Merengue History

Merengue is a Dominican folkloric dance widely spread and considered by many as the Dominican national dance.

Origin

The origin of merengue is still discussed. Among the different opinions we find: o It was Alfonseca who invented merengue (according to Flérida de Nolasco) o Its origin and apparition is lost in the fogginess of the past. (Julio Alberto Hernández). o It was born as a Dominican melody after the Dominican victory at the Talanquera battle. (Rafael Vidal). o It seems that merengue comes from a Cuban music called UPA, which had a part called merengue. UPA arrived to Santo Domingo in the middle of 19th century from Puerto Rico. (Fradique Lizardo).

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".

There are 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.

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.

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.

Taken from "merengue", Enciclopedia Dominicana, Primera Edición. Loosely translated and edited by Tambora y Guira.