Historia General del Pueblo Dominicano Tomo VI

734 Popular Music and Identity since the Nineteenth Century in the repertories of Cibao dance bands; a practice of ending every ball with a merengue, usually « Juangomero», developed. 70 The fact that high society violently scorned merengue before the invasion, but embraced it during and after the occupation, suggests that there is a link between neo-colonial domination and the rise of cultural nationalism. The mood of resistance, however, did not halt the encroachment of North American cultural hegemony, which manifested itself in growing taste for U.S. popular culture both during and after the occupation. As the story about the pambiche’s origin suggests, Dominicans were intrigued by the dances that the Marines brought. Similarly, U.S. inventions such the gramophone and radio piqued peoples’ interest. These new technologies spread North American culture, since most of the existing recorded music came from the U.S.. At the same time, however, this new technology created opportunities for Dominicans to disseminate their own art. The earliest recordings of Dominican music, five danzones and three danza-like merengues composed by Juan Espínola, were made in New York City by the Orquesta Internacional by the Victor Talking Machine Company in the early 1920s. Julio Alberto Hernández’s « Santiago» was also recorded in New York during this period. The first recordings made within the Dominican Republic itself appeared in 1928, when Victor recorded six selections at radio station HIX, which included a salon version of Ñico Lora’s merengue « La rigola». 71 Recordedmusic from the North began tomake inroads onDominican taste in the 1920s, when jazz-influenced dance music became popular. In 1921, Juan Pablo « Pavín» Tolentino founded Orquesta Bohemia, which soon displaced Juan Espínola’s group as Santiago’s top dance band. It started out as a danzón group using two clarinets, cornet, baritone horn, string bass, and percussion, but by the end of the decade it had become a jazz band consisting of three saxophones (or clarinets), cornet, violin, baritone horn, tuba, banjo, trap drums, and other percussion. 72 As one can imagine, the jazz vogue did not meet a wholly favorable reaction in the face of anti-U.S. sentiment, and some musicians « boycotted» North American music. 73 Nevertheless, jazz-tinged popular music continued to gain favor; socialites were attracted to its cosmopolitan image, while musicians looked to it as a factor for creative choice. In 1928, a newgroup, called Jazz Band-Alberti started performing inCibao salons. 74 Pavín Tolentino also led an excellent group called Orquesta Bohemia, and as the top bandleaders in the area, Alberti and Tolentino competed. When Orquesta Bohemia added a banjo to facilitate jazz performance, Alberti had to get one. Merengue played a role in this rivalry when Alberti learned several merengues on the piano accordion in 1933 and crated arrangements that