Historia General del Pueblo Dominicano Tomo VI

Historia general del pueblo dominicano 735 fused merengue with jazz. Alberti made a big hit with this innovation, but he could not maintain his competitive edge on Tolentino, because the following weekend Orquesta Bohemia appeared reinforced with Manuel Lora’s trío, one of the best típico merengue groups of the Cibao. 75 This was a significant innovation; as noted above, earlier forms of salon merengue were stylistically removed from merengue típico cibaeño. The tambora, güira, and piano accordion were permanently incorporated into Alberti and Tolentino’s bands and gained permanent places in Dominican ballrooms. By fusing merengue with encoaching North American influences, Cibao musicians posed a subtle challenge to neo-colonial cultural hegemony. Based in several regions of the country, the several manifestations of Dominican resistance to the occupation eventually met success. While it did not attain a military victory, the guerilla action of the East succeeded in sapping Marine morale. Meanwhile, the Cibao-based nationalist movement and international program of protest challenged the occupation on cultural and diplomatic fronts. Insurrection and resistance via expressive culture are analogous; Umberto Eco calls the latter « semiotic guerilla warfare». 76 When facedwith amilitarily superior force, one cannot engage open combat. Instead, one undermines the enemy and bolsters one’s own position through the use of psychological means, sabotage, and propaganda. Even the humble anecdote about the pambiche’s origin wages semiological war by demonstrating Dominicans’ invincibility on the dancefloor. Like the guerilla action of the East, the virulent cultural nationalism of the Cibao elites was a thorn in the side of the military government, demonstrating the falsity of U.S. officials’ claim that Dominicans favored the occupation. Because the occupying forces could find few collaborators, they were unable to create a stable regime. Calder cites this as an important factor in the relative brevity of the occupation as compared with U.S. occupations elsewhere in the Caribbean. 77 N ational C onsolidation and R acial P aradoxes : M erengue during the E ra of T rujillo Centralization of political power was integral to Trujillo’s program. This represented a drastic change from the regionalism that had hitherto characterized Dominican politics. Centralization was made possible largely through the legacy of the U.S. occupation. The Marines had built roads