Perreo 101: Give Me Merenguetón
Script of Perreo 101’s Episode: Give Me Merenguetón via anchor.fm/perreo101 by Gata | Quieres leer esto en español? Haz click aqui
Intro: I’m Gata and this is Perreo 101
What’s up mi gente, this week I want to talk about Merengue and how we got to Merenguetón (Plays: Suavemente by Elvis Crespo). So let’s back up a little bit, what is Merengue, let alone Merenguetón. I know some of you are listening like ‘alright Gata what are you talking about? What is Merenguetón?’
A Brief History
Merengue is: The national music and dance of the Dominican Republic, la ‘Quisqueya Bella’. Not to be confused with Meringue a song and dance of Haiti. Merengue is danced by swinging your hips from side to side, meneando la cintura (plays La Dueña del Swing by Los Hermanos Rosario). There are multiple folkloric stories that exist that create the notion of how and when Merengue was formed but I am not a Merengue historian I am a Reggaeton Historian so I’m going to keep my mouth of that. More so, I’m trying to illustrate the bridge between Merengue and Merenguetón.
How did we get to a song like this (Nuestra Cancion by Elvis Crespo) from a song like this (plays Mayor que yo by Luny Tunes) or even this (plays Enamorame by Papi Sanchez) I’m just curious, as to what came over the producer’s minds to mix a sound of dembow with trumpets and snares and piano and things of that nature? What, besides innovation of course, inspired them to mix this?
PR vs. DR
Now, I’ve established that Merengue is from the Dominican Republic and of course Puerto Rico ‘metieron mano’ and /or did their thing with Reggaeton’s success, and of course Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico have a very complicated history. I can’t tell you how excited I am to dissect that history specifically as an outsider. You guys can’t yell at me because I am neither Puerto Rican or Dominican dammit, this has nothing to do with me. And this is more so, my honest reflection of someone who has been heavily influenced by both cultures.
For those of you who are wondering ‘Gata what are you talking about? Puerto Ricans and Dominicans don’t have beef’ I’d say yeah.. I don’t know where you’ve been but this is definitely a thing. It’s an unfortunate ‘thing’ but it’s definitely something that exists. To get into more concrete details into what exactly i’m talking about first and foremost there are the obvious tensions due to statehood(and/or citizenship). Puerto Ricans have an access to the US because they are technically citizens. Dominicans who are foreigners to the US and/or have to arrive via visa and etc. just like any other foreigner.
Due to the likeness in culture in certain aspects Dominicans and Puerto Ricans are often compared to each other. Which I don’t know about you but I’d be pissed if I was constantly compared to someone else. I completely understand that. Especially when the politics are so different. I believe solid arguments are made in threes.
- Due to the tension of citizenship/statehood (Perceived upward mobility and access to the US)
- Constantly being compared, understandable.
- An abundance of stereotypes surrounding blackness, accessibility, upward mobility and things of that nature.
I can honestly go on and on but I want to get back to Merenguetón.
Slang
Something that I think Latinos do very well, are creating our own words. I know the people who love standard Spanish are cringing right now but you can’t love Reggaeton without loving the slang, so with that being said. Merengueton is a reiteration of what I just said, it’s a made up word. What do you get when you add Reggaeton with Merengue? Merenguetón.
Styles of Merengue
I want to get into the different styles of Merengue music of the Dominican Republic. So far I have featured songs that have a standard speed in regards to merengue. La Dueña del Swing (Plays La Dueña del Swing by Los Hermanos Rosario), the classive ‘Suavemente’ by Elvis Crespo (Plays Suavemente by Elvis Crespo), ‘Enamorame’ by Papi Sanchez (Plays Enamorame by Papi Sanchez, All pretty standard speeds — but what I love about Dominicans is that it’s never that simple, they love to speed it up, Pri-Pri!
(plays Vamos Hablar Ingles by Fefita La Grande) I said Pri-Pri, Pri-Pri or Perico Ripiao as its formally named, is the oldest form of Merengue and its instrumentation consists of three major instruments: La Guira, Tambora which is a type of drum and of course the Accordion. Doesn’t it sound beautiful? (Plays ‘Farolito’ by Juan Luis Guerra)That’s ‘El Farolito’ by Juan Luis Guerra. (Plays Historia de Una Gran Amor by Geovanny Polanco) I can’t give Merengue its flowers in all of its glory without playing Geovanny Polanco, that last song was Historia de una Gran Amor by Geovanny Polanco. Now, moving forward!
But Why?
I began with the question how did we get from a certain sound, to another certain sound? Excluding the will for innovation, I’ve established that Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic are not far from each other, muy bien as well as having a complicated history. I’ve detailed how much ‘beef’ they have but I’ve met a lot of Puerto Rican Dominicans, and a lot of Dominican Puerto Ricans, generally speaking, those who do ‘hate’ but they ‘love’ each other. Mmkay?
I guess a part of the reason why I’m surprised Merengueton exists at all is because of classism. We all know, atleast if you listen to Perreo 101. We’ve established that Reggaeton is frowned upon, it’s deemed as degrading music towards women, low class / poor people’s music. So how did Poor people’s music get infused with a genre that is considered the national song and dance of the Dominican Republic? I apologize that I don’t have a concrete source for this, so, on several google websites or websites on google(that I will list below)- Merengue was originated in the 19th century. Now, a fact that I found very interesting, is that the infamous dictator of Dominican Republic, Rafael Trujillo, was a big fan of Merengue *Gasp* things are starting to make sense now, it’s connecting!
Look i’d be lying, if I said that Rafael Trujillo didn’t have a big impact on Dominican society, because he definitely did. That man was adored, by anyone and everyone who was desperate to separate Dominicanidad from Haitianism. Again i’m a music and/or Reggaeton historian so I’m going to stick to what I know. My excitement stems more so from the fact that Merengue has an essence of classic ballroom dancing i.e. a hand on the waist another on the hand ‘pin, pan pun’ + you’re dancing with a partner + it’s fun, it’s classic / waltzy without that type of tempo of course.
Rafael Trujillo utilized a number of musicians / merengue bands to promote nationalism, to promote Dominicanidad. In fact, rumor has it that due to the US occupation on the island and the Americans not being able to keep up with the tempo, they slowed it down. And its part of the reason why there are mulitple variations and speeds of the genre, interesting. Don’t quote me you guys, i’m not a merengue historian. (Links below of sources used in the making of this podcast).
I think it’s important to keep in mind, how Merengue is danced vs. how Reggaeton is danced because of policing, commercialization, and things of that nature. Who says/determines whether a genre is respectful/acceptable or not? Well often times it is the government and Rafael Trujillo is the government, by large. With that in mind, a common thought in regards to Reggaeton is how do we make it more commercial? In 2020 you hear it on Television commercials but that wasn’t the case 20 years ago.
Acceptability Birthed Merenguetón
Perhaps because of how acceptable Merengue is as a respectful genre, Merenguetón and/or infusing elements of Merengue with Reggaeton is balanced enough to be accepted as a party music? And/or to begin distancing it from Verdadero Perreo which is the actual heart and soul of Reggaeton. This is something that i’m just pondering on you guys because I mean, for crying out loud you can’t tell me that you listen to ‘Mayor Que Yo’ (by Luny Tunes) and think “am I dancing side to side to this (like Merengue) or am I throwing it back?(Perreando). Let’s be real, it’s a real question! I’m just being honest. (Plays Mayor Que Yo by Luny Tunes).
One thing that i’m hyperaware of is the fact thaat I might be zooming in too much. I have that habit, and I say this outloud because regardless of what the instrumentation of the song is, for crying out loud the song is entitled ‘Mayor que yo’. The song is about Wisin Y Yandel and the other featured artists speaking on an experience with an older woman. “No me importa que usted sea mayor que yo” which translates to “I don’t care that you’re older than me”-oop. They found themselves a cougar, let’s be real. In fact and on that note, most Merengueton’s are mischevious. (Plays Noche de Entierro by Luny Tunes) the infamous Noche de Entierro of Los Benjamins by Luny Tunes is about or dictates “Our love is over, go look for someone else who you can go and drive crazy” HELLO! This isn’t romantic.
I can just imagine the bourgeoisie and/or the classists getting their panties in a bunch over this type of lyricism as well. I guess my point is, is that its very interesting how we throw away certain elements and absorb others in order to create a new sound. For this very reason I get upset when people say “All Reggaeton sounds the same.” Look we’re not going to say that the music I just played, Noche de Entierro (plays Noche de Entierro by Luny Tunes) sounds anything similar to something like this (plays No Pares by Yandel).But you know, you’re not going to tell me that those two songs sound the same, they do not. Some people need to be straight up and admit that they don’t have the range to identify the differences in this type of music; the first song being a Merenguetón and the second being a Reggaeton, period.
Style & Money
Moving forward-a part of the reason why I mention that Merenguetón and its creation was a result of yes, the will and need and desire to innovate but also the desire to create commercialized movement is because shortly then on after we found this wave of music, of Reggaeton specifically that was designed in a way to create revenue. Daddy Yankee’s album barrio fino, which of course bust the door wide open in regards to understanding as a potential for generating money in the music business a year later, (2005) Mayor que yo was released in 2006 Noche de entierro was released. Now, there are multiple elements that go into Reggaeton including hiphop and I mention hip-hop specifically because of delivery, wordflow if we’re going to be honest here, prior to Barrio fino, Papi Sanchez released Enamorame which was a very different stylization of delivery in lyrics (in Merengue). He was rapping on a Merengue track, when have we ever seen that before? Commercially speaking anyways.
Because of infamous producers of Reggaeton approaching Merengue I would say that “Reggaeton went to Merengue.” Something amazing happened as the success of a particular artist began to gain notoriety in the Dominican republic, Omega (plays Merengue electrnico by Omega). Vamonos pal mambo indeed. The iconic Member, Omega El Fuerte was able to tie together rap, R&B, hiphop with Merengue, specifically in the Dominican Republic without making Reggaeton out of it. See the reason why this is special is because he left Reggaeton out of it, i’ll say it again, he left Reggaeton out of it. He took a genre of music that was considered High-Class and created an “urbano” version out of it, in other words ‘pa la calle’, for the streets. Listen that’s dope. I’m not going to say that he single-handedly did it, hello! But he is the biggest star. The manner by which he (producers etc. included of course) was able to design these instrumentations has been adopted by superstars in popular culture, Pitbull, Shakira and a number of other artists. His innovation was so great that he was able to attent the red carpet of the Latin Grammys in 2010. From the barrios of Bonao in the Dominican Republic to the Latin Grammys, i’d say that there is a lot of talent there to be celebrated.
I guess at this point its important to point out how much we influence each other. Because i’m jumping around a bit, I went from Merenguetón, to Merengue, to Perico Ripiao, Rap, Hip-hop and R&B how did I get here? Well the answer is simple, these are simple essences of Reggaeton. Except merengue, Rap R&B Hiphop etc, are essences of Reggaeton. Now in regards to answering my own question what is the bridge between Merengue and Reggaeton is that there are multiple which I guess is a common theme amongst different genres because we influence each other. On the note of ‘urbanization’ I absolutely can’t talk abut Merenguetón without mentioning Toño Rosario, the man who has taken risks sonically as well as in a fashion sense. (Plays Kulitikata by Toño Rosario). I’d just like to point out how amazing it is that across the diaspora, we’ve all taken these diifferent initiatives to bring these genres back to ‘the people.’ Can you imagine someone like Rafael Trujillo singing Kulikitaka? Not in a million years (chuckles).
Merengueame
A theme that is becoming apparent, and kind of repetitive, is that a lot of these genres have become commercialized because of money, right, we’re all in this because of the money. As well as displaying some sort of semblance of being ‘urban’ and or ‘down with the people’ or ‘pa la gente’. And I think that’s why we found some instances by which Reggaetoneros were creating straight up Merengue, not Merengueton, but Merengue. For example, Alexis Y Fido ‘Rompe la Cintua’ (Plays Rompe La Cintura by Alexis Y Fido). Or even Maluma with the song ‘La Temperatura; (Plays La Temperatura by Maluma). A Colombian singing a style of music that is originally from the Dominican Republic? O-KAY (chuckles). It comes a little bit more natural to Cubans because of their influence to Merengue which is something that hasn’t been touched on yet.
I had mentioned before that the way you dance Merengue comes from like a classic, ballroom type of dance; a dance that comes from the ‘Cha Cha’ which is inherently Cuban as well as Salsa and Rumba. So imagine my lack of surprise when I hear this song from Gente de Zona (Plays Que Tu quieres by Gente de Zona). I think at the point of which I’ve reached of Chino Y Nacho or Nacho y Chino it is a good moment to mention how Latinidad has been branded. “Latins are fiery we’re expressive, we’re passionate we’re unidos” Right? A bunch of tropes that are sold constantly through marketing of what/how a Latino is, what we represent and things like that as if we’re all a monolith. Which just so I’m clear, we are not and we are not a race. We’re all very different, politically, phenotypically, genetically and in almost every way possible. Now with this in mind, the instrumentation of the song I just played is something that I hear very often, especially as they try to brand the whole ‘Latinos are coming’ in the media which is something so foreign based off of where Merenguetón started from. It’s to the point hat I barely want to call it Merenguetón but essentially it is. (my point is that Merengueton has been white washed as well). My hesitance only comes from what it would mean, politically. Although i’m refereencing Merengueton aka Merengue+ Reggaeton; that it’s not necessarily Perreo, it’s a derivative. Because remember Perreo is political-Reggaeton is the manifestation of the white washing of Perreo. So essentially it(Merengueton) is exactly that, Reggaeton. It’s just uncomfortable I guess(white washed Merenguetón) because it has nothing to do with Reggaeton/Perreo. Which is where others often argue “well they’re Latinos, don’t they have the right to create music?” Of course they do, but of course we’re trying to differentiate categories because they don’t always get their flowers and that is quite literally the point.
On that note, it’s often during these moments that I'm argued, well theyre Reggaetoneros where it’s like no… no they’re not. To be a Reggaetonero there are certain assumptions of certain politics into branding that have to constantly be present. Many are categorized that such but simply aren’t. What work have they done to be classified in such a manner? Reggaeton hasn’t been respected for years yet here we’re allowing these new faces with all of these sounds that haven’t bee specific to what hasn’t been considered “Low class” and they’d like to assume this title, as a Reggaetonero? It’s not an attack, it’s a read.
I wish we’d stop calling music that isn’t Reggaeton, Reggaeton. And stop calling Artists Reggaetoneros especially those who don’t want associations with these politics, Reggaetoneros because they are not. They’re pop artists and that’s absolutely fine. As i’m saying this i’m rolling my eyes, because technically like I just said Reggaeton is the manifestation of the whitening of Perreo. So technically if they’re creating Reggaeton… -see this is where we’re at, right, I guess in 2020 where the lines are starting to get a little bit blurred, becuase people like to consider music that is Perreo as Reggaeton while Not all music that is Reggaeton is classified as Perreo. If you can’t throw it back, then it’s not Perreo.
If there aren’t certain essences of, I don’t know, maleanteo whether its in the lyrics or instrumentation and the presentation then its not Perreo because one more time, Perreo is Political Reggaeton is not, Reggaeton is for commercial. In the words of Maicol Superstar, Underground Pioneer “no me llames un Reggaetonero” ‘Don’t call me a Reggaetonero.’ He is one of the many innovators of Perreo. On tht note and lastly i’d like to highlight one of the most explosive Merenguetons to exist, (plays Ven Bailalo by Khriz Y Angel). Ven Bailalo Y Caseria was featured on their album Los MVPs in 2005 and their album was able to achieve Platinum status by the RIAA. THis song was everywhere and I guess this is more so on a personal note, the impact this song has had on my understanding of what Reggaeton & Merengueton is. I really don’t have anything else to say except that is iconic. Not everyone’s cup of tea, but, here in Boston this song used to get it poppin. That’s all of the time I have today, this is Perreo 101 con tu Gatita Favorita. Until Next time. (Plays outro).
Sources
https://www.masterclass.com/articles/what-is-merengue-music-and-dance
