An Overview of Bachata Music
David C. Wayne

Bachata is a popular guitar music from the Dominican Republic. While bachata is based on the bolero rhythm, bachateros have traditionally included other kinds of music like son, merengue, vals and ranchera in their repertoires. The influence of all of these styles, and particularly that of merengue, can be felt in the rhythms, harmonies and melodies of bachata proper.

Guitar music has always been a part of the Dominican musical landscape, but the first bachata recognized as such was recorded in 1961 by José Manuel Calderón. The bachata of Calderón and his contemporaries was virtually identical to the bolero of other Latin American countries like Puerto Rico and Ecuador. In fact many of the songs which these bachateros recorded were covers of earlier boleros, and the music was viewed by society at large in the same way that bolero was viewed throughout Latin America—a romantic music popular with lovers and serenaders.

In time, however, bachata began to be associated with another world, that of prostitution, poverty and delincuency. The reasons for this are many and complex and involve the conflicts within Dominican society around poverty and wealth, tradition and modernity, as well as genuine bad faith on the part of other elements in the music industry. So strong was the stigma against bachata that only one national radio station would play it. While this situation was deplorable and extremely difficult for the musicians involved, it also helped to consolidate the genre. Relegated to the brothel and the barrio, bachata began to tell the stories of that world, the experiences of the lover of a prostitute, the poor country boy who gets to the city and gets ripped off, the plight of the barrio dweller without light or water—all replete with slang and sexual double entendre. From about 1970 to about 1990, bachata was thoroughly unique among Latin American musical genres in its free expression of the underground life of a nation. This free expression naturally provoked even more fiercely the contempt of the Dominican mainstream. Ironically, it was the most despised of these cabaret bachateros, Blas Durán, the master of sexual double entendre, whose music marked the end of bachata’s isolation when he began to record with an electric guitar in 1987.

After Durán’s innovation bachata’s popularity began to soar, as Anthony Santos and other bachateros used the new style to record more acceptable, romantic songs. The influence of merengue became marked in the rhythm and the guitar lines of the music, and in fact modern bachata was first made popular by the bachateros’ merengues rather than by their bachatas. Several middle class musicians, notably Juan Luis Guerra, also experimented with the form, and were so successful that the music began to be accepted by all sectors of society.

In its current form, bachata is listened to throughout Latin America, and is probably the most popular kind of Latin music in New York City today. It has been fused with other styles, like vallenato (Monchy y Alexandra, among others) and R&B (Aventura), with great success.

--David C. Wayne

Other Articles:
Edilio Paredes and The Birth of Bachata
The History of Bachata

Hawaii's Bachata dance music MeetUp Group is growing

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By José Villa, Senior Editor

HONOLULU, Hawaii -- There is a website called MeetUp.com. It claims to be the world's largest network of local groups. MeetUp makes it easy for anyone to organize a local group or find one of the thousands already meeting up face-to-face. More than 2,000 groups get together in local communities each day. Many have the goal of improving themselves or their communities.

The MeetUp website has: 6 million monthly visitors; 5.7 million members; 2.5 million monthly RSVPs; 179,000 monthly MeetUps. There are 58,936 local groups and 8,340 topics in 11,507 cities.
Bachata2.jpg

MeetUp's mission is to revitalize local community and help people around the world self-organize. MeetUp believes people can change their personal world, or the whole world, by organizing themselves into groups that are powerful enough to make a difference.

Members of Bachata Group

One of these groups is the Hawaii Bachata Meet Up Group. (Ed. Note: "Bachata" is a popular Latin dance that originated in the Dominican Republic). Allyn Plant started it. He said: "I formed it last November. I'm not a dance instructor. I'm a scuba diving instructor that loves Bachata dance and music. I've been taking Salsa and Bachata lessons for 2 1/2 years from many of Hawaii's well-known dance instructors, including: Greg Henry; Charlie Castro; Gene Horita and Debby Borges."

Plant continued: "I found I liked Salsa music and dance, but Bachata is my true passion. I took a Bachata workshop in Hawaii from Jorge Elizondo, who travels the world teaching Bachata, and has released many Bachata dance DVD's. He told me the largest Bachata MeetUp was located in Washington DC and had 600 members at the time. They now have over 1200 members. I looked at their website and decided to start a group here in Hawaii."

The goal of the Hawaii Bachata MeetUp Group (HBMUG) is to promote Bachata through the dance and the beautiful culture of the Dominican Republic. Its mission is to have fun-filled events that highlight Bachata music as well as the culture of this amazing dance. Its members are from all walks of life. The HBMUG now has now 242 members and new people join daily. It has had 48 MeetUps and several Bachata workshops featuring visiting mainland instructors.

The group dances to new Bachata music from groups such as: Aventura; Extreme; 4Ever; and Bachata Heightz; as well as

traditional Bachata by Luis Vargas, Anthony Santos and others. The dance styles also vary from traditional Dominican style to the new Bachata fusion style.

The group has Bachata and Salsa dance lessons, workshops, Bachata Jack and Jill dance contests and parties. Members get discounts and VIP status. MeetUps are at: Zanzabar Night Club; The Living Room; 4-Play Night Club; Dream To Dance Studio; Hard Rock Café; Planet Hollywood; the Dance Space Studio; and other locations. No dance experience is needed. The idea is to have fun. Membership is free. http://www.meetup.com/Hawaii-Bachata

Members have a profile where they can add photos and RSVP if they can make future MeetUps. They can also see which of their friends are going to the MeetUps. Photos of the MeetUps are also uploaded on the website. Hawaii has the third-largest Bachata MeetUp in the country behind D.C. and San Antonio.

The HBMUG has several events and workshops coming up in October. For a list of event dates, times and info, please contact Plant at: (808) 256-8956.

What is Bachata?
Saturday, July 30th, 2011 at 8:38 am

Bachata is that describes a popular form of latin dance and a romantic style of music that can trace its origins to the rural areas of the Dominican Republic.

Bachata music

This style of music is often described as latin blues but not all the music is written as slow or sad songs. Although most of the songs are about love, love lost, a beautiful girl, or the celebration of a new love found, the modern trend in bachata music has been the fusion of traditional bachata music with musical elements from other popular music genres such as Hip-hop, R&B and Reggaeton.

Bachata Dance

Bachata dancing, as a form of social dance, has grown in popularity around the world. In many salsa clubs you can know hear bachata music. More importantly, many popular salsa festivals have recognized the growing popularity of bachata by including large portions of the workshop schedules to bachata dance classes.

What makes bachata so popular?

For one thing, it is easy to learn the basics. It’s fun. But the biggest draw is the fact that it is very sensual dance that can be danced in very close contact with a dance partner.

Bachata Dance Styles

No matter where in the world you go to dance bachata you will find these two predominate styles of bachata; Modern Bachata and Dominican Style Bachata.

Modern bachata is the more sensual club style that is danced in very close proximity to your dance partner. This style includes turns, dips and smooth moves that fit the sensual groove in the music.

Here is a video of Carlos Cinta dancing in the modern bachata style.

Sensual Bachata with Carlos Cinta



Dominican style bachata is closer to the origins of the original form of bachata. In this style it’s about the footwork and playing with the different syncopated rhythms that makes bachata music so rich and fun to listen to. The dance can move in a traditional box step or break free and improvise to the music.

Bachata dominican can be danced to faster music with the dance partners further apart. It’s fun. It’s playful. Here is Carlos Cinta showing you how to dance Dominican Bachata.

Click to play this video
CarlosCinta.com - Unique Bachata Footwork & Styling Dominican

Carlos Cinta is one of the premier bachata dance instructors in the world. Check out the package of dance lessons he put together to help you learn how to dance bachata.

In Europe.


Juan Ruiz – Europe Bachata schedule

May 10, 2011 by Juan Ruiz
Filed under Bachateros Adventures, Events



Juan Ruiz, pioneer of the Bachata Moderna movement worldwide, will be in Europe at the end of May, teaching and performing the beautiful Bachata Moderna style.

If you haven’t had a chance or you have done one of Juan’s Bachata workshop, you know the workshops are full of fun and energy, plus you will learn new Bachata technique not taught anywhere else! Hope to see you guys there!

Ata, some tigueres/tigueras in the DR le dan cuchumil pata' a esos "bailadores".

There's a loco in Villa Duarte that dances 100 times better...........even without music playing.......and while eating a chimi.............

And btw, no tiene dientes.

The only men who like Bachata are those on The Down Low.

Real men listen to bachata. Hombre con pelo en el pecho. That's why it doesn't appeal to you

Bachata is not for everyone.....................

I love Bachatas from Merngueros and the Bachatas from cuando Cuca bailaba (old).............

LOLOL blas duran todavia se escucha en casa! LOL

Plebe or not, Blas Duran is a show!!!!!!!!!!!!.............

The nicest guy you can ever meet...........ESPECIALLY when he is drunk!.