Comments on: UPCOMING

By: Caro

Caro — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 23:35:49 +0000

Hey James, insofar as the politics goes, perico ripiao has been around long enough, and been transposed to different contexts, that it’s had political and nonpolitical moments. Decades after it started, it’s become a much broader genre than the “partying campesinos on accordion” image that it still sometimes projects.

Fulanito is a good example of the modernizing of perico ripiao, but I had to crack up that he refers to “apambichao” in “Mira.” That’s a transliteration of “Palm Beach” and was used to refer to the dragging (less nimble) way that U.S. soldiers would dance the merengue. That’s a reference back to the first U.S. occupation of the DR, 1916-1924. A lot of the early merengues that are still standards (eg, Desiderio Arias, El negrito del batey) had veiled political references. But when Trujillo promoted the music as representative of the “true spirit” of the nation, the only politics allowed was praising the dictator.

Merengues (though not perico ripiao) became more political in the 1960s and 1970s, after the death of Trujillo, but still with a lot of double entendre that would be tough to catch for someone who wasn’t up on the context.

There are lots of “politically compelling” lyrics in modern-day merengues, usually about Dominican political corruption or the travails of immigration, but not so much in típico, and certainly not in the club version (the technofied stuff).

By: james gyre

james gyre — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 20:06:05 +0000

i think merengue tipico/perico ripiao was what i was looking for. geko jones pointed out the fulanito tune "mira". that's definitely the style, or a close relative. phenomenal percussion, fast bump and passionate sung melodies. i could do with more politically compelling lyrics, but who am i to complain?

By: james gyre

james gyre — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 23:04:06 +0000

muchas gracias… i will look into the ideas…

By: vince

vince — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 10:04:30 +0000

…”techno-cumbia”?
as being different from “electro”-cumbia, that is electronized and/or dj’ed/processed ‘trad’ cumbia.
techno-cumbia is cumbia/latine “pop” lyrics/melody + techno drumming (e.g. Maria Daniela y su Sonido Lasser / Nuevos Ricos)
…?

By: jace

jace — Fri, 30 May 2008 14:12:02 +0000

hmmm, i 2nd Wayne’s guess… ! ‘merengue’ is a broad category — if yr thinking of the trad stuff you might be *hearing* the contemporary stuff

By: james gyre

james gyre — Fri, 30 May 2008 01:08:19 +0000

merengue is a little slower and more traditional than what i’m thinking of.

this shit pushes 140 b.p.m. i know jace has heard it on the radio in n.y.c.

it’s got a lot of the sound palette of th modern cumbia just faster, and dj’ed…

By: JMJ

JMJ — Thu, 29 May 2008 17:56:25 +0000

hello form portland OR…just got the Sonido disks in the mail! rebajadas van a PDX!
the northwest is hungry for this. The people say CUUUuuUMBIA! whooo if that slow drippy cumbia dosnt make me and every one who hears it out here move.
GRACIAS para todos!!

By: w&w

w&w — Thu, 29 May 2008 13:21:17 +0000

sounds like merengue to me

By: james gyre

james gyre — Wed, 28 May 2008 02:06:18 +0000

what’s that really fast (125 bpm+) style of latin/hispanic music that has a really consistent house/techno kick? i heard a lot pf it in n.y.c. on the radio, and recently heard some on satellite radio coming back from a festival. i should have written down the artist as a clue, but the driver told me the style was called rumbon (which turned out to just be the radio station’s name). the style sometimes has synthesizers and other digital effects, but is still basically just songs. btw, it isn’t “latin house”, it seems more of an original form than an exoticised derivative variation of another style.