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Ramon Bodden, long time community activist, president and founder of La Comunidad Primero, a local community organization will be hosting a conference on the history of Merengue next week.
Photos by Karen Galán
“El Maestro” is coming to visit, and Washington Heights, the Dominican capital of New York City, is rolling out the red carpet.
As it should, according to long-time community activist Ramon Bodden, president and founder of La Comunidad Primero, a local cultural and community organization, who explains that it will be hosting a conference on the history of Merengue next week.
“Rafael Solano is a national glory,” said Bodden, a self-described Dominican-Swiss citizen who spent over two decades establishing a Dominican cultural center in Stockholm, and whose years of work and community activism in Washington Heights extend for more than 50 years.
Rafael Solano, “El Maestro,” a Dominican pianist, songwriter, composer, arranger and author, credited with writing over a hundred songs, is considered a master of Dominican music. Solano’s compositions include folk, ballads, and most famously, merengue, a genre on which he’ll be delivering a history lesson.
“Merengue is engrained in Dominican history. It has been present in all stages of the Dominican struggle; it’s the popular expression of the Dominican people in historical terms,” said Bodden.
Solano’s song, “Por Amor,” has been billed the most famous Dominican song in the world. It has been translated into numerous languages, and interpreted by various singers and performers across Latin America and Europe.
Next week “El Maestro Solano,” as he is often referred to, will be directing an “illustrated conference” held at Gregorio Luperon High School, which will explore the history of Merengue, a music genre and dance synonymous with the Dominican Republic whose reach and cultural meaning has extended through all of Latin America.
“Maestro Solano is calling this an illustrated conference, because he will be discussing the origins and history of Merengue,” said Bodden. “El Maestro will be using music to accompany his words in explaining each phase of the genre and its development through the years.”
Born in San Felipe de Puerto Plata on April 10th,1931, Solano, now 80 years old, will be visiting a neighborhood Bodden said is dear to him, in a City where he has lived and has loved.
“El Maestro loves Washington Heights; he loves this City, and is aware of the historical and cultural significance it has for people of the Dominican Republic,” said Bodden.
Bodden also said he’s hoping the conference will attract a younger audience who should be interested in learning about the culture and musical past of their native country.
Arguing that popular culture today, and genres such as bachata, can seem to leave little room for learning about the past, its music, and the history of a specific genre, Bodden said he hopes holding the conference at Gregorio Luperon High School will spark some of the students’ curiosity.
“It’s important for our younger generations to learn about the music their grandparents and parents danced to,” reflected Bodden.
“Merengue is not a thing of today; our grandparents danced to it, and our youth should widen its cultural horizons by learning about it.”
“Merengue: La Musica Popular de la Republica Dominicana” will be open to the public at no cost.
The conference will be held on Sun. Nov. 20th at 5 pm at the Gregorio Luperon High School on the corner of West 165th Street and Amsterdam Avenue.
For more information please call 212.864.6207.
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