Taken from "Merengue", Encyclopedia Dominicana, Primera Edición. Loosely translated and edited by Tambora y Guira. |
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Origin
The origin of merengue is still discussed. Among the different opinions we find:
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Apparently Lizardo comes closer to the truth. In 1844 merengue was still not popular, but in 1850 was in vogue, displacing the Tumba. From that moment on it had many detractors.
In the early 1850s a campaign was started by local Santo Domingo newspapers defending the Tumba and attacking merengue. This campaign was a signal of the popularity merengue was taking away from Tumba. Mr. Emilio Rodríguez Demorizi says: "Merengue origins still are foggy. It doesn’t seem it can be said it originated in Haiti. Had it had that dark precedence it hadn’t been in such vogue as it was in 1855, when there were such bloody battles against Haiti; Nor had it been overlooked as a reason for those who rejected the rhythm. Ulises Francisco Espaillat didn’t mention it in his papers against merengue in 1875 either". |
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There is very little proven facts about merengue origins. In the mid-1800s, from 1838 to 1849, a dance called URPA or "UPA Habanera" (UPA from Havana) made its way around the Caribbean being welcomed in Puerto Rico. This dance had a movement called merengue, which apparently is the way selected to call the dance as it arrived at Dominican soil where it remained unknown for a few years. Later on, it was well accepted and even colonel Alfonseca wrote pieces of the new music with very popular titles like "¡Ay, Coco!” "El sancocho", "El que no tiene dos pesos no baila", and "Huye Marcos Rojas que te coje la pelota". |
The musical structure of what can be considered the most representative form of merengue consisted of paseo (walk), body and "jaleo". The addition of paseo to merengue in those times is wrongly attributed to Emilio Arté. All music is written at a 2 x 4 rhythm and there is disagreement in the amount of beats each part should contain, because sometimes they were extended "ad infinitum".
The literary forms that conform the merengue are the most common within popular music: copla, seguidilla and décima, with the occasional appearance of some pareados.  |
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Since its beginnings merengue was interpreted with the instruments common people owned and where easy to obtain, Dominican bandurrias, Tres and Cuatro. At the end of the 19th century the German accordion displaced the bandurria in the Cibao region. Due to its melodic limitations it limited the music interpreted with it. Merengue had been somehow altered.
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With this variant merengue made its way into Dominican society, being accepted in certain social sectors and displacing other dances that required a great mental and physical effort to be executed, i.e. Tumba. The Tumba has eleven different positions. It's obvious why the simple choreography of merengue became so popular so quickly.
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Even though it was very popular among the masses, high-class people did not accept merengue for a long time, because it was related to African music. Another reason was the strong content lyrics, generating rejection and attacks against merengue. |
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For example:
All cueros* are from Santiago and they have a good life in Santiago and because of that damn woman I am from Santiago too
*Cuero: low dignity woman. Prostitute. Other African-origin Dominican dances were not attacked because of their religious dance character. This was contradictory with the religious concept of the high-class group. These dances' ritual intent made their practice restricted to only a few places in the island and/or days of the year, with limited reach within the population. Merengue, on the contrary, because of its joyful spirit was more easily introduced in the popular parties and that's why even though the initial rejection was strong, it was defeated by its rhythm’s flavor. |
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In 1875 Ulises Francisco Espaillat started a campaign against merengue that was
totally useless. The dance had been completely accepted in the Cibao region
where its popularity became so strong that today this region is called "The
cradle of merengue".
At the beginning of the 20th century, some educated musicians made a big campaign to introduce this dance in the ballrooms. Popular musicians joined this campaign, but always found resistance because of the vulgar lyrics. Juan F. García, Juan Espínola and Julio Alberto Hernandez were pioneers in this campaign. Their success was not immediate because high society refused to accept merengue even though these musicians had established its musical form |
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Popular musicians tried to imitate and follow the model created by educated musicians, while the countryman continued playing merengue the same way. This produced two types of merengue very differentiated. Folkloric Merengue, that can still be found in the country, and Ballroom Merengue, which is the most commonly known and a lot of people think is the folkloric. |
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Variants Some of the Merengue variants are simply other traditional rhythms being called merengue. This phenomenon has had little study. "Pambiche", according to popular legends, is the name of the merengue jaleo without the other parts and slowed down to accommodate the "Yankee" marines occupation the Dominican Republic, because they had a hard time dancing the fast-paced merengue. | |
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Choreography Merengue choreography is as follows: Men and woman hold each other in a vals-like position and step to their side in what is know as "paso de la empalizada" or "stick-fence step". They can then turn clockwise or counterclockwise. This is called Ballroom Merengue (Merengue de salón), in which couples never separated. There is also what is called Figure Merengue (Merengue de Figura) in which dancers also make turns individually, but never letting go the hand of the partner. | |
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| Nowadays, genuine merengue only survives in the rural areas. Traditional form of merengue has changed. The walk disappeared. The body has been extended and instead of 8 to 12 beats sometimes 32 or 48 are used. The jaleo has suffered the insertion of exotic rhythms that have alienated it. | |
Art Credits
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