Carlos Cinta/Photo: https://carloscinta.com/.
By Nelson Santana
February 12, 2020
Back in December, UNESCO declared the Dominican music genre Bachata an “Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity." In celebration of this achievement, ESENDOM will publish a series of articles celebrating the accomplishments of this once marginalized music genre.
ESENDOM sat down with Bachata pedagogue Carlos Cinta, who is a dance educator, musicality instructor, sports coach, DJ, and music editor. In this interview, Carlos discusses his inspirations, how he fell in love with music, how a trip to the Dominican Republic transformed how he views the world, his favorite places to visit, and of course, his passion for music—especially Bachata.
N. Santana: As the years pass, Bachata is becoming more mainstream as it continues to break down barriers. Also, there is not a significant Dominican community in Chicago or Illinois for that matter, as far as I am aware. When and how did you first encounter Dominican culture, including Bachata? Can you please walk us through?
No, there is not a big Dominican population in Chicago, but there are actually quite a few Dominicans. They have some events in the summertime. [There are] some Dominican sponsored events and I was pleasantly surprised to see just all the restaurants that are there serving food. These events also have local Bachata bands playing live. Of course, [there are] a lot of people representing their culture. It’s really cool to see so I try not to miss that every year.
I first encountered the Dominican culture, I would say when I lived in San Diego, so that would be 2006…but when I really experienced it was 2009 and I lived down the street from a Dominican club and it was really the only place where I felt comfortable going to because, you know, San Diego is a big military town. So a lot of the people there were from the East Coast, from the islands, from the Caribbean station there. I never really felt comfortable in quote unquote “dance studios” socials, but I felt more comfortable [going] to [a] Dominican club. Basically—and we know, again—East Coast Caribbean people: loud talking smack, you know just ratchet, but I like that. Ratchet in a good way. So, it's just how East Coast people communicate. So to me it was just normal and I felt comfortable and I liked it. You know, you didn’t have to wear fancy clothes, you just take the Jesus method and just come as you are. T-shirt, jeans, casual shoes. Sometimes you go with your gym shoes [and I felt] comfortable going there. I definitely preferred the music that they played because they played a variety of everything.
My first real encounter when I really opened my eyes was [when] I danced with this Puerto Rican lady that was stationed there from the island. She had this swag, this flavor. It was funny, we had this running joke after the dance [where I said] “I never danced with anybody that dances like you before” and she said “I never danced with anybody that dances like you before” because I was doing what was considered at that time, back in 2009, ten years ago, to be modern Bachata. So basically I was doing a lot of quote unquote “Salsa / Merengue turns” in the Bachata dance. What she told me kind of really opened my eyes to everybody else that was dancing in the club. And I was like, huh? Everybody’s kind of got their own little thing going on, but nobody’s really doing what I was doing.
[That was around 2009]. That club was called Club Caribe, which is now La Luz Ultra Lounge in San Diego. That would be Saturday night and then every Sunday, we would all get together and play softball. That’s when I really started to see how the Caribbean people play [softball] and the music they listen to, and how they dance. Everybody’s playing softball and they got that Mamajuana and they got all the food empanadas. Of course, there’s got to be a big speaker and loud music playing and everything. Just playing softball and talking trash for like seven, eight hours. So opening my eyes to all the Merengue Típico that they listen to and everything like that. I’d say 2009 is really the game changer to happen for me.
Carlos Cinta/Photo: https://carloscinta.com/.
N. Santana: You are a multifaceted individual: you are a DJ, dance instructor, music editor, etc. Please explain to ESENDOM readers exactly what it is that you do.
I kind of do a lot of things. I’m not a 9 to 5 punch-in, punch-out type of person. I’m not built for that. Right now I’m coaching football (interview was conducted over the summer). During the winter time I was doing some training [and] during the off-season too I train athletes of all sports—boys and girls. Basically, get their bodies in condition. Teach them proper technique and form whether it’s lifting, running. Put them through agility drills [to] get their conditioning and strength up in the off-season.
I teach dance, Bachata, Merengue. I can teach Salsa but very [basic] stuff. I don’t really have a passion for [Salsa], which is why I choose not to do it. But if somebody really needed it I could help them.
DJ[ing], that kind of started because I didn’t really like what other people were playing. They tended to stay in the same little, small, tiny box and my whole thing is like there’s a bajillion artists out there. Why do I come to the club and hear Romeo’s full album? It’s a good album, don’t get me wrong. This has been years. I remember back in the day in San Diego you hear Marc Anthony’s full entire album before they played a different genre. There are so many artists out there. Why are we only listening to the same people over and over and over? So I know exactly what you’re going to play next week and the week after that. That’s the reason why I started to DJ, just because I didn’t like anybody else’s music. And again, not to say that I’m good or the best or anything. I like to mix it up. I like to play a variety because I think music is powerful and it’s a time machine. You could hear a song and it could take you back to when you were seven years old in the summer time and you and your friends would ride bikes to whatever, 7-Eleven and then get a slurpee. Ride your bikes to the río and do whatever. Every summer you could go to your grandparents’ house somewhere on the islands. You could smell the home cooking. That’s how powerful music is and I just feel that people need to be taken on a time machine journey. That’s why I started doing that.
Music editor. This is something that I have been doing since I was 16. One of my buddies in high school [when we were] sophomore [we worked] in his basement. This is when we had the radio cassette players that had side-by-side cassettes. We would actually have to record from the live radio. You would have the two cassettes and then you just kind of made your own mix, hitting really quick the pause button and then the record button on the other side. It was just something fun that we would always do back then. I didn’t really realize that [for] the dance scene this is what they do—they edit music when they do other shows on stage. Sometimes people would try to do the mixes themselves and it sounded like somebody’s change (rattles a handful of change.). It sounded like somebody’s changing the radio station. Mid songs, I’d say, “wait, those two sections don't go together.” So I try to make everything as seamless as possible. If you can tell where I cut the music…I don't like that because I'm a perfectionist. I just figured, “let me just try to help you guys.” It’s better if you can get it going “professionally done.” I don’t have a big elaborate studio, but I know I understand music and understand the structure. I understand how and where to cut the music. I understand the program that I use so I can make this very seamless for you guys. So I just try to help out in that way.
Full-time, I take care of my grandmother. I’m a busy guy, but it keeps me busy and it keeps my mind going. I don’t consider it work because these are things that I love doing. I hate [work] when I consider it to be work.
N. Santana: Do you think that being a DJ and music editor influences your instruction and vice versa? If so, how?
I don’t think so and I say this only because I really don’t consider myself a proper DJ. I don’t know how to use all the bells and whistles and all the fancy stuff on the DJ controller. I don’t invest my full-time on the DJ equipment. It’s just something fun. It’s a hobby, you know.
The music editing is another hobby. People contact me to create a song for them for one of their shows and I just do it, but it’s not something that I do full-time.
My teaching definitely comes from my coaching. I’ve been coaching since I was in high school—mainly football. The teaching just transfers over from a different sport. Understanding how to break down movement, understanding how to explain things definitely comes from my coaching and that has definitely impacted and influenced my dance and teaching. I will say that understanding the dance community has definitely impacted how I DJ. Although I have good music, something I’ve learned the hard way from the beginning is that it’s more than just having good songs on your computer. I got a lot of the music but it’s about creating the energy, it’s about creating those moments on the dance floor for the dancers in reading the crowd…not catering to the crowd which is what a lot of DJs do, they just cater to a certain group of people and only play the songs that they like. The DJ should play for everybody [and] that includes the two people that are visiting from the Dominican Republic that are over there in the corner. Play a Merengue for them or put something on that that they can listen to all as well. Don’t just play 7,000 hours of whatever. That’s not playing for everybody, that’s catering to the majority of the people in there. That’s another reason why I still continue to DJ. Understanding who’s in the crowd or what type of music they respond to is extremely important. Understanding the dancers has helped me to understand what to play when I DJ and how to DJ.
“People are always asking me, “Man! How do you hear that in your head?” ”
At dance studio socials or congresses you let the full song play and then you play another song as there’s no mixing. Dancers hate it when the DJ mixes the song. This was really weird to me at first. If we’re at a congress and the DJ mixes, they hate it. But then when they go back home, New York or whatever is their location, and they go to the Latin club and the DJ mixes, it’s okay. That to me makes no sense.
N. Santana: Can you please explain to us what is Bachata Breakdown? What was the genesis of this project? Why did you develop this educational resource? Whose idea was it?
I’ve always been about music and I’ve always listened to music differently. When I was young and growing up I would always have headphones on—obviously not around family time—but I would go to sleep with headphones on. I would put songs on repeat for hours and fall asleep and wake up in the morning, but still, with that same song in my head. Because of this, I’m able to hear things that are in the back, the deepest layers of the music and all the little noises and all the little sounds in the background, and it’s always fascinated me.
I was fortunate that my mother had a lot of different types of music playing while I was growing up, from the 80s. She was an artist so she had smooth Jazz playing like Yanni, Enya, easy listening type music. That’s the music I remember listening to growing up—all different styles. I would listen to different pieces of a band with so many different instrumental layers. Now, when I listen to Bachata and there are, say, only five layers, that previous childhood experience from Jazz and other genres makes it easier for me to follow Bachata’s musicality, especially all the different instrumentality.
People are always asking me, “Man! How do you hear that in your head?” and I respond, “How do you not hear that?” I’ve always wanted to at least try to get people to listen to music the way that I do. The funny story of how this whole musicality thing came up is it was November 2009 and I was going to Australia to teach at the Byron Bay Latin festival. The Salsa teacher that was going to teach the musicality class was unable to attend due to visa issues or so I was told. I was asked to teach the musicality class, which they tell me the day before I’m about to fly out and I’m thinking I can’t teach Salsa music because I don’t know Salsa music like that. They asked me if I can teach it in Bachata? For clarification I asked, “So basically you just want me to teach people how I listen to music?” and they responded with an emphatic “Yes.” I decided to do so because I have been wanting to do this. I had a 15-hour flight to think about it and I came up with something during those 15 hours, which were different songs. It was interesting because it broke the monotony of the [typical] dance class. You go there, you learn a new turn pattern. You learn footwork, sequence, the shine or whatever you want to call it, a partner work thing, and then you go home. This was kind of different because at some point you start thinking there’s got to be more than just dance moves. You got to do more because you can only remember so much.
Again, I started in November 2009 and then, I want to say that in February 2010 at the Los Angeles Bachata Festival I was like, “Yeah, you know what would be cool? Doing this with live musicians.” Of course, I didn’t know a band, but one of my buddies in San Diego knew a guy, Harold Duverge, a Dominican guy from a San Cristobal. He played in a band, but he played the güira and he’s the person that made me fall in love with that instrument. That’s when I really started paying attention to the musicians. So I invited him up to Los Angeles when I was teaching at the festival and I said, “Hey, I’m going to do this class where I talk about the music, but you know, can I just have you play over top of something,” and he’s like, “Yeah sure.” Of course, it just took off like an unplugged live workshop. Everybody is all loud and I brought him out at the end and he just went off and it was crazy. But again, it’s just something that nobody had ever experienced before or even thought to experience at a dance event.
In August of 2010 at the festival in Washington, D.C I went to teach my musicality class and there I met Benjamin de Menil who was the manager of Joan Soriano at the time. He introduced himself because I was playing a lot of Soriano’s music in my workshop. Then he let me know that Soriano was going to be out there in October doing a concert at Navy Pier [in Chicago] and he asked if I would like to meet him and I said, “Hell yeah, I want to meet the guy.” That was dope.
I got to see all the behind-the-scenes stuff, the sound check and the sound and I’m like a kid in a candy store because I like to nerd out to stuff like that and listen, just listen to the music, but now I’m seeing it piece by piece. Unplugged, not rehearsed, testing all that. Wow, this is great!
In 2010 we made the CD [Bachata Breakdown]…the whole structure I created it thinking, how would I explain this to somebody? What is the easiest instrument to hear? How can I teach people to peel the different layers. Again, just [coming up with] a way to get people to listen to the music more and feel the music instead of counting the music.
I give the analogy, have you ever danced to a song that you hate? It’s the longest four minutes of your life. But if you ever danced to a song that you love, you start doing things you didn’t even know your body could do but it’s the music that’s going through your ears that has completely taken over your whole body. So if we can create a connection with the music somehow, the dancing will be more enjoyable for the people. So I created the system and Ben and I made the CD. I put the tracks together. He finalized it, mixed it, and mastered it. Afterward, in 2012 we decided to come up with the DVD.
“I give the analogy, have you ever danced to a song that you hate? It’s the longest four minutes of your life. But if you ever danced to a song that you love, you start doing things you didn’t even know your body could do but it’s the music that’s going through your ears that has completely taken over your whole body. ”
Basically, the “breakdown” is just breaking down all the different instruments for people to be able to hear all the different instrumental layers at a time and really dig deep into the music and connect with the music in that manner.
N. Santana: Who participated in the Bachata Breakdown project? What were their roles and in what capacity?
Initially it was Benjamin and myself with the music of Joan Soriano because he had all the individual tracks, the individual instrumental layers. Later on—once I had been doing this musicality class for about two years—and Ben may have suggested it, I don’t recall—that we do this live and at Reno we did this live, unplugged, impromptu workshop during lunch break in 2011 or 2012. Instead of me explaining it, showing videos on the computer, we had the musicians on the stage doing it.
When we did the live DVD, it was me facilitating the information but the musicians were Carlos or something like that and he’s on the bongó. Memé is actually Romeo’s [Santos] güirero and he was on the güira. Soriano is on the requinto and his brother Fernando Soriano—rest in peace—on the segunda and on the bass was Billy Jáquez who has recorded with Joe Veras, Monchy y Alexandra, El Gringo [de la Bachata].
Those were the five musicians that were featured in the Bachata Breakdown en Vivo DVD. As I stated before, I facilitated it and Ben and his team did all the video production video editing. On the Bachata Breakdown CD, we took Joan Soriano’s songs and we took the instrumental track layers. I don’t entirely recall, but I think Raulito, who plays for Prince Royce, played the bongó. The bass was most likely Soriano’s brother-in-law, Julián, may he rest in peace. With the exception of the güira, I think everyone else was the same.
Carlos Cinta/Photo: https://carloscinta.com/.
N. Santana: Has the Dominican community been accepting of you? Have you ever come across a situation where you felt unwelcome for embracing Dominican culture?
I would say yes. The Dominican community has been accepting of me. In the beginning not so much, I would say because I was teaching what is considered among dancers “modern Bachata,” so I was putting in turn patterns and a whole bunch of twists and this and that. To the everyday Dominican dancer it wasn’t recognized as Bachata. In 2007 I posted a video for no reason and it got over eight million views in the early days of YouTube. A lot of people liked it and a lot of people hated it. I didn’t understand why but it was three years before I went to the Dominican Republic and actually seeing how the people of that culture actually dance. When I went to the Dominican Republic in 2010 I saw how the people dance, I went “Yo, yo, yoooo. Aight, this looks completely different from what I’m doing/teaching/selling to people as this is how you dance Bachata.” This was really how I danced Bachata and not how Bachata is danced.
My mother always taught me to do what was right and to be a person of integrity. Now that I knew the truth, I felt that especially because I’m representing a culture that’s not mine. I knew that I should respect the roots so I literally went back to the drawing board, threw everything away that I was teaching and started over from scratch. It took me a while to get back to teaching again because I wanted to represent the Dominican culture the correct way, and for me, I never sought the approval of people in the dance community, but rather I wanted to prove it to the Dominicans because this is their dance, their culture, their history, their music. Therefore, for me, when a Dominican person looks at me and says “Yeah, that’s Bachata” or when they come to my class and they say, “You know what, I’ve lived this every day and I never thought about it like this, the way that you explained it. I want to go back and listen to more music.”
“My mother always taught me to do what was right and to be a person of integrity”
Some Dominicans have been inspired to play an instrument, to learn how to play güira or learn how to play bongó because they thought my class was so interesting and now they start to pay attention to it and [genuinely] want to learn how to do that and they’re getting good. I’m not saying that I’m revolutionizing things, but again, for certain people [my teaching] is changing how they think or how they hear music and how they think to teach what is theirs, what they live and breathe every day. If it’s something you do naturally, that you do every day, that is common sense and that you’ve been doing since you were five minutes old, to you it’s like, well this is common sense, why doesn’t everyone know this? But everyone that didn’t grow up in that space are clueless.
The Dominican Community has embraced me and I think it’s because I changed what I was doing to adapt to what they do and the way that they do it as opposed to this is how I do it, I’m going to label it the same thing and you guys are just going to have to deal with it, which is what a lot of other people are doing and I don’t think that’s right.
“A lot the people do not understand what I do because they do not understand the Dominican culture”
Have I ever been ever come across a situation where I felt unwelcome within Dominican culture? Yes, I have. For whatever reason, on the dance scene, I’m labeled as a purist or traditional or that I hate everything else and that couldn’t be further from the truth. This is what I choose to represent, again, because this is not my culture. I’m labeling you something that already has a basic structure of how to dance. [Bachata] already has a music to it and for me to sell something completely, completely different and give it the same title is wrong and is not accurate. Again, a lot of the negative feedback comes from people in the dance community that may or may not have ever been to the Dominican Republic, or who may or may not have been to the East Coast, or who may have never been around Caribbean people. Maybe they were just around their friends, which is fine. I tell people, “You will never understand it until you go there or until you are among the people of that culture.” Whatever culture it is that you are trying learn, you’ll never understand it from somebody else who is not from that culture. A lot the people do not understand what I do because they do not understand the Dominican culture.
I do what is right and do my best to be accurate. I take pride in being the voice of people that I have a soft spot for and people that I just love and admire. I love the culture and I’m always going to continue to represent Dominicans as best as I can and be a voice for the music. I'm going to do my best to represent the voice that cannot be heard.
N. Santana: Can you please explain how any interested parties (individuals, institutions, or any other entity) can contact you? Also, what services do you provide?
Yes, I can share my info. My Instagram is ccbachata. I have a Web site, https://www.ccbachata.com/ which has a contact button. My email is ccbachata1@gmail.com. My Facebook is Carlos Cinta.
With regard to the services that I provide, I teach dance. However, I am mostly known for the musicality breakdowns. (Cinta addressed many of these matters in previous responses.) I have three different classes that I created. There is one that’s just the instruments. As I mentioned previously, digging deeper, peeling apart all the layers of what the instruments do. This class is an introduction. The second musicality class is where I explain the structure of the music and breaking down what each of the instruments do within each structure. From the verse to the chorus to the mambo, each instrument plays differently. In the first class it’s like, “Hi, my name is…” The second class “this is what I do for a living.” The third class, which is one of the more important ones, is the interpretation class. In this class students are able to hear everything, understand the structure. Now, how do I apply this knowledge to when I’m dancing? In actuality, what I do is teach people how to interpret the music, how to interpret the structures, how to interpret the energies. The music tells you what to do before it does it? Students learn how to listen to the instrument, which provides them with clues on what is coming next in the song. When this instrument does this, the music is going to get more exciting, when this instrument does this, the musician is letting dancers know to calm down because the singer is going to start singing. And so now people can dance to the actual music without knowing the song, but because they understand the structure, it makes dancing a lot easier. My services are: DJ, music editor, and instructor. I do weddings, quinceañeras, and all sorts of events. I recently played non-stop music for an hour at an art gallery for a friend. That’s what I do.
N. Santana: In addition to being a DJ, educator, and music editor, what other aspirations or interests do you have?
I touched upon this in a previous answer, but I’ll provide some details. Right now I coach varsity high school football. At the moment, I’m learning more about anatomy muscle functions. How the body functions. What internally rotates, externally rotates, things like that. The body is fascinating. You may think this is unrelated to music, but at the same time, it also helps tremendously with dancing. Sometimes someone is unable to do this because a muscle hurts. Perhaps another person is unable to do that because they have weak ankles. I don’t want to get too nerdy, but, basically something is causing your leg to internally rotate, which in turn is putting a lot of pressure on your knee and your knee is now starting to cave in. And oh, this is an ACL injury waiting to happen. A lot of times people are at the gym and they push, push, push, push, push, push, push, but never do any pulls. Guess what? Well, that’s why everything is rounded forward. Sometimes that’s why people have problems with their rotator cuff.
Sometimes people feel pain in their hips, their lower back. In reality, what they may have are tight hip flexors in front. Sometimes the pain is a referred pain where one part of the body hurts, but it sometimes could be because an opposite body part is extremely tight, causing the pain on the opposite body part. For example, the front side may be so tight that it’s causing the backside to hurt. To close the question, coaching and anything sports-related, please sign me up. I’ll do it all day long.
N. Santana: As a world traveler, which have been your favorite and least favorite places to visit?
Oh, man! Obviously, the Caribbean is definitely of my favorite place to visit because, again, this is the culture and the music that we’re teaching. When we go and see it live we’re like little kids.
I don’t know really have a least favorite. Even if I did have a least favorite place, I don’t think I’d admit to it in an interview. I like a lot of places in Europe. I have been to a lot of places, but there are also a lot of places that I haven’t visited.
I really honestly like a lot of the places because of the people. It is a privilege to be able to learn more about another culture and visit new places. I’m definitely a foodie and enjoy eating different foods.
Finland is beautiful, just the nature and all the lakes. I went kayaking and went fishing. That brought me back to when I was a kid in daycare because we would go to a little pond. I really like Poland. Those clubs are packed all the time. No matter the economic situation of people there, it doesn’t stop the people from living, it doesn’t stop them from having fun. So I really appreciated that. I thought that was really cool.
Holland is my favorite European country. If I ever move out of the U.S., you could find me somewhere in Holland. And that’s because there are so many Caribbean people there. Not necessarily the Latin American Caribbean people, but the Dutch Antillean Islands like Aruba, Borneo, Curacao. A lot of people that grew up in the Caribbean live there and vice versa. So again, going back to when I was in San Diego and the Dominican club is just people that I’m comfortable around. As I mentioned earlier, just blunt, honest, no filter, loud people and I love it.
I love Brussels. Australia was cool. There are just so many memories from a lot of places. It’s hard question to answer. Holland is the best for me for what I like and it’s not to take anything away from any other place.
Carlos Cinta/Photo: https://carloscinta.com/.
N. Santana: If you were not involved in the work you do, what do you think you would be doing instead?
I would be coaching and training.
N. Santana: Are you currently working on a new project? If so, can you give ESENDOM readers a sneak peek of the project or projects that lie ahead?
I really want to expand on the teacher training program that I’ve been doing. This is this is my new baby. Teaching dance is cool, but being a teacher and really understanding what makes good teachers and what is the opposite of good teachers. There are many phenomenal dancers. But again, just because you can dance doesn’t mean you can teach. You have the knowledge, but can you transfer that knowledge? Like my buddy Ronald says, “Can you transfer that knowledge to somebody else?” That is what a teacher is. I’ve done my teacher training program twice. First time in Chicago. The second time was at the Bachata Paradise Festival in Las Terrenas. It’s always that Memorial Day weekend. It’s a small group and we go eight to 12 hours.
“ I love the culture and I’m always going to continue to represent Dominicans as best as I can and be a voice for the music. I’m going to do my best to represent the voice that cannot be heard. ”
I don’t teach one dance. Imagine that. I don’t teach one dance step during those twelve hours, not one, but it’s really just all the philosophies and my methods of how I teach, how I break things down. It’s one of those scenarios that people go, “Wow, I never thought about it like that.” How could you not think about it like this. It's common sense, but again, to me it is.
Thinking about it food-wise, we have appetizers and we have dessert. We got the main course. We may have a little drink at the end, you know, as an analogy. There are a lot of parties involved in the process, but it makes it a full, complete process. The Carlos Cinta Teacher Training program I highly recommend. I try spicing it up with more ideas, really trying to take it to the next level. I can’t say what that is, but be on the lookout for that because is is good stuff. It’s for everybody including people that already are teachers, people that want to learn how to teach, people that have thought about being teachers but just haven’t had the opportunity, people that teach at the local Mexican bar. This project has nothing to do with Bachata. The videos and examples that I give are Bachata because that’s what I teach. However, because I am teaching concepts and not steps, you can substitute Bachata with whatever you want, including Salsa or Zumba, for example. You can swap out the videos and the steps or the content with whatever dance you pick and it’s a fit for everybody. I’ve had Kizomba teachers in there. I’ve had filmmakers in there. I’ve had engineers in my class. It’s for everyone.
N. Santana: Lastly, if you were to create a playlist of the best or most influential songs, what songs would be included on your playlist?
This is a good question. That is a tough question because I cannot even tell you how many songs I have. I have somewhere close to 10,000 Bachata songs in a USB. In my opinion, the G.O.A.T. is Raulín Rodríguez, followed by Romeo [Santos]. I would say Raulín for the classics and Romeo for the more recent music. To me this is like Jordan and Lebron. I have 19 of Raulín’s albums. I separated 94 songs…classics…that I found in Raulín’s repertoire. When it comes to Romeo, this Utopia album is genius. The production, the idea is just genius. My playlist will have a lot of Merengue. Merengue had its time. A lot of people say that it has fallen, but I don’t agree. I’m getting into the classics, Merengue from the eighties. Benny Sadel, Zafiro, Fernando Villalona, and Sergio Vargas are among my favorites. Ala Jaza is killing it. Omega is always going to be one of my favorites. You can’t go wrong with Antony Santos. You can’t go wrong with the bachateros that do Merengue. I can’t answer this question, it’s too much.
Emmanuel Espinal and Amaury Rodríguez contributed to this interview.
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