Bachata History

    Bachata was born in the rural neighborhoods of the Dominican Republic under the dictatorial reign of Trujillo in the earlier years of 1960s. For three decades, there was strict implementation of censorship in the land. It was only after his demise that the first bachata singles was recorded by one Jose Manuel Calderon, followed by its release in 1961. His precious contribution, along with the boom of tourism, paved the dance’s pathway to popularity.
    Even before the Dominican music industry flourished, guitar-based bands were absolutely necessary for recreational gatherings that usually took place in one’s house backyard or along streets. These were referred to as bachatas. In this positive aspect, and with reference to Latin American Spanish dictionaries, the term bachata denotes merriment. Dominican Republic context in particular would further elaborate it as pertaining to get-togethers accompanied by festive eating, drinking, and music-making. Guitars were used to play the music, which we now know as bachata.
    Bachata was first regarded as a variant of bolero. It emerged as an essential part of a subcategory of romantic guitar music. With the development of new dance steps, it came to be considered dance music as well. The bolero, ranchero, corrido, son, guaracha, guajira, plena, jibaro, vals campesino, pasillo and merengue, all form an integral part of the bachata music.
    However, bachata is also cursed with the same unfortunate extremity. On one end, it implies enjoyment and a good time; on the other end, it is marked with a stigma quite derogatory, implying outright disgrace and infamy. In some parts of Dominican Republic, the term “bachata” meant trash. After a day’s work, peasants and servants would dance to this music with use of props found in their backyards. To the middle and upper classes, the second implication seemed to be more discriminatingly appropriate, thus finding it only proper to disengage their selves from low-level debauchery. For these social elites, such unwanted branding already is tantamount to an insult as it was directly associated with cultural backwardness.
    The years surrounding 1970s were the darkest. The music was deprived of any chance to be heard on radios and on televisions. Bachateros were the most underprivileged among the musicians, settling themselves in the poorest marginal areas of the country. The more that it was hated by the few Dominican echelons, the more it was loved by the greater lower-class population. The majority had spoken; they demanded publicity of the music.  The clamor for the music’s prevailing continuity outnumbered those who seek to bar it. It was during the 1980s that bachata was granted further exposure. Seeing no harm in trying, the opportunistic media finally opened wide its doors that had long been kept locked. This also served as a venue for development – the increase in tempo and the more distinctive guitar play.  At one point, it even sustained a level of popularity atop that of merengue. Marino Perez and Leonardo Paniagua were counted among the struggling artists who successfully made it past antagonistic biases; they too enjoyed stardom.
The evolution of the bachata dance over the years is inherent of changes and shifts in the music that highly influenced the variations in its dances steps. Within just a decade, the dance has encountered several transitions from the classic bachata-bolero slow dance, on to the groovier cabaret bachata and sexual double entendre bachata, until finally the romantic bachata and frontier bachata of early 1990s.
    The period of 1980s was when modern bachata began to take shape. The first electric guitar based music recorded was in 1987 by Blas Durán. His “Mujeres hembras” is one of the bachata-merengue combinations that became an instant hit. Luis Vargas and Antony Santos can also be noted to include this playful combination in their repertoires. These two gentlemen were the first generation of pop bachata artists. Soon bachata could be heard echoing in the walls of Hispanic dance halls. Juan Luis Guerra’s “Bachata Rosa” won a Grammy award in 1992. It was this breakthrough that helped bachata acquire complete acceptance and worldwide recognition. What was once a dance of the underclass became today’s sought dance that continues to rise