Historia General del Pueblo Dominicano Tomo VI

Historia general del pueblo dominicano 737 Se acabó la bulla, se acabó. Se acabán los guapos, se acabó. Ni « colú» ni « bolo», se acabó. Eso de partidos, se acabó. 80 It is significant that Trujillo, who was not from the Cibao, adopted a music from this region as a national symbol; his status as a national rather than a regional caudillo allowed him to transcend established Dominican patterns of regional politics. In 1936, the dictator brought Luis Alberti’s group to the capital to work as his personal dance band. Renamed Orquesta Presidente Trujillo, the band was required to specialize in merengue. Merengue cibaeño had never been performed in elite ballrooms outside the Cibao, and upper-class capitaleños were shocked to hear it at their functions. 81 But no one openly questioned the dictator’s taste, and merengue was eventually accepted, if not adored, by the socialites. All of the country’s dance bands were required to feature merengue in their repertories, and accordion-based merengue cibaeño groups performed throughout the country. The iron will of a dictator thus transformed a regional music, merengue cibaeño, into a symbol of the state recognized throughout the country. A novel fusion of rustic and sophisticated stylistic elements characterized the merengue performed in the elite salons. Singer Joseito Mateo describes the impression that Luis Alberti’s Orquesta made on young musicians when it debuted in the capital in 1936: Luis Alberti went straight to high society, because it was an elite band, sponsored by Trujillo. Trujillo had them play in the salons, and when we first saw them, they looked fine. And also, he was a great musi- cian. This was another class of merengue; the musicians played better. That is, they respected what is called the etiquette of music, with all its signs, markings such as crescendo, mordento [ sic ], moderato, like [classical] music. They did that; so it sounded truly beautiful. 82 Alberti’s band played jazz-influenced interpretations of the traditional merengue cibaeño repertory, utilizing big band instrumentation augmented with tambora, güira, and piano accordion. The latter gave a button accordion —like effect, but its capacity to execute complex harmonies better suited Alberti’s sophisticated style.