Merengue

Merengue on vinyl: the dance of the Dominican Republic

In short: Merengue is the dance music of the Dominican Republic – fast, joyful and driven by accordion, the tambora drum and the metal scraper güira. In the seventies and eighties orchestras with horns and keyboards carried merengue far beyond the island; since 2016 it has been part of UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage. The Vinyl Room currently has 31 merengue records.

What is merengue?

From the countryside to the city: Trío Reynoso are represented with “A Sacar La Yuca” – merengue in its rural line-up with accordion, tambora and güira. Wilfrido Vargas and Félix del Rosario with “¡La Escoba!” stand for orchestral merengue with horns.

Plus Latin American dance orchestras such as Costa Brava with “Dando De Que Hablar” and Los Satélites with “Vuelven Los Satelites”, as well as the Latin Spice Band with “Navidad Latina”. Under this style tag we also have recordings from Colombia and Cuba, for example by Pedro Laza and the Lecuona Cuban Boys.

What to look for

Many of our merengue records date from the sixties to the eighties; label, catalogue number and year of release help you tell which edition you have – it’s noted with each copy.

From our stock

First pressings

New in

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FAQ

Where does merengue come from? From the Dominican Republic.

Which instruments are part of it? Accordion, tambora and güira, later also horns and keyboards.

Is merengue cultural heritage? Yes, since 2016 it has been part of UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Which merengue records do you have? Here, for example, Félix del Rosario’s “¡La Escoba!” and Trío Reynoso’s “A Sacar La Yuca”.