The Dominican Republic: Past and Present

 

Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic

In 1930, Horacio Vásquez was overthrown and Rafael Trujillo came to power in the Dominican Republic. As I have stated in my last post, Trujillo was the most brutal dictator in the history of the Dominican Republic. During his reign, he caused many border clashes with Haiti and in 1937 the Dominicans brutally murdered thousands of Haitian immigrants nearly causing a war. Furthermore, as I previously noted in my last post, he institued censorship within the nation. By 1961, Trujillo was assassinated.  Soon after the death of the brutal dictator the nation saw many reforms under the new President Juan Bosch. But enough about the past lets talk aboout DR today.

According to the United States State Department, DR has the second largest economy in Central America and the Caribbean. DR is by far the most prosperous nation compared to its counterpart Haiti. Furthermore, one of DR's biggest economic successes is the country's prospering tourism industry. With many cities such as Santiago de los Caballeros (Pictured above) and the nation's capital Santo Domingo, DR has become a tropical paradise for many foreigners.  

So now I want to focus on one aspect of Dominican media, Music. DR is known for its style of merengue music and it continues to be one of the most popular styles of music in the nation. This style of music became very popular in many urban areas in the United States as well. Some of the most prominent musicians are Henry Hierro, Jocelyn Y Los Vecinos and Victor Roque y La Gran Manzana. But I just want to point out a new popular style of music out of DR and that is Bachata. 

Bachata is a popular form of guitar music and is been aimed to many global audiences outside of DR, mainly the United States. You can find more on bachata on this website: iasorecords.com/bachata. Lastly I want to share a song by the very popular group Aventura called Dile Al Amor or Tell the Love in English. Aventura has become of of the most popular groups in latino culture after the group exploded on the music scene in 2002. The members of Aventura are Romeo (lead singer), Lenny Santos (musical producer and guitarist), Max “Mikey” Santos (bassist and rap artist) and Henry Santos Jeter (singer and composer).

And you may find more on Aventura on their website: Aventura Worldwide