Merengue is a lively two-step dance set to a lively form of music that originated in the Dominican Republic. Merengue began in rural communities where the Spanish guitar met the Congolese marimbula and gave birth to a quick form of music that featured a lot of call and response. Eventually the German accordion replaced the guitar, the acoustic bass replaced the marimbula, and the West African tambora and a metal guiro joined the ensemble (all these instruments introduced below).
While “the Generalissimo,” dictator Rafael Trujillo, ruled the D.R. (1930-1961) he recalled his youth during which the local merengue clubs excluded him and decreed that merengue would be the national music, so much so that he named merengue bands after himself and promoted the genre–harshly, as he did everything–as the heart of the D.R.’s people. Today merengue rules not to assuage a dictator’s insecurity but, essentially, because it’s fun.
A tambora is a bass drum that appears in various forms in various parts of Latin America. It is usually a double-headed drum, sometimes carried and sometimes fixed on a stand, sometimes with cymbals attached to provide for varying types of sound.
COUNTRY: Colombia, Dominican Republic, Peru
KEY GENRES: Cumbia, Merengue, Vallenato
A marimbula is a Latin/Caribbean percussion instrument that appears to be a cross between a cajon and a mbira (thumb piano). The marimbula has its roots in Africa but first appeared in Latin America in Cuba in the 19th century. Musicians used the thick metal strips that are attached to its wooden front to play bass notes in a developing genre of Afro-Cuban music known as changui. The instrument spread across the region and today appears in genres of music such as Dominican merengue and Mexico’s Son Jarocho.
COUNTRY: Cuba, Dominican Republic, Mexico
KEY GENRES: Changui, Merengue, Son Jarocho
FEATURED ON: La Guacamaya (AATW: Latin America)
The Dominican Republic is known for Merengue, which evolved from Dominican folk to become infectious, mambo-inspired dance music. Dictator Rafael Trujillo, an avid Merengue dancer who, once of humble origins, had been barred from elite dance clubs, declared the genre as music of the people and required urban dance bands to include it in their shows. The basic rhythm– 1-2, 1-2 — is simple, straightforward and highly danceable. Let Joe and Sarah teach you all about it: “If you can walk, you can dance the Merengue.”
COUNTRY: The Dominican Republic
KEY INSTRUMENTS: Accordion, Bass, Guiro, Guitar, Saxophone, Tambora, Trumpet
SONGS ON THE AATW: LATIN AMERICA CD: Cachumbambe, Goodbye, We Are Happy
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The Dominican Republic is known for Merengue, which evolved from Dominican folk to become infectious, mambo-inspired dance music. Dictator Rafael Trujillo, an avid Merengue dancer who, once of humble origins, had been barred from elite dance clubs, declared the genre as music of the people and required urban dance bands to include it in their shows. The basic rhythm– 1-2, 1-2 — is simple, straightforward and highly dance-able.
“If you can walk you can dance the merengue….” So says Joe, the distinctly non-Dominican narrator of this merengue instructional video, and from the looks of it, he appears to be right. Merengue rhtythms are very straightforward — count one-two, one-two, step-close, step-close and you’ll get it.
In his YouTube video, Joe relates three important rules for dancing merengue:
1) “You must keep time with the music”, one step on each beat. “It’s just like marching.”
2) “You must move your hips” — “it’s not the moves you do but how you move that’s really important’
3) “walk through all patterns and keep moving your feet and hips”: DON’T STOP THE HIP ACTION!
And of course there’s unwritten rule number four:
“Keep your multicolored disco ball spinning at all times.”
In All Around This World class we dance the merengue and, no matter what, WE DO NOT STOP THE HIP ACTION!
When All Around This World classes visit Latin America we use our beloved “We Are Happy” as our Spanish goodbye song. SEE YA!
Country: Uganda (original)/Dominican Republic
Language: originally Luganda
Genre on CD: Merengue
Instruments on CD: Piano, Trombone, Trumpet
LYRICS:
We say goodbye, but we’re not sad,
because of all the fun we had
We are happy, we are happy on this day
¡Adios everybody! (“Goodbye” in Spanish),
Tchau everybody! (“Goodbye” in Portuguese),
Ayo everybody! (“Goodbye” in Garifuna),
[A-wa-lyah] everybody! (“I’m leaving” in Quechua)
VocaLs: Jay Sand
Piano/Keyboard: John Stengel
Drums/percussion: Francois Zayas
Engineering and co-production of drums, keyboard and bass by Mark Wolfe, AudoMind, Philadelphia
Vocals engineered by Erich Miller, Philadelphia
You can listen to the original verson of "We Are Happy" on the Smithsonian Folkways release, Abayudaya: Music from the Jewish People of Uganda.
"We Are Happy" and "Hello" © Gershom Sizomu and J.J. Keki, arrangement by Jay Sand with permission, Instrumental arrangement by Arturo Stable
We sing “We Are Happy” as our hello song at the beginning of every All Around This World Latin America class, changing the greeting to match the featured country of the week. “We Are Happy” didn’t start as a Spanish hello song, but instead as a mashup of two songs the Abayudaya of Uganda sing to greet important visitors to Nabugoye Hill, which is a small area a few miles outside of the Eastern Ugandan city of Mbale. The Abayudya of Uganda are a small community of about 500 Luganda-speaking Bagandans who have been practicing Judaism for over 80 years. Abayudaya community leaders Rabbi Gershom Sizomu and his brother JJ Keki wrote the two greeting songs and led the community in singing them for Jay when he first visited in late 1999.
Country Uganda (original)/ On CD:Dominican Republic
Language: this “Spanish hello song” was originally in English, Luganda and Hebrew
Genre on CD: Merengue
Instruments on CD: Piano, Trombone, Trumpet
[wpspoiler name=”Lyrics of All Around This World: Latin America version” open=”true” style=”aatw-video”]Ooh, bop bop bop! Ooh, bop bop bop.
We are happy, we are happy on this day.
¡Hola everybody! (“Hello” in Spanish),
Bom dia everybody! (“Good morning” in Portuguese),
Buiti binafi everybody! (“Good morning” in Garifuna),
Imaynallam everybody! (“How are things going?” in Quechua)[/wpspoiler]
Vocals: Jay Sand
Piano/Keyboard: John Stengel
Drums/percussion: Francois Zayas
Instrumental engineering: Mark Wolfe, AudioMind, Philadelphia
Vocals engineered by Erich Miller, Philadelphia
You can listen to the original verson of "We Are Happy" on the Smithsonian Folkways release, Abayudaya: Music from the Jewish People of Uganda.
"We Are Happy" and "Hello" © Gershom Sizomu and J.J. Keki, arrangement by Jay Sand with permission, Instrumental arrangement by Arturo Stable
This is a Cuban kids song All Around This World jazzed up with a merengue arrangement. A cachumbambe is a seesaw. Take a listen to this version from the Florida Folklife from the WPA Collections, 1937-1942, currently held by the Library of Congress.
The original version has Old Lady Ines, a beloved archetype of the super-strong Cuban “little old lady,” smoking tobacco but refusing to drink coffee. After much deliberation, All Around This World chose to bring Ines to the U.S. and put her on a health kick, keeping the reference to Cuban coffee but changing the lyrics to suggest she’ll drink guarapo, which is a drink of raw sugar cane juice. How dare we do such a thing to a Cuban kids song?? Not as a slight to the tradition of the hardy Cuban woman! We decided to bring Ines to the U.S. in song in a way that American kids may be more inclined to relate to her, and nowadays cigar-smoking grannies in the U.S. are few an far between. Though, in retrospect, we certainly could have kept a little kick in her and had her eschew the guarapo in favor of a thick cup of coffee. In class we’re able to right this wrong by letting the kids know that Ines may occasionally choose a mild sugary beverage, but she didn’t live long enough to earn the right to be called “Old Lady Ines” by playing it safe.
Thanks to Nestor Baguier for helping us see the light.
Country: Cuba
Language: Spanish
Genre on CD: Merengue
Instruments on CD Bass, Congas, Drum kit, Piano, Trombone, Trumpet
LYRICS OF ALL AROUND THIS WORLD VERSION
Cachumbambe,
La vieja Ines,
Que bebe guarapo y no toma cafe.
Cachumbambe,
Old lady Ines
She will drink guarapo but she won’t drink cafe.
Vocals: Tony Perez
Bass: Rob Hagopian
Piano/Keyboard: John Stengel
Trumpet: Nelson Miranda
Trombone: James Negron
Drums/percussion: Francois Zayas
Percussion and addtional percussion engineering: Arturo Stable
Engineering and co-production of drums, bass and keyboard by Mark Wolfe at Audio Mind.
Vocals and horns engineered by Erich Miller
"Cachumbambe" is traditional, Englsh lyrics and Arrangement by Jay Sand. Instrumental arrangement by Arturo Stable.
