Historia General del Pueblo Dominicano Tomo VI

Historia general del pueblo dominicano 745 the home‑boy that I am, I had to limit myself, heeding the advice of a saying which I later learned: « If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em». 104 Ventura’s use of musical materials appropriated from the neo-colonial power within the rubric of a time-tested national symbol was a culturally empowering move that offset squashed hopes for political self-determination. As a form of contradictory popular culture partaking of both dominance and subordination, Ventura’s music served as a subtle form of resistance to U.S. hegemony analogous to the strategies of merengue as « semiotic guerrilla warfare» employed during the U.S. occupation of 1916-24. 105 The lifting of a ban that Trujillo had placed on internal migration, combined with steady population growth and the failure of Balaguer’s land reform program, led to a massive rural-to-urban flight, which caused over- crowding in cities. The swelling urban population, Balaguer’s repressive measures, and changes in U.S. immigration law also fomented out- migration. The advent of a Dominican diaspora was part and parcel of the general trend of increased intercourse with the outside world. The results of all this affected the lives of expatriates and island-dwellers alike, and the Dominican Republic became a « transnational community» 106 Associated with both modernity and tradition, merengue played an important role in arbitrating new Dominican realities. The national music was a link with the Dominican Republic for those in the diáspora, and its creative incorporation of outside elements made it a vital site for the domestication transnational popular culture at home. Johnny Ventura was the top merenguero during the 1960s, but trumpeter and bandleader Wilfrido Vargas became the most innovative and influential bandleader in the 1970s and ‘80s. Many bands in the ensuing years practiced what was called fusilamiento , basing merengue arrangements on foreign hits. While Wilfrido Vargas often used Colombian and Haitian material, most fusilamiento was based on Latin American or Spanish romantic baladas . Salsa versions of baladas were also recorded. A new rhythm called the el maco came to be used as the basis of many merengues beginning in the late 1970s. A subject of controversy, its origin is not known, but early versions were recorded by Negrito Truman ( « La cúcara», in 1961), Cheché Abreu, and Aníbal Bravo. 107 In the 1980s, Los Hermanos Rosario became especially identified with this rhythm and by the 1990s, the maco was more prevalent than the typical Cibao-style percussion pattern. The influential folklorist Fradique Lizardo argued that Dominican popular music underwent such drastic changes in the late twentieth century