Biography
She was born in a small town in the province of Santiago Rodríguez in the Dominican Republic. Daughter of Eliseo Cabrera (Seíto) and María Anna Taveras, from a very young age she began to be interested in music by playing the accordion inside her father's workshop. She was motivated to play the accordion after listening to the songs of Guandulito, one of the pioneers of typical merengue.
At the age of seven she was already known in her community for her talent as an accordionist and at nine she already entertained parties with accordion, güira and tambora. In the mid-1950s, due to her talent and charisma, she was approached by José "Petán" Arismendy (brother of dictator Rafael Leónidas Trujillo) who, upon hearing her play, took a hundred pesos out of his pocket and gave them to Fefita, who was barely twelve years old.
The name "La Vieja Fefa" was given to her by Tatico Henríquez when she was 17 years old and Bartolo Alvarado "El Ciego de Nagua" baptized her with the name "Fefita La Grande" when she was about 22 years old. Since 1980, she has been called "La Mayimba", the name she likes the most.
Years later she traveled abroad accompanying the teacher Rafael Solano on one of his tours of Puerto Rico and later to other countries. She was the first Dominican artist to bring typical merengue to Europe. At the same time she began career with her first LP "Si quiere venir que venga", although already by that time Fefita had a wide musical repertoire and enjoyed great acceptance by the public. She has performed merengues by many authors, including her father Don Seito, as well as compositions whose melody and lyrics are her own.
All her life she maintained a unique style when playing the accordion, her merengues are similar to those of Tatico Henríquez or El Trío Reynoso, which maintain the essence of the original typical merengue and enramada music. She has criticized in interviews the contemporary merengueros who, according to her, have deformed the merengue "accelerating it and killing it by touching it in a strange way."
She is a survivor of breast cancer.
The music of the Dominican Republic is primarily influenced by Western European music, with Sub-Saharan African and native Taino influences. The Dominican Republic is mainly known for its merengue and bachata music, both of which are the most famous styles of music in the Dominican Republic, and have been exported and popularized around the world.
Merengue is a type of music and dance originating in present day Dominican Republic which has become a very popular genre throughout Latin America, and also in several major cities in the United States with Latino communities. Merengue was inscribed on November 30, 2016 in the representative list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity of UNESCO.
Bachata is a genre of music that originated in the Dominican Republic in the 20th century. It contains elements of European, indigenous Taino and African musical elements, representing the cultural diversity of the Dominican population.
The Cibao, usually referred as El Cibao, is a region of the Dominican Republic located in the northern part of the country. As of 2009, the Cibao region has a population of 5,622,378, making it the most populous region in the country.
Milagros del Rosario Quezada Borbón is a Dominican-American singer specializing in Merengue. She is a four-time Latin Grammy Award winner and has been referred to as the "Queen of Merengue" because of her impact on the world of merengue music.
Nagua is the capital of María Trinidad Sánchez province, in the northeastern Dominican Republic.
Merengue típico is a musical genre of the Dominican Republic, and the oldest style of merengue. Merengue típico is the term preferred by most musicians as it is more respectful and emphasizes the music's traditional nature. The Instruments that are used are the accordion, bass guitar, güira, conga, and tambora (drum).
The güira is a percussion instrument from the Dominican Republic used in merengue, bachata, and to a lesser extent, other genres such as cumbia. It is made of a metal sheet and played with a stiff brush, thus being similar to the Haitian graj and the Cuban guayo and güiro. Güira, guayo and güiro all have a function akin to that of the indigenous native maracas or the trap-kit's hi-hat, namely providing a complementary beat.
Jossie Esteban y la Patrulla 15 is a leading Merengue band from Dominican Republic, formed by Jossie Esteban and Alberto Martínez.
Francisco Ulloa is a famous merengue accordionist, specializing in merengue típico. He is known for his skill and improvisation technique on the accordion, and started his career around the same time as Tatico Henriquez, which some consider to be the godfather of merengue tipico, in the 1970s. He currently resides in Santiago, Dominican Republic. He plays at private festivals, concert halls at home, and also those abroad. His sound would be considered more similar to Fefita la Grande or Agapito Pascual rather than El Prodigio or Grupo Aguakate.
Krency Garcia, better known as El Prodigio, is a famous merengue típico accordionist from Cabrera, Dominican Republic. He is known throughout the genre for his rapid instrumental solos, his origination of fusion in merengue tipico with genres like jazz, and his rivalry with fellow accordionists, Geovanny Polanco and Kerube. While the latter two are slightly more traditional, El Prodigio is more experimental, and has included instruments such as trombone, trumpet, and wurlitzer piano in his lineup, along with the standard accordion, tambora, güira, conga, electric bass, and saxophones of today's merengue tipico.
Domingo "Tatico" García Henríquez, considered one of the best accordionists of merengue tipico, was born in Nagua, Dominican Republic. His career began in the 1960s and the early 1970s. He was known for his skill on the accordion and the addition of new instruments to a standard merengue tipico band.
Luis Alberti was a Dominican Merengue musician, arranger, conductor, and author of significant popular songs such as Compadre Pedro Juan and many others performed and recorded by noted interpreters with diverse backgrounds.
"La India Canela" is an accordionist and musician from the Dominican Republic. She plays music from the merengue típico tradition. Born Lidia Maria Hernandez Lopez, she was born in El Limon, Villa González, in the Santiago Province. She is the first professional musician in her family, though her father and brother played recreationally. Both terms in her stage name refer to her skin color: India is the preferred term for mulatto in the Dominican Republic and canela carries the additional connotation of sweetness and spiciness.
Los Ciegos Del Barrio is an all blind multi-genre Latin American music band based out of the New York City area. They specialize in salsa, merengue, bachata music, cumbia and rock in both English and Spanish. They have recorded several albums and singles since 2000. Los Ciegos Del Barrio translates from Spanish to mean "the blind boys from the neighborhood."
Trio Reynoso also known as "The Kings of Merengue Tipico" are considered to be one of the best musical groups of perico ripiao or merengue tipico. Trio Reynoso was composed of singer/accordionist Pedro Reynoso, percussionist Francisco Esquea, singer and güira player Domingo Reynoso, and marimbero and güirero Antonio Rosario Almonte(chirichito) who is known as one of the best güireros of all time and they laid the foundations of a new local mainstream called bachata-merengue. They were considered the most popular Latin group during the Trujillo and Post-Trujillo era. They became a well-known group in parts of Latin America other than the Dominican Republic such as Cuba and Puerto Rico. After the death of Pedro Reynoso on July 18, 1965, Trio Reynoso had to get a new accordionist and lead singer. In the end, it came out to be Tatico Henriquez, who in 1966, recorded his first song with the group called "Lo Que Tu Me Pidas". Some well notable songs that they have recorded were "Juana Mecho", "El Gallo Floreao", "Canto De Hacha", "Juanita Morel", "Alevántate", "Chanflin", "Mi Mujer De Oro", "Maria Luisa", "El Picoteao" and "La Lisa". Tatico Henriquez would go into the footsteps of Pedro Reynoso and become one of the greatest accordionists of the Merengue Típico genre. He is also the most popular artist of the merengue típico genre that has sold more records than any other artist in the history of Merengue Típico.
Radhames Aracena, was a Dominican radio host, music producer and businessman who helped change the musical landscape of the Caribbean island during and after Rafael Trujillo’s dictatorship. Aracena was able to bring the traditional Dominican bachata from the brothels and saloons to every radio set in the country. Aracena created Radio Guarachita, one of the first radio stations to cater to bachata music, and subsequently began recording, producing and promoting bachata artists.
Radio Guarachita was a radio station based in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
