Bachata

Bachata
Author: Deborah Pacini Hernandez
Publisher: Temple University Press
Total Pages: 304
Release: 1995
Genre: Music
ISBN: 9781566393003

Defining Bachata -- Music and Dictatorship -- The Birth of Bachata -- Power, Representation, and Identity -- Love, Sex, and Gender -- From the Margins to the Mainstream -- Conclusions.

Merengue

Merengue
Author: Paul Austerlitz
Publisher: Temple University Press
Total Pages: 214
Release: 1997-01-22
Genre: History
ISBN: 1566394848

Merengue is a quintessential Dominican dance music. This work aims to unravel the African and Iberian roots of merengue. It examines the historical and contemporary contexts in which merengue is performed and danced, its symbolic significance, its social functions, and its musical and choreographic structures.

Merengue and Dominican Identity

Merengue and Dominican Identity
Author: Julie A. Sellers
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 244
Release: 2004-10-15
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 9780786418152

The merengue is internationally recognized as the Dominican Republic's national dance. It is an integral and unifying element of Dominican identity both within that nation and among emigrants abroad. Although Dominicans often make the claim that merengue has always been in their blood, the dance is relatively young, and its popularity among Dominicans of all social classes and ages is an even more recent occurrence. This book presents three convincing arguments about the merengue's longevity as a unifying symbol of Dominican identity: Dominican identity and the merengue have necessarily been extremely fluid in order to encompass the different cultural and ethnic groups present; historically, the merengue has become a stronger identity symbol when the nation is or is perceived to be threatened from outside; and the white, Catholic, Hispanic Dominican has long been held as the "true" Dominican identity, causing the dance to become progressively "whitened" in terms of performers and style to reflect this notion and gain wider appeal at home and abroad. A map of the Dominican Republic, related photographs of key figures of Dominican history and merengue artists across the decades, and a complete bibliography are included.

Tigers of a Different Stripe

Tigers of a Different Stripe
Author: Sydney Hutchinson
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 292
Release: 2016-11-21
Genre: Music
ISBN: 022640563X

Tigers of a Different Stripe takes readers inside the unique world of merengue típico, a traditional music of the Dominican Republic. While in most genres of Caribbean music women usually participate as dancers or vocalists, in merengue típico they are more often instrumentalists and even bandleaders—something nearly unheard of in the macho Caribbean music scene. Examining this cultural phenomenon, Sydney Hutchinson offers an unexpected and fascinating account of gender in Dominican art and life. Drawing on over a decade of fieldwork in the Dominican Republic and New York among musicians, fans, and patrons of merengue típico—not to mention her own experiences as a female instrumentalist—Hutchinson details a complex nexus of class, race, and artistic tradition that unsettles the typical binary between the masculine and feminine. She sketches the portrait of the classic male figure of the tíguere, a dandified but sexually aggressive and street-smart “tiger,” and she shows how female musicians have developed a feminine counterpart: the tíguera, an assertive, sensual, and respected female figure who looks like a woman but often plays and even sings like a man. Through these musical figures and studies of both straight and queer performers, she unveils rich ambiguities in gender construction in the Dominican Republic and the long history of a unique form of Caribbean feminism.

Music in the Hispanic Caribbean

Music in the Hispanic Caribbean
Author: Robin D. Moore
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 266
Release: 2010
Genre: Music
ISBN:

** Music in the Hispanic Caribbean is one of several case-study volumes that can be used along with Thinking Musically, the core book in the Global Music Series. Thinking Musically incorporates music from many diverse cultures and establishes the framework for exploring the practice of music around the world. It sets the stage for an array of case-study volumes, each of which focuses on a single area of the world. Each case study uses the contemporary musical situation as a point of departure, covering historical information and traditions as they relate to the present. ** The Spanish-speaking islands of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic make up a relatively small region, but their musical and cultural traditions have had a dramatic, sweeping impact on the world. The first brief, stand-alone volume to explore the music of these three islands, Music in the Hispanic Caribbean provides a vibrant introduction to diverse musical styles including salsa, merengue, reggaeton, plena, Latin jazz, and the bolero. Ethnomusicologist Robin Moore employs three themes in his survey of Hispanic Caribbean music: the cultural legacy of the slave trade, the creolization of Caribbean musical styles, and diaspora, migration, and movement. Each theme lends itself to a discussion of the region's traditional musical genres as well as its more contemporary forms. The author draws on his extensive regional fieldwork, offering accounts of local performances, interviews with key performers, and vivid illustrations. A compelling, comprehensive review, Music in the Hispanic Caribbean is ideal for introductory undergraduate courses in world music or ethnomusicology and for upper-level courses on Caribbean and Latin American music and/or culture. Packaged with a 70-minute CD containing musical examples, the text features numerous listening activities that actively engage students with the music. The companion website includes supplementary materials for instructors.

Focus: Music of the Caribbean

Focus: Music of the Caribbean
Author: Sydney Hutchinson
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 367
Release: 2019-10-22
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1351602993

Focus: Music of the Caribbean presents the most important issues of Caribbean musical history and current practice, discussing thought-provoking questions in a student-friendly fashion. It uses current ethnomusicological research on Caribbean music to tell the stories of Caribbean history—those of colonialism and neocolonialism, race and nationalism, marginalization and globalization—and to explore that history’s continuing impact on the lives, cultures, musics, and dance of modern-day people in the Caribbean and beyond. In three parts, the text presents an embodied understanding of the sounds, rhythms, and movements that exemplify the history, culture, and politics of Caribbean music: I. Caribbean Music and Caribbean History establishes a framework for thinking about Caribbean musical history and the roles race and migration play II. Music and Dance in Caribbean Societies considers how contrasting forms of dance music reconcile competing ideas about Caribbean identities past and present III. Focusing In: The Social Lives of Musical Instruments in Merengue Típico explores the music of the Dominican Cibao region through a focus of the genre’s dominant musical instruments Accessible to all students regardless of musical background, Focus: Music of the Caribbean is bolstered by web resources, including more than sixty detailed listening guides and accompanying playlists, vocabulary lists, and student quizzes. Discussion questions and activities for each chapter are featured in the text.