Merengue

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Merengue [ meˈɾeŋɡe ] ( Spanish for “meringue” , “ meringue ”) is a Latin American style of music from the Dominican Republic and the associated dance .

History and dissemination

Couple dancing a merengue

The origins of the dance remain in the dark. In the middle of the 19th century the merengue was only at home among the rural population, but the exclusive salons of the cities with their dance orchestras did not notice it. That changed suddenly under the era of Rafael Trujillo . The dictator discovered the merengue as a propaganda tool in the 1930s and became a great promoter of music. However, the merengue was not "European" enough for him. He therefore instructed the composers to include more orchestral instruments in the arrangements, had the music played on the state radio programs, he staged magnificent balls , which he opened as a dancer, and initiated various merengue festivals , especially in Santo Domingo (which he did in "Ciudad Trujillo" renamed).

From then on, the development could not be stopped: Even after Trujillo's death in 1961, the merengue became a national cultural asset with which all Dominicans identify. The famous “Festival del Merengue” in Santo Domingo in July is still the main merengue music competition, alongside the Christmas celebrations in December, the Merengue Festival in Puerto Plata in October or the Carnival celebrations in Santo Domingo, La Vega and Santiago de los Caballeros . The date of the “Festival del Merengue” coincides with Puerto Rico's national holiday , July 25th. Apart from the fact that the Puerto Ricans crown the adoption of their constitution with four public holidays, during which they can travel to the neighboring island for the festival, the merengue in Puerto Rico is not only extremely popular, Puerto Rico has also produced many very well-known merengue musicians. There are other merengue festivals in Miami , where the merengue has different categories in the famous “Premio Lo Nuestro”, as well as in Venezuela . On the English-speaking Caribbean islands there are rhythmic echoes of the calypso , which, however, developed differently due to the cultural differences.

Music and style

Merengue is played in two-quarter time . Each beat is clearly emphasized by a drum beat, which makes the rhythm catchy and simple. The tempo of the pieces varies from 120 to 180  bpm .

The instrumentation was originally rural: Tamboras , Güiras and later in the 20th century the accordion . These traditional merengue combos, which consisted of only two to four musicians, were also called "perico ripiaos". They were mobile and could play at fiestas in the house or in the open air. With the increasing popularity in the city dance salons and on the international music market, piano , bass , brass and saxophones were also recorded in merengue groups . In the techno age of discos, merengue even mixed with hip-hop and house elements, played on synthesizers . The traditional tripartite division of a merengue song (earlier introduction - main part - crescendo) is still partially preserved today: In addition to verse and refrain, there is often an introductory phase that prepares the dance and consists of a rhythm that is often slow . Refrains are often repeated several times in a row. Merengues are mostly love songs, the lyrics refer to women, longing, disappointed love, etc. Basically, the topics can be taken from everyday life, performed with a lot of Latin American humor and sometimes with socially critical undertones.

Merengue as a dance

The origin of the dance is often associated with stories about pirates , under whose attacks the island suffered in the 17th century and who are said to have shaped the dance with their club feet. It is more likely, however, that a dance from Havana called “Urpa” or “Upa Habanera” reached Santo Domingo via Puerto Rico in 1838–49 . This dance had a phrase called "Merengue". On the whole, however, nothing more can be learned about the beginnings of dance.

Merengue is danced as a couple dance. Each beat is danced evenly with a step forwards, backwards or to the side. A distinctive hip movement is characteristic of the dance style with every step. This gives the dance a strong sensual component. This is supported by a very body-conscious dance style - an open dance posture is rather the exception. The arms play an important role in the turns, which create individual, very complex figures and combinations ("winding figures"). It should be noted, however, that Dominicans usually incorporate little or no figures in their dance. It is usually justified by the fact that each figure in this body-hugging dance brings the dance partners away from each other.

The International Dance Organization (IDO) has been organizing world and European championships as well as World Cups in merengue for some time.

Style elements of merengue dance can be found in the films My Blue Heaven and Dirty Dancing .

Musicians and groups

Most of the representatives of the merengue come from the Dominican Republic . Your best-known representative is certainly Juan Luis Guerra . Before that, Wilfrido Vargas had already made the merengue internationally known in the 1980s . The most famous Puerto Rican singer is Elvis Crespo .

Los Ilegales , Proyecto Uno , Sandy y Papo and Fulanito have made a name for themselves among the merengue hip hop / merengue house groups . They mixed the traditional style with pounding rhythms and hip-hop-like chanting and thus celebrated great success in the late 1990s throughout Latin America, but also in the USA and Canada and in Latin clubs in Europe.

Within the Dominican Republic , merengue hip-hop did not really catch on . The Dominicans mostly prefer the traditional and somewhat rough and above all very fast variant of the Merengue típico , which they also call Güiri güiri or Merengue caliente ( hot merengue) . Everywhere in the country, even in small towns, there are fiestas , especially on weekends , with groups and performers such as El Prodigio y su Superbanda , Fefita la Grande , José el Calvo , María Díaz or La India Canela .

Tourists in the Puerto Plata area can experience such fiestas in Montellano (on the main street), in the Nuevo Car Wash in Sosúa (on the outskirts of Cabarete ) or in the discos in Sabaneta de Yásica , Gaspar Hernández or Río San Juan , occasionally also in the discotheque "Surftown" near Cabarete.

One of the most popular and most covered merengue songs is El Venao , the story of a horned husband.

In the summer of 2005, the Dominican Papi Sánchez made it into the European and German charts with the merengue title Enamórame .

Merengue festivals

Two-week merengue festivals take place among other things. a. in Santo Domingo and Puerto Plata . These include markets, parades, beauty pageants, and folklore.

Well-known representatives of merengue

literature

Web links

Wiktionary: Merengue  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations