Bachata
By: Savanna Christman
Bachata is a style of romantic music originating in the Dominican Republic.
Bachata is a dance from the Dominican Republic in the Caribbean islands. Both the music and the dance have been influenced by Cuban Bolero, the Merengue, Salsa and Cumbia.
Bachata is a Latino genre of music that originated in the Dominican Republic in the early parts of the 20th century with the European and African descendants in the country and spread to other parts of Latin America and Mediterranean Europe.
The typical bachata group consists of five instruments: lead guitar, rhythm guitar, electric bass guitar, bongos and guira. The rhythm guitar is also known as a segunda and serves the purpose of adding syncopation to the music. You can almost wear what ever you want to dance bachata.
In the 1990s, Romeo Santos' group, Aventura, brought the music to New York and made it hip, young, bicultural and bilingual, but still authentic. Where the classic bachata is fast and includes funny double entendres, the newer version sounds more soulful and R&B-flavored.
In the dance world, bachata has taken off. Professional bachatero Lee El Gringuito says attendance at his D.C-based Bachata Congress has gone from hundreds in 2009 to 5,000 last August. The dance has been modernized and fused with other styles to form variations such as the bachatango and bachazouk. Dancing bachata is much different from the grinding dances of reggaeton or hip-hop. It's an intimate, slow chest-to-chest dance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0W4ATfgoooE&edufilter=itWlIQiKtrrfsS_RAhNXEw&safe=active