DINAFOLK celebrates the National Merengue Day with lots of music and dancing

DINAFOLK celebrates the National Merengue Day with lots of music and dancing
Dominican Republic, National District, November 26, 2012

As part of the “National Merengue Day”celebration,the Ministry of Culture, through the National Directorate of Folklores (DINAFOLK for its acronym in Spanish), surprisedpeople walking by in the avenues, squares and parks of Santo Domingo with groups of “pericoripiao” and dancing couples.

Since the early morning hours, the dance groups put on display the cadence and expression of the folk Merengue or “pericoripiao” to the delight of people walking by, motorists and employees who were en route to their work places.

Since the early morning hours, the dance groups put on display the cadence and expression of the folk Merengue or “pericoripiao” to the delight of people walking by, motorists and employees who were en route to their work places.

Dozens of people enjoyed the music and the typical Dominican dance at the Enriquillo Park, the Pope John Paul II Park, the Venezuela Avenue, the 27 de FebreroBoulevard,and the Güibia Square.

As part of this national celebration, DINAFOLK also paid tribute tothree musical celebritiesthat made history in the Dominican Merengue: Ramón Orlando Valoy, DionisFernández and donRadhamés Reyes Alfau(deceased), author of the legendary piece “LaMaricutana”. The tribute included displaying their portraits in DINAFOLK’s Gallery of Merengue.

With this initiative, DINAFOLK remindsDominicansof the importance of Merengue, the musical genre that best identifies Dominicansat the national and international levels. In thisregard, Edis Sánchez, head of the National Directorate of Folklores, said that next year several projects will be implemented whose purpose isto strengthen the Merengue and to improve its presence at national events and in the media.

“We plan for Merengue to be present atall events and,given that we Dominicans carryMerenguein our blood, we just have to enliven it by disseminating itat all levels to get people back to their roots and so that young people return and savor how rich our Merengueis.”

He said thatthe agency for which he is responsible, in partnership with the Ombudsman ofMerengue, AméricoMejía Lama, and Chaljub Mejia, will organize events and workshops of Merengueappreciation to awaken the interest of the new generation.

By the same token, he urged young people to pay more attention to their musical roots, “after our patriotic symbols what identifies our nation more is Merengue; in this regard, they should make an effort to get to know it, learn it and disseminate it.”

The choice of this date, Sánchez said, is to honor that on a day like this in 1854, the newspaper El Oasis published the word Merengueto designate the music that was played with güira, tambora and accordion.