Merengue Típico: Nueva Generación!

These ten vintage 45 rpm rompers, most around three to four minutes long, are from the late 60s and early 70s. Their sound quality is lower than might be expected for the period, the cuts being a touch trebly, lacking bass even on powerful speakers. The ingredients of this Dominican speedfest are accordions, basses, double-headed tambora percussion and vocals. Impatient rhythms run rampant, lightning fingers dance over keys, skins and strings, singers hollering with precision phrasing. Small drums clatter boxily, metal scrapes, accordion palpitates, and on ‘Caña Brava’, by Fefita La Grande (a rare female voice in this genre), there are nimble saxophone licks. Another highlight is ‘Por La Mañanita’ by Negrito Figueroa with its more angular vocal phrasing. Often the voice styles hail from an earlier period, possessed of quavering vibrato and distortion. There’s a great ring to the drums, tonally tuned and reverberantly knocking. The basslines (sounding electric) tend to prowl around at a slower rate. These songs are marvels of accelerated interlocking, creating a party sound of unnerving complexity.