Luis Alberti | |
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Background information | |
Birth name | Luis Felipe Alberti Mieses |
Born | La Vega, Dominican Republic | 6 April 1906
Died | 26 January 1976 69) Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic | (aged
Genres | Merengue |
Occupation(s) | Composer, arranger, conductor |
Luis Alberti (6 April 1906 – 26 January 1976) 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.
Born Luis Felipe Alberti Mieses in La Vega, Dominican Republic, he is descended from a family full of musicians. His great-grandfather, Juan Bautista Alfonseca, composed the first Dominican national anthem; his mother, María Mieses, was a piano professor. At the age of seven, Alberti played the cymbals in the municipal band of his hometown before moving with his family to Santa Cruz de Mao, where he received formal violin training and started a professional career. There he met and married Gilma Tio. After that, the young musician went to Santiago de los Caballeros and attended several courses of violin perfectioning. He later accompanied silent films in theatres and played with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Santo Domingo in 1932, year of its foundation. [1]
In 1936, Alberti led a merengue jazz band that often emphasized advanced harmonies and lyrics over the Merengue típico, known as perico ripiao, and played with the usual instruments of folk merengue (accordion, tambora and güira). Alberti gave merengue a greater urban appearance by taking the music to high society ballrooms.
Alberti composed popular songs as Luna sobre el Jaragua, Tu no podrás olvidar, Estampas criollas and Compadre Pedro Juan, which became an international hit and has been recorded by dozens of performers, including Francis Santana, Billo's Caracas Boys, Xavier Cugat, El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico, Porfi Jiménez, Dámaso Pérez Prado, Wilfrido Vargas, Angel Viloria y su Conjunto Típico Cibaeño, and Alberto Naranjo & El Trabuco Venezolano. [2] [3]
Alberti died in Santiago de los Caballeros at the age of 69.
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.
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Francisco Antonio Lora Cabrera popularly known as Ñico Lora was a folk musician from the Dominican Republic. He is considered one of the fathers of merengue.
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Juan Francisco García was a Dominican merengue composer. He was one of several merengue musicians who sought to promote the genre in the early 20th century, along with Juan Espínola and Julio Alberto Hernández. Garcia was an educated musician who brought merengue to the upper-class of the country.
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Visual is the third studio album produced by the Dominican based electronic rock band Tabu Tek. This second production was released on the year 2003 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The fourth song of the album, Compadre Pedro Juan, is a rock tribute to Luis Alberti, father of merengue music. The song was previously set to be released in the merengue tribute Rockero Hasta La Tambora made by Dominican rock bands. The album is distinguished by the more rock based sound with less of the electronica aspect found in their previous production Girar. Nevertheless, it was well received and played in rock stations around the country.
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