market in the early to mid- nineties which coincided with the emergence of Anthony Santos (not to be confused with Anthony Romeo Santos) and the subsequent success of his albums. 2 Oddly enough, bachata made its ascension to the mainstream Spanish U.S. When it traveled to the United States, bachata was actually embraced by the immigrants who imported this cultural product (bachata legend Teodoro Reyes reaffirms this in the documentary Santo Domingo Blues: los tigueres de la bachata: The Story of Luis Vargas (Santo Domingo Blues). In becoming the national music of the Dominican Republic, the nation’s elite placed this genre on a pedestal, above all other music, while bachata was relegated to the lowest possible position. Merengue became Trujillo’s personal marketing tool when he made it the national music genre. 1 Music is powerful and Trujillo understood this concept. It became the music of choice during the bloody 31-year dictatorship of Rafael Leonidas Trujillo, an era in which many other native genres flourished. For decades merengue was the music of choice of the Dominican people. In fact, people were careful to play bachata at a minimal level as to not alert their neighbors of the playing of such music in their homes. In the early years people were ashamed of bachata since it was the common belief that it was the music of the subaltern: society’s degenerates who looked for a good time in brothels and bathed themselves in liquor. Romeo Santos featuring Usher – “Promise” (2011)īachata is the Dominican blues. music market because they altered bachata’s traditional schema by incorporating their U.S. Aventura and eventually Romeo as a solo artist, have been successful in the mainstream Spanish-speaking U.S. Perhaps most notable about these recordings is that some of these songs were recorded in the genre of bachata – a music that has been ostracized since the moment it was born and became part of Dominican society and was ingrained in Dominican identity. Santos has recorded with mainstream artists including Usher, Ludacris, Wyclef Jean, Little Wayne, Don Omar and Thalía, among others. Ironically, Santos’ success alongside his former Aventura band members Henry, Lenny, and Mike and his current success as a solo artist, can be attributed to his blend of English and Spanish in his songs. Dissimilar to Ricky Martin and Shakira – artists who have successfully “crossed over,” making the transition from Spanish to English markets in music – Santos has yet to make such transition and is in no rush to cross over. Without doubt, Anthony Romeo Santos is both the most successful and popular person of Dominican ancestry to penetrate the mainstream Spanish-speaking U.S.