Merengue and bachata: the sound of the island

Merengue is the official national music, a fast two step built on accordion, tambora drum and güira scraper. It came out of the countryside in the nineteenth century, was pushed onto the world stage in the twentieth and is still what fills a Dominican dance floor at a wedding. Bachata grew up later and poorer, in the bars of the barrios, telling stories of heartbreak with guitar and bongo. For decades it was dismissed as music for the working class. Today it is a global genre and Dominican artists dominate it. On the north coast you can hear both almost every night. The Malecón in Puerto Plata has open air music at weekends, colmados across the city put speakers on the pavement, and Cabarete's beach bars run live sets in high season. You do not need to know the steps. Somebody will show you, usually within about a minute of you standing up.