Creolization in the Caribbean-Spanish
Creole Music of Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a country that exists in the West Indies, and its music has been influenced by the native Taino, West Africans, and Europeans. This mixture of cultures resulted in creolized musical forms like merengue. Merengue is common across the country and mostly identifies as a national musical style. Merengue features a rhythm that alternates from moderate to fast, including a 2/4 pattern. The guira is used to play the rhythm alongside the tambura. The accordion is another instrument that is mostly used when playing merengue music.
Guira
Source: https://cdn.wallapop.com/images/10420/0z/__/c10420p46421/i85883.jpg?pictureSize=W640
A
picture of tambura
Source: https://collectionapi.metmuseum.org/api/collection/v1/iiif/505683/preview
Above is a video demonstrating the history of merengue music, highlighting the different influences from Africans and Europeans.
Above
is a video that demonstrates the merengue dance and music style. You would hear
the drumming of the Tambora and the accordion, which creates a melody. I chose
this video because it was played during a national event, and hence the dance
and music style must be perfect for understanding merengue music.
Another
music style in the Dominican republic that uses the guira is salve music, which
incorporates the guira, panderos, Palos, and other musical instruments of
African origin.
Image
for paderos
Among the popular merengue singers is Juan Luis Guerra Seijas. He sold about 30 million records in the world. Below is a video while playing his music from the merengue genre.
In
this video, modern merengue is played, which features saxophones to provide a
harmonic melody. The tambura can be seen as well as the person with wooden sticks.
I like this video because it lets you listen to all the components used to make
the music.
Creolization
in the Dominican republic also manifests in food, and a good example is the
Dominican Asopao. This dish is characterized by rice, chicken or fish, soup
made of vegetables. Asopao is mostly related to Gumbo from Puerto Rico, which
has a similar recipe, but the difference is that Dominican asopao has coconut
milk. Below is a video that shows how to make Dominican asopao. I love rice,
and any dish with rice becomes my favorite. That is why I chose this food and
video.
Image
for asopao
Video
on how to make asopao.
References
"Juan
Luis Guerra - Biography of a Dominican Icon". Latinmusic.about.com.
Retrieved January 16, 2015.
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