"The Bachata"

Emerging from a history of poverty, bitterness and despair, comes a musical expression of the "battered Dominican peasant soul" called "bachata", a term associated with raucous, lower-class parties. This style evolved primarily from guitar-led folk groups as a synthesis of the Cuban son and bolero, with ensembles comprising one or two guitars, maracas, bongos, marimba, all accompanying a solo male singer. The repertoire of these groups focused predominantly on romantic music, although the majority of the themes often spoke of the anguish and bitterness of abject poverty; these songs came to be known as "canciones de amargue" (songs of bitterness). Bachata as a genre was shunned and discriminated against by upper-class Dominicans, who considered the style vulgar and worthless.
However, acceptance and popularity since the 1980s has brought the style widely commercial success, particularity through the enlightened artistry and efforts of singer/composer Juan Luis Guerra, who has brought both the bachata and merengue to new levels of expression and sophistication. Like the bolero and other forms of trova, the bachata's most important element is its lyricism, with the musical structures taking on a strictly secondary role. As with all of these lyrical forms, the piano's role evolved from the loose, arpeggiated concepts of guitar accompaniment.