dc20 94-29477
PortionsofChapter1 werepublishedintheLatinAmericanMusicReviewin "Social
identityand class inbachata, an emerging Dominican popular music" (vol. 10,
no. 1,Spring/Summer 1989),pp. 69-91. By permissionoftheUniversityofTexas
Press.Copyright©bytheUniversityofTexasPress,2100Comal,Austin,Texas78722.
Portions ofChapter2were published in Studies in Latin American Popular Culture
in "Dominican popular musicunder theTrujillodictatorship" (vol. 12, 1993), pp.
127-40.
Portions ofChapter2 appeared in the Latin American Music Reviewas "La lucha
sonora: Dominican popular music in the post-Trujillo era" (vol. 12, no. 2, Fall/
Winter 1991), pp. 105-23. By permission ofthe University ofTexas Press.
Copyright © by the University ofTexas Press, 2100 Comal, Austin, Texas 78722.
Portions ofChapter5 were published in PopularMusicas "Cantando la cama vacia:
Love, sex and gender relationships in Dominicanbachata" (vol. 9, no. 3, 1990),
pp. 351-67. By permission ofCambridge University Press.
Portions ofChapter6 appeared in PopularMusicas "Bachata: From the margins
to themainstream" (vol. 11,no. 3, 1992),pp. 359-64. BypermissionofCambridge
University Press.
Contents
Acknowledgments • vii
Introduction • xi
Chapter One Defining Bachata 1
Chapter Two Music and Dictatorship 35
Chapter Three The Birth ofBachata 71
Chapter Four Power, Representation, and Identity 103
Chapter Five Love, Sex, and Gender 153
Chapter Six From the Margins to the Mainstream 185
Chapter Seven Conclusions 225
Notes • 241
Bibliography • 247
Discography • 253
Index • 255
Photogalleriesfollowpp.63, 141,and217
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2011
http://www.archive.org/details/bachatasocialhisOOpaci
Acknowledgments
One of the great advantages and pleasures of working with popular
—
music is that so many people enjoy it not just listening and dancing to
it, but reading and thinking and talking about it as well. The memories,
experiences, ideas, enthusiasmofsuchpeople, forwhom music is an inte-
gral part of life, have made this book possible, and I would like to ac-
knowledge their contributions here.
Bynow, therearea great manypeopleto thank, because this project
has extended over ten years. Considering them chronologically takes me
back to the mid 1980s, when I first undertook this research as a graduate
student in anthropology at Cornell University. There, my committee
members Billie Jean Isbell (anthropology), Martin Hatch (ethnomusicol-
ogy),CharlotteHeth (ethnomusicology),andTomHolloway (LatinAmer-
ican history) gave me valuable guidance throughout the sometimes
unconventional directions my work took. I am grateful that they never
tried to shoehorn me into scholarship that conflicted with my own inter-
ests and talents; the result of that freedom is my broad, interdisciplinary
approach to anthropology and ethnomusicology, which is, I believe, my
most valuable accomplishment and asset. Friends and colleagues in Ith-
aca also provided me with intellectual support and companionship,
among them Mary Jo Dudley, Martha Carvalho, Lourdes Brache, Ann
Peters, Chris Franquemont, Elayne Zorn, Claudio Buchwald, Bill Fisher,
and Mike Leavy. As forinstitutional supportfor mygraduate research on
Dominican popular music, I want to thank Cornell's Latin American
Studies Program for a pre-dissertation research fellowship, and the Ful-
bright-Hayes program for a doctoral dissertation research fellowship.
This book owes most to those in the Dominican Republic who
Vll
viii Acknowledgments
shared their information and insights with me when I was conducting
my fieldwork on bachata and merengue in 1986 and 1987. Indeed, be-
cause little if anything had been published on bachata at the time, the
dissertation on which this book is based could literally not have been
written were it not for the generosity of people either involved with or
interested in popular musicwho took the time to talk to me. Some people
I spoke to only once or twice, but with others I had repeated conversa-
tions, and they deserve special mention. Bachata musicians Luis Segura,
Tony Santos, and Bias Duran stand out in my mind as being particularly
generous with their time and hospitality. Luis Dias, an extraordinarily
versatile musician and cultural observer, contributed stimulating and in-
sightful comments on all sorts of music and their role in Dominican soci-
ety. Aristides Inchaustegui, a professional singer and music historian,
was also generous with information he has collected over years of study-
ing the Dominican music industry. Radhames Aracena, who granted me
several lengthy and invaluable interviews, as well as free access to Radio
Guarachita's facilities, also deserves mention, as do Tony Diaz, Radio
Guarachita's station manager, and disc jockey Jorge Sarit. Miguel Matos,
then a medical student, amateur mechanic, and enthusiastic fan of all
sortsofpopularmusic,helped mewithinnumerablelogisticaldifficulties.
Sociologist Lusitania Martinez provided me, in the initial months of my
residence in Santo Domingo, with indispensable advice and guidance on
negotiating Dominican society, and later on, with a warm friendship that
I still value. Aboveall, I wantto thankJuanValoy,a talented plasticartist,
musician, and brilliant cultural observer, who was a good friend as well
—
as an extraordinarily insightful commentator on barrio culture his cul-
ture. The reflections and memories of all these Dominican contributors
—
appear throughout this book, although lamentably because of space
—
constraints notin theSpanish theywerespokenin. Itismysincere hope
that my translations adequately communicate the strength and vitality of
their voices.
A 1994 follow-up visit to the Dominican Republic put me in contact
with another group of people to add to my list of Dominicans who have
generously contributed to this project. Bachata producers Jose Luis and
Rafael Marion and musicians Sonia Silvestre, Victor Victor, and Raulin
Rodriguez provided me with valuable insights and information on recent
developments in bachata. Journalist Juan de la Cruz Triffolio shared his
extensivecollection ofarticles on bachata thatbegan appearing in thelate
1980s and allowed me to reproduce some of his photographic material.
Documentary film maker Rene Fortunato also generously shared his
newspaper and photographic archives with me and connected me with
key people, greatly expanding the productivity of an all too brief trip.
One of these people was concert producer Tati Olmos. When the camera