Chimbala, El Alfa and Tokischa discuss how the once-banned Dominican genre is finally gaining global recognition.
It is a historic moment not only for Chimbala, but the genre of dembow — a Dominican style of music identified by its playful, rapid drum pattern and carefree energy, which has endured a slow rise to prominence. The sold-out concert, titled Chimbala y el Movimiento, took place on March 26 and featured performances from Justin Quiles, dembow newcomer Chucky73,and bachata legend Frank Reyes, among others.
Upon construction of the United Palace venue in 1930, Washington Heights was home to mostly Irish and eastern European Jewish immigrants. There were no Dominican restaurants, bachata melodies seeping from bodegas, or waves of pulsating Spanish-Caribbean rhythms with every passing car. Today, the neighborhood has morphed into a cultural heartbeat for Dominican-Americans, playing a pivotal role in the explosion of dembow beyond Caribbean borders.
Even local airwaves have since shifted in the genre’s favor. “If you turn on the radio today in the Dominican Republic, the stations are all killing themselves to get the latest dembow tracks first,” says El Alfa, the most globally recognized name in dembow, with a triumphant grin. “If things keep going how they’re going, dembow will become one of the most listened to genres in the world.”
Not long ago, El Alfa, like Chimbala, faced Dominican media’s dismissal of dembow amid his growing popularity in the early 2000s. At 18, he had his first local hit, 2009’s “Coche Bomba,” a 107 beats-per-minute DIY dembow track that permeated his native island. “When I’d go to the television and radio stations, they’d say, ‘No, we can’t play that.’ But you step in the streets, and all you could hear was dembow.”and is currently on her first U.S.
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