Radio Guarachita was a radio station based in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
Radio Guarachita was founded in 1964 in the Dominican Republic by bachata producer and impresario Radhames Aracena. After a year of test runs, Radio Guarachita was launched on the 690 AM frequency in 1965.
Along with DJs Cuco Valoy on Radio Tropical and Charlie-Charlie on La Voz del Tropico, Aracena and Radio Guarachita were among the first DJs to play bachata on the Dominican airwaves.
Since Radio Guarachita was on the AM frequency, it had national reach, and appealed to the rural audience of the Dominican Republic. It had interactive programs where the DJ would read listeners’ mail, and the audience also could phone in and make personal announcements at any time of day. These 24/7 public announcements encouraged listeners to tune in all day, on lookout for important news. Usually, whenever people migrated from the rural countryside to Santo Domingo in search of a family member, they would go directly to Radio Guarachita as they didn’t know their address. An announcement would be made and the family members would pick them up at the station. Guarachita became a fixture of life for a large segment of the Dominican population.
After a few years, thanks to Radio Guarachita’s success, Radhames Aracena was able to expand his business and create a recording studio in his home, open a pressing plant, and two record labels, ‘Discos Guarachita’ and ‘Zuni’ (named after his wife Zunilda.) Empresas Guarachita was a staple of the bachata industry in the Dominican Republic.
Many of the great bachata artists got their first break thanks to Radio Guarachita. These include Jose Manuel Calderon, Leonardo Paniagua, Blas Duran, Eladio Romero Santos, Edilio Paredes and Ramon Cordero. Merengue tipico artists who have collaborated with Radio Guarachita include Tatico Henriquez, Fefita La Grande, and Guandulito.
Radhames Aracena died on December 11, 1999, from an open-heart surgery complication and Radio Guarachita was sold soon after. It now lives in the memory of the Dominican people, and its influence is heard in today’s bachata.
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, hip hop and indie, whilst its sister station 1Xtra plays Black contemporary music, including hip hop and R&B.
The music of the Dominican Republic is primarily influenced by West African, European, and native Taino influences. The Dominican Republic is mainly known for its merengue and bachata music, both of which are the most popular forms of music in the Dominican Republic, and have been exported around the world.
Dominicans are people of the Dominican Republic. This identification may be historical, cultural, legal, or residential. For most Dominicans, several of these connections exist and are collectively the source of being Dominican.
Juan Luis Guerra Seijas is a Dominican musician, singer, composer, and record producer. He has sold 30 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling Latin music artists. Throughout his career, he has won numerous awards including 21 Latin Grammy Awards, two Grammy Awards, and two Latin Billboard Music Awards. Guerra won 3 Latin Grammy Awards in 2010, including Album of the Year. In 2012, he won the Latin Grammy Award for Producer of the Year.
Bachata is a genre of Latin American music that originated in the Dominican Republic in the first half of the 20th century. It is a fusion of southwestern European influences, mainly Spanish guitar music, with indigenous Taino and Sub Saharan African musical elements, representative of the cultural diversity of the Dominican population.
The culture of the Dominican Republic is a diverse mixture of different influences from around the world. The Dominican people and their customs have origins consisting predominately in a European cultural basis, with both African and native Taíno influences.
The Distrito Nacional (D.N.) is a subdivision of the Dominican Republic enclosing the capital Santo Domingo. It is not in any of the provinces, but in practice, it acts as a province on its own. Before October 16, 2001, the Distrito Nacional was much larger, including what is now known as Santo Domingo Province. Published statistics and maps generally show the former, larger, Distrito Nacional. The Distrito Nacional has no rural or underdeveloped areas.
Boca Chica is a municipality (municipio) of the Santo Domingo province in the Dominican Republic. Within the municipality there is one municipal district : La Caleta. As of the 2012 census it had 123,510 inhabitants, 70,184 living in the city itself and 53,326 in its rural districts (Secciones).
Antony Santos a.k.a. El Mayimbe is a Dominican singer, songwriter, musician, and producer. He is one of the top-selling Bachata artists of all time. He is known as one of the pioneers of modern Bachata in the early 1990s with his role in redefining the genre to include romantic lyrics, poppy guitar licks, and implementation of new instruments such as the piano and saxophone.
Dominican Rock is rock music created by Dominican groups and soloists. Originating in the 1980s with the start of Luis Dias' band Transporte Urbano, successful bands such as Tribu Del Sol, Toque Profundo and Tabu Tek began to emerge. Dominican rock is listened to by the youth of the Dominican Republic who have embraced the music, sometimes over merengue and bachata. Rita Indiana y los Misterios are a musical group known for their blend of traditional merengue music with rock.
Yoskar "El Prabu" Sarante was a prominent Dominican bachata singer.
Originally from the small country town of La Galana, near San Francisco de Macoris, Edilio Paredes is one of the most influential figures in the development of the Dominican music tradition of bachata. In a career now spanning over 40 years, Edilio has arranged and recorded lead guitar on well over a thousand tracks, accompanying some of bachata's most well known singers. His style helped influence the emergence of bachata from its predecessor: bolero.
José Manuel Calderón is considered the first Dominican musician to record bachata with "Borracho de amor" and "Condena", in 1962 at the Radio Televisión Dominicana studios. Calderón's voice was unlike typical bachateros, in that he sang in baritone, much like Mexican singers such as Pedro Infante. He also innovated instrumentation in bachata, applying strings, horn sections and piano, as well as replacing the maracas with a güira.
Luis Rafael Valdez Vargas is a Dominican musician, singer and composer. He became involved in popular music after meeting a local musician who taught him how to play guitar.
Luis Díaz Portorreal, best known as Luis Días, was a musician, composer and performer of popular music born in the Dominican Republic.
Henry Santos is a Dominican artist. Best known for his tenure as a singer and songwriter in the bachata group Aventura, Henry Santos is a Dominican vocalist from New York City, who made his debut as a solo artist in 2011. Born Henry Santos Jeter, December 15, 1979, in Moca, Espaillat, Dominican Republic, he moved with his family to the Bronx, NY, at age of 13. He is cousin of bachata star Romeo Santos, with whom he co-founded Aventura in 1996. Originally known as "Los Tinellers", the group made its full-length debut with “Trampa De Amor” in 1998. Aventura became recognized worldwide with the smash hit "Obsesión" from their third album, We Broke The Rules (2002). Aventura’s success was elevated by "Ella Y Yo", a collaboration with the reggaeton artist Don Omar from their fifth Studio album God’s Project (2005). It was the first of ten straight top ten hits on the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart. After nine albums Aventura announced their separation in 2011. Later that year, Henry Santos & Romeo released solo albums. Introducing Henry Santos (2011) debuted number 2 on the Billboard Tropical Albums Chart. Hits such as ‘Poquito A Poquito’, ‘Por Amor ’ and ‘Por Nada’ were favorites among worldwide bachata listeners. His second studio album Henry Santos My Way (2013) positioned two number-one hits on Billboard’s Tropical Songs Chart with "My Way" and “La Vida“. In 2015, after the disappearance of Siente Music, the label that represented Santos, Henry continued his independent solo career under his own record label releasing two successful productions: Henry Santos The Third Deluxe (2016), with the hits “Y Eres Tan Bella“, “Quédate”, “Cuídame”, “ Ella Me Dijo” and “Si Me Besa Tu Boca”, ranking at number 8 on iTunes’ Latin Albums Chart & number 4 on Amazon, and Henry Santos The Live Album, Sólo Éxitos (2017). This is a Live Album compilation of all Henry Santos hits, including all the hits he penned for legendary Latin Grupo Aventura. From Henry Santos' solo breakout hit "Poquito A Poquito" to one of the most popular Grupo Aventura tracks performed at 2011's Festival Viña Del Mar "Nueve & Quince", we’re are able to relive all the glorious moments of Henry Santos' 20-year music career.
Joan Soriano is a Dominican bachata singer and guitarist from the Dominican Republic. His style is a blend of modern with traditional bachata. Since the 1980s, Joan's guitar and arrangements have graced many hit bachatas by other artists, and since 2008, he has begun to make a name for himself internationally.
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.
Francisco Pache Torres, better known by his stage name 'Ramón Torres' , is a Dominican singer-songwriter. He is considered to be one of the pioneers of modern Bachata for his role in redefining the genre by including romantic lyrics, guitar melodies, and implementation of new instruments such as the piano and the accordion.