Bachata Genre Analysis

The mixture of young and old listeners in the crowd, in many ways, reflects the mixing of the old campesino forces of bachata on the island with the new urban forces at play in the U.S. The difference in sociocultural production among generations symbolizes a genre that is always in flux, undergoing progress, and constantly adapting. The forward movement of bachata, however, begs us to consider whether the bachata being produced today achieves the same social impact as the bachata of yesterday. While Guerra’s commercialization of the genre may have brought bachata from the margins to the attention of national and international listeners, it is the urban bachata of artists like Santos that made the genre “mainstream” (Hernandez 2014). The transition of bachata into mainstream Latin(x) musical production reflects a shift in attitude toward the genre among younger generations that are not necessarily …show more content…
Black Dominicans will continue to deploy the musical practices of bachata as a mode of self-expression—both on the island and abroad—in order to claim a space in the Dominican national imaginary. The power of bachata, then, lays in its ability to provide Black Dominicans with a chance to right the wrongs of the island’s colonial legacy and claim their rightful spot in its history. The production of bachata has been, and will continue to serve as, a method for the articulation and the expression of dominicanidad in the face of colonial subjugation and state-sponsored erasure. The more bachata is consumed and produced, in all its forms and shapes, the greater the influence the music will have on the island and abroad. The genre will continue to inspire an entire generation of musicians to express their emotions and their discontents through the very same music their ancestors did as