I love this stuff. One day I’ll write a little about it- the origins, the way it differs musically from other merengue and how it is danced differently. But I did that and in depth 7 years ago and um,hell, I lost all the files!!
So, lets just go to some of my fave merengue bomba tracks. Most of the artists are Puerto Rican, though a few groups have Dominican masterminds writing and performing everything but the vocals.
What I really loved about the merengue of this time was the piano! Oh, and the trumpets! My other blog is getting 100 hits a day looking for the new Grupo Mania track because people heard Maria Lola and realized that they missed the crazy piano and trumpet merengue we used to dance ourselves ragged to a decade ago.
Grupo Mateos
Grupo Mateos- Me Mata La Pena
This shit always makes me mad. The REAL Grupo Mateos is wearing red,the other guys sing. When I was getting my merengue collection together I learned that the best way to pick a cd I liked was by musical director and producer. I learned that quite a few were black dominican musicians, sometimes the dude would play every damn thing and write and arrange every song. But you wont see a merengue group in PR fronted by guys who all look like the guys backing them. I wonder, as I think about it, if the white washing of all the party music had anything to do with reggaeton becoming so popular.All of a sudden the face of young popular music in PR was a lil bit blacker than it had been for a while. I mean, look at these videos then look at the ones from the previous post.
Kaos- Cinturita
Ashley
This video is interesting. Ashley is pushing up on a mandingo but he seems to be gay. I mean, I dont KNOW, maybe he is just pretty. Hasn’t she read the rule book? When you push up on a mandingo, he is supposed to be hetero!! Unless of course this is her version of the Taylor Dayne Tell It To My Heart video I posted a few days ago. Well, I must admit, he sure is pretty and I’d push up on him in a minute.
Limit 21
Grupo Fuego- They sound nearly identical to Grupo Mania
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