VA - Bachata Roja - Acoustic Bachata From The Cabaret Era

"Bachata Roja" collects together the greatest hits of classic Dominican bachata. From the early 1960’s to the late 1980’s the legendary voices of Eladio Romero Santos, Leonardo Paniagua and Blas Duran spoke to the hearts of a generation. The dizzying guitar accompaniment of pioneers like Edilio Paredes and Augusto Santos charted the course of bachata’s rise, and for three decades theirs was the sound of the streets of Santo Domingo.

Initially the term "bachata" referred to an informal backyard party with food, drink, music and dance. In rural areas of the Dominican Republic in the 1950’s and earlier, the music played at these events was more often than not guitar-based and included a variety of popular styles such as Cuban bolero, guaracha and son, Puerto Rican jíbaro music and Mexican ranchera. Drawing on all these influences, a bold new guitar style emerged in the heart of Santo Domingo’s burgeoning urban shanty towns. Much despised by elite society - who controlled the island’s television, radio and major recording studios – the new music was dubbed disparagingly “bachata,” an allusion to perceived rural backwardness.

Though boycotted by major media outlets, a grass-roots movement coalesced around favorite singers of the time – who expressed in unvarnished terms the pain, sorrow, humor and romance of daily life. Arising from the urban bordellos and the campos, bachata music grew to become wildly popular across all strata of society. Throughout this period, the defining sound of bachata was that of the Spanish acoustic guitar, whose florid phrasing seduced dancers, chastised faithless lovers and softly serenaded coy mistresses of the night.

It happens time and time again: if a style of Latin music starts out rugged, raw, and rural, there is a very good chance that it will eventually be seriously commercialized and become a lot more polished. That has happened with everything from Colombian cumbia to Cuban son (a primary ingredient in what is now called salsa) to Brazilian samba, and Dominican bachata is no exception. The bachata boom of the '90s and 2000s found bachata becoming increasingly commercialized and enjoying as much exposure as salsa, merengue, and cumbia in the tropical market, which is truly ironic when one considers that back in the '60s and '70s, bachata was often dismissed as low-class by the more affluent people in the Dominican Republic. Many bachata converts of the '90s and 2000s have had little, if any, exposure to old-school bachata, and this excellent compilation takes a look at what bachata sounded like before that commercialization occurred.

"Bachata Roja: Acoustic Bachata from the Cabaret Era" opens with Rafael Encarnación's doo wop-flavored "Muero Contigo" from 1962 and closes with Juan Bautista's 1990 hit "Asesina," which uses an electric guitar (old-school bachata was totally acoustic) and has one foot in classic bachata and the other in modern bachata. Many of the tracks are from the '60s and '70s, and those who associate bachata with the commercial hits of Aventura or Monchy & Alexandra will be surprised to hear how much rawer bachata sounded in the hands of old-school bachateros like Felix Quintana, Augusto Santos, Julio Angel, and the late Marino Pérez (who sadly, drank himself to death). "Bachata Roja" is enthusiastically recommended to anyone who wants to hear what bachata sound like before it became so commercialized.        

Tracklist:

1) Rafael Encarnacion - MUERO CONTIGO
2) Marino Perez - O LA PAGO YO O LA PAGA ELLA
3) Eladio Romero Santos - LA MUNECA
4) Blas Duran - EQUIVOCADA
5) Felix Quintana - LADRONA
6) Juan Bautista - ESTOY AQUI PERO NO SOY YO
7) Augusto Santos - OLVIDA ESE HOMBRE
8) Augusto Santos - SI ME LA DAN LA COJO
9) Julio Angel - EL SALON
10) Julio Morales - YO PAGARE LA CERVEZA
11) Ramon Cordero - AMOR DEL BUENO
12) Efrain Morel - ESTA NOCHE ME LA LLEVO
13) Leonardo Paniagua - MI SECRETO
14) Juan Bautista - ASESINA

VA - Bachata Roja - Acoustic Bachata From The Cabaret Era
(256 kbps, front cover included)