How Bachata, the music of poor, Black Dominicans became a global sensation

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4 days ago

What began as songs about heartbreak in the brothels and barrios of the Dominican Republic in the 1960s has become a worldwide sensation.
Even the Bee Gees have gotten a bachata spin. Prince Royce's bilingual take on the 1977 hit 'How Deep Is Your Love' has topped the Latin music charts this summer and proves bachata is no longer chasing the mainstream but reimagining the pop canon.
Bachata dance classes, parties and festivals have sprung up across the US in recent years, everywhere from Philadelphia to Los Angeles, and Omaha, Nebraska, to Oklahoma City.
It's easy to find abroad as well. Upcoming bachata festivals are happening in cities in Austria, Egypt, Australia and China.
I'm a scholar of Dominican culture and the senior researcher for the History of Dominican Music in the US project at the City University of New York's Dominican Studies Institute. I see bachata as a revealing window into modern post-1960s Dominican history – and one that spotlights the emotional truths and everyday experiences of poor and Black Dominicans in particular.
Music from the margins
Bachata was born in the Dominican countryside and later developed in the shantytowns of Santo Domingo, the capital. In most Latin American dictionaries, the word 'bachata' is loosely defined as 'revelry' or 'a spree'.
The distinctive sound is formed from guitars, bongos, bass and the güira – a percussion instrument also used in merengue music – and accompanied by typically romantic or bittersweet lyrics.
The music was long associated with the lower classes and Black Dominicans.
The genre's first recording came in 1962, just over a year after Rafael Leónidas Trujillo, a brutal dictator who ruled the island for 31 years, was assassinated. Trujillo's death marked the beginning of a new cultural and political era in the Dominican Republic, although democratic hopes were soon shattered by a military coup, civil war and a second US intervention following an earlier one between 1916-1924.
Urban and middle-class Dominicans looked down on bachata as the music played in brothels and favoured by poor, rural people who started to migrate to urban areas in large numbers in the 1960s. It was played almost exclusively on Radio Guarachita, a Santo Domingo station run by Radhamés Aracena, a key promoter of the genre.
Amid a country reeling from political upheaval, bachata emerged as a soundtrack to working-class survival. The guitar-based rhythms were shaped by Cuban bolero and son and Mexican ranchera music, while the lyrics chronicled daily struggles, grief and marginalisation.
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Shifting language
In the 1960s, bachata lyrics centered on heartache and were often directed at a romantic partner.
'Understand me, you know I love only you. Don't deny me the hope of kissing you again,' Rafael Encarnación sang in Spanish in his 1964 song Muero Contigo or 'I Die With You.'
By the late 1970s and early 1980s, sexual innuendos were common, adding to the genre's low standing among Dominican elites.
'I gave you everything you ever wanted, but it was all useless because you went looking for another man,' Blas Durán sang in 1985. 'I was left like the orange vendor – peeling so someone else could suck the fruit.'
To reclaim respect for bachata, some artists, such as Luis Segura and Leonardo Paniagua, in the mid-1980s began calling their music música de amargue, or 'music of romantic bitterness'.
What began as a genre label gradually transformed into a sensibility. 'Amargue' came to name a feeling marked by longing, loss and quiet introspection – akin to 'feeling the blues' in the US.
American blues similarly emerged from the hardships faced by Black Americans in the South and expressed themes of sorrow, resilience and reflection.
By the 1990s, the stigma surrounding bachata began to fade, partly due to the international success of Dominican star Juan Luis Guerra and his album Bachata Rosa. The album sold more than 5 million copies worldwide by 1994, earned Guerra a Grammy Award for best tropical Latin album, and was certified platinum in the US.
As acceptance of the genre grew, traditional bachateros in the Dominican Republic continued releasing bachata albums. However, Dominican pop, rock and other artists also began recording bachatas – such as 1990's Yo Quiero Andar by Sonia Silvestre and 1998's Bufeo by Luis 'El Terror' Días.
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Bachata goes mainstream
Migration to the US is a pivotal chapter in Dominican history after the 1960s. The US Immigration Act of 1965 functioned as a de facto immigration policy and encouraged a large-scale exodus from the Dominican Republic.
By the mid-1990s, a strong and vibrant Dominican diaspora was firmly established in New York City. The Bronx became the birthplace of Grupo Aventura, a group that revolutionised bachata by blending its traditional rhythms with urban genres such as hip-hop.
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Their music reflected the bicultural diaspora, often torn between nostalgia for their homeland and everyday challenges of urban American life. Against the backdrop of city life, bachata found a new voice that mirrored the immigrant experience. The genre shifted from a shared feeling of loss and longing to a celebration of cultural community.
In 2002, the song Obsesión by Aventura and featuring Judy Santos topped music charts in France, Germany, Italy, the US and elsewhere. The group Aventura and, later, lead singer Romeo Santos as a solo artist sold out Madison Square Garden and Yankee Stadium, respectively.
As they rose in fame, Aventura became global ambassadors for Dominican culture and made bachata mainstream.
Global spin on bachata
Bachata's popularity has also spread to other countries in Latin America, and especially among working-class and Afro-descendant communities in Central America that see their own realities reflected in the music.
At the same time, Dominican diasporic communities in countries such as Spain and Italy carried the genre with them, where it continued to evolve.
In Spain, for example, bachata experienced a creative transformation. By the mid-2000s, bachata sensual had emerged as a dance style influenced by zouk and tango, emphasizing smooth, body-led movements and close partner connection.
Around the same time, modern bachata also developed between Spain and New York City. This style is a departure from traditional bachata, which focuses on the box step and fast footwork, and incorporates more turns and other elements from salsa.
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In 2019 bachata was added to Unesco's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, which also lists Jamaican reggae and Mexican mariachi.
Today, bachata's influence is truly global. International conferences dedicated to the genre attract dancers, musicians and scholars from around the world. Puerto Rican, Colombian and other artists from diverse cultural and racial backgrounds continue to nurture and reinvent bachata.
At the same time, more women, such as Andre Veloz, Judy Santos and Leslie Grace, are building careers as bachata performers and challenging a traditionally male-dominated genre.
Bachata holds a place not only on the world stage but in the hearts of Latino, Black, Asian and many other communities in the US that recognise the genre's power to tell stories of love, loss, migration and resilience.
Wilfredo José Burgos Matos is Adjunct Assistant Professor of Latin American and Latino Studies, Lehman College, CUNY.