Merengue music has been a part of my life for many years now.  I began playing Merengue in high school, but not until I matriculated into college did I appreciate its true significance.  As I studied the generational development of Merengue music from the Palos to the Palm biche, I noticed a trend emerging.  Merengue was acclimating with the migration of people.  For example, the Palm biche is an adjusted form of Merengue for the Marines that were in the Dominican Republic during the occupation by the United States.  Also, Merengue music fused with the big band style of Jazz from the U. S.  Merengue was being reborn, with every new migration in or out of the country. 
I was extremely fascinated by this phenomenon of migration and development of new forms of music.  Furthermore, I noticed this phenomenon occurring with another type of music, known as Bhangra.  Bhangra came about in United Kingdom due to large population of Punjabi immigrants to England.  Having the need to adjust to a new land and still keep their cultural essence, and adapting a new sense of identity amongst the old. This paper will explore musically how this migration of people to the United States causes the formation of Bhangra and modern Merengue.

Merengue in Dominican Republic Post Trujillo
   
Trujillo took Merengue and used it to advertise his cause in politics and through this it become an identity for the Dominican People.  But not until Trujillo’s rein ended in the 1960’s did Merengue begin to develop beyond “…simple harmonic… (Austerlitz, pg. 105).”  The music began to be influenced by foreign styles that were taboo during Trujillo’s time.   An account from Austerlitz book of the “King of Merengue,” Joseito Mateo discusses how Merengue began to change:

“[M]usic from other countries [had been used] in merengue [such as]… cumbias, baladas…And since it has different musical structure, more beautiful arrangements could be made. (Austerlitz, pg. 106)”

This change brought revolution to the sound of Merengue.  Not only was music from Columbia other Latin American countries used in Merengue but the great American music such as Jazz and funk had begun to influence Merengue.  There was a change in rhythm patterns for saxophones and trumpets, yet there was a solid Dominican grove to the songs. 
   
There was always an underlying idea of socialist conformation in music during Trujillo’s time; however there was liberation of philosophy that came about after Trujillo.  There was a “…literary sophistication [that brought] a new note in Merengue (Austerlitz, pg. 107).”  A new leaf was turned over, a different view on racial and social issues were being discussed in Merengue.  Many artists tried to bring the Dominican-Haitian community.  One such artist was Juan Luis Guerra.  Guerra attempted to bring the Dominican community closer to their Haitian counter parts, through such songs as “A pedir su mano.”  Nevertheless, it was not received with same warmth it was intended to have.  

Origins of “Bhangra”
   
Bhangra in actuality is a dance form. It was originally performed in Punjab, India, as celebration for sugar cane harvest.  Punjabi folk, or “Log geet,” is the lyrical/musical bases for today’s “Bhangra.”  These were performed along side the dance of Bhangra.  The main instruments used in this celebration were the dholak, a two headed drum that used two thin pieces of wood as drum sticks, and dholaki, smaller two headed hand drum.  Along with a toomba, this is a piece of wood with a single string attached to it that is played with a small stone, comparable to Brazilian instrument berimbau in design.   Typically it was played by the singer. 
   
The songs were known as boliyan (or Sitka depending on region of Punjab), which literally mean words.  They were in the typical AB format of poetry; there was a base line and rhyming line that would be creation of the performer.  This was performed especially in wedding celebrations as a way to tease the groom’s side of the wedding party.  This tradition has been in rural regions of Punjab for many generations.  The combination of the drumming and lyrical flair of the singer gave excellent foundation for the elaborate dancing of Bhangra to be performed. 
   
Furthermore, log geet and Bhangra were main attractions at a mela.  A Mela is an Indian festival and at these melas there were rides, music, food and socializing between the people of the town.  This tradition is one that has manifested itself in the United Kingdom and the United States. Much like artist in India or Pakistan came to the melas to perform Bhangra.  Artistes join in the celebration of culture and people in the melas of the United States and United Kingdom today.  This is one of the traditions that have been carried over from the migrating South Asian population.

Migration of the Dominican People
   
Reasons for migration of the Dominican people are no different from any other migrant populations during the 1960’s.  Many Dominicans left their native land to come to the United States as a way to increase their quality of life.  In New York City interestingly enough the migration population in the 1990’s had “…an estimated 900,000 Dominicans-12 percent of the [Dominican Republic’s] population live in the United States (Austerlitz, pg. 123).”  With migrant populations came migrant culture.  There was a large increase in Merengue bands in the New York City area during the 1980’s. 
  
Many of the middle class people that came to the United States from the Dominican Republic were forced to take jobs that were otherwise would be considered for a lesser class of people.  Austerlitz mentions this:

“While early studies of Dominican migration to United States had posited that most entrants were from rural and lower-class backgrounds, later studies revealed that many were members of the middle-class, forced to take jobs lower on the social scale than they would have held at home. (pg.124)”

South Asian migrant populations in the United States during 1980’s also went through a similar progression.  Nevertheless, the population of Dominicans in the United States sent money back to the Dominican Republic that “…accounted for 10 percent of the Dominican GDP (Gross Domestic Product), [and] almost equaled the amount earned by the country’s chief export industry… (Austerlitz, pg. 124)” 

Migration of South Asians
  
After World War II with the removal of the British Empire in South Asia there was a large population of migrants from India/Pakistan to England and later to the United States.  There was an influx of Punjabi people in early the 1950’s, “… [that migrated] to Britain to meet…demand[s] for unskilled manual labour” (Bennett, pg. 105).  Bennett further discusses how South Asian families manifested themselves into the English community:

“‘The majority of Punjabi families settled in ‘immigrant’ quarters of London and the industrial cities of the English Midlands and remained invisible to the indigenous populations political, social and cultural concerns’” (Bennett, pg. 105).

A similar pattern also occurred around the 1950’s in the United States, however during that time there was an influx of professionals and graduate students. 
Discussed by one such professional, a PhD in the economics and retired economics professor in Blackburn College in Illinois states:

 “…During the 1950’s at Texas A & M, I was the only West Pakistani getting a doctorate… In the 50’s there were only professionals and graduate students that came to United States to go back after receiving education to Pakistan…there were no undergraduate students from Pakistan in the United States at this time (interview with Iqbal Akhter, PhD economics)”

The demographics began to change in the later 70’s and 80’s, in the United States.  There were labor workers and business oriented people that came to United States.  Their goal differed from the previous generation of people.  They came to United States for better opportunities financially.  They came to work and send money back to their native lands, and establish businesses.   

Identity for the Unidentified

Dominican Cultural Half-Breads
   
Merengue in the Dominican Republic had already been established as an identity by Trujillo.  But what about the generation that is a part of the first born in the United States? From an interview that I have conducted I found that the Merengue is an identity for them.  Nevertheless, when looking at the modern form merengue today, one that has began to change in phrasing, instrumentation and as well as lyrical content, you can see that there is a new trend emerges.  An excerpt from an interview that I conducted with Silismar Suriel, a coordinator at the Center for Latino arts and culture, Rutgers University, states:

“Merengue in the early 90’s began to change; it became less poetic…romantic and more about small catchy phrases that can repeat and more poppy.”

What is this progression due to?  I would ask why this would occur.
   
Homi Bhabha gives an interesting theory about “third space.” It is explained in a paper written Paul Meredith when he discussed Bhabha idea:

 “At the point at which the colonizer presents a normalizing, Hegemonic practice, the hybrid strategy opens up a third space of/for rearticulating of negotiation and meaning. (pg.3)”

I see a duality in senses occurring that allows generations that are raised in a sense of duality.  One being the American surrounding and one at home as Dominicans.  It is a “third space” that they exist in, a place where there is Dominican identity as well as an American existence.  Many children of the 80’s and 90’s have formed a dual identity.  I believe in part to globalization and due to a need to associate with something that is greater than you.

An excellent example of this duality can be seen in an excerpt from Austerlitz work, he states:

“I once asked a Dominican teenager in New York what kind of music she liked.  ‘American’ music, she replied.  I pressed, asking whether she cared for Latin music-salsa Merengue. She answered that salsa was not much to her liking but that ‘of course I like Merengue. I’m Dominican. (pg. 129)”

If carefully examined the comments supports Homi Bhaba’s concept of third space, In example if you notice how the person says that she listens to “:American” music and that “…of course I like Merengue. I’m Dominican.  Furthermore, living in the United States the younger generation has a tendency to identify with both their American self as well as their Dominican person; ultimately forming a new hybrid identity and a duality.

South Asian cultural Half-breads

Bhangra music has it origins in the region of Punjab, India, however, when in England and United States it represented more that just Punjabi people.  Bennett discusses some interesting points, he states:

 “[T]hrough unity and solidarity it is possible to affectively counteract such racism and racial exclusion[s]…unity and solidarity care centrally defining features…signifying a from of resistance through which young Asians mark out a new cultural territory for themselves…” (pg. 112)

The younger generation is in a struggle of identifying themselves as South Asians or British, but this not only in Britain but in the United States.  Moreover, this tug of war of cultural identity has fueled the formation of Bhangra.  The younger South Asian generation first to be born in the United States has taken the Punjabi folk songs and mixed them with different forms of pop music such as, hip-hop, house, and R&B. 
   
The need for the younger generation of South Asians to exist in duality where they have to adjust to their parents “traditional cultural backgrounds… [And the idea that] they should have nothing to do with [western culture]… are rejected… [and are considered]…antiquated ideas governed by religion and the pre-emigration sensibilities off [their] parent[s] culture (Bennett, pg. 112).”  Moreover, through such efforts to bring two identities together, through the formation of Bhangra, causes a bridge for them to represent where they come from and where they are.  As Paul Meredith assert when speaking of Homi Bhabha’s theory, “[H]ybridity… [Is] such a form of liminal or in-between space, where the ‘cutting edge of translation and negotiation’ which… [Is] term[ed] as the third space (pg. 20).”   Using Bhangra music and their cultural dissonance as fuel the young South Asian population fuse their ideas with the old and symbolically make relationship that articulates their “third space.”

Migrations Affects on Musical forms of Merengue and Bhangra

Merengue Progression in the United States
   
In the 1990’s merengue began to take a new light.  Merengue began to be fused with rock and other forms of music.  It went through a progression where it went from lyrically based to music that is more oriented to dancing, in the mid ‘90s Austerlitz mentions how in the early 90’s there was one such fusion merengue and rock:

“[Modern] merengue’s growing visibility inspired rocker David Byrne to ask Pascual (co-composer with Johnny Pacheco) to record with him a merengue/rock fusion piece, ‘Call of the Wild…’ (pg. 145)”

Merengue coming to United States opened eyes of the musicians of other styles.  In the later 90’s, as mentioned before, Merengue adapted a different feel.  It was no longer about a message.  It was about fun, fast and energetic horn phrasing with catchy chorus lines that had no real lyrical content or effort.  From personal experiences, I remember playing song such as “Lala Lala Lala la,” by La band loca, and that was the chorus of the song, and the rest of the song is would say “is merengue, is merengue not merengue…it something to dance to.”  This style of music became popular as a way to perform in the mid 90’s.

The later 90’s interestingly enough brought the lyrical basis back.  For example, a song done by Sergio Vargas entitled “Dile,” which spoke about how he was the first to love a woman.  This progression grabbed the lyrical basis of the early ‘90s and combined it with the instrumentation style of the mid ‘90s. Merengue went through a phase that was from coming from old style of Cibao to Merengue Tipico, to now what I refer to as Modern Merengue which fused more jazz oriented horn sections and flare trumpet parts that combined the mid 90's dancing influence with it’s older lyrical bases.      

Bhangra creation of United Kingdom and development in the United States
   
In the United Kingdom Bhangra brought together an otherwise shunned group.  During the 1970’s the music was innovated by groups like “Alaap, and Heera.”  These groups “…significantly modified the traditional Bhangra style, fusing it with the sounds of western popular music that members of these bands having grown up in Britain were also familiar with (Bennett pg. 106).” I can recall ravishing through my father’s old record and stumbling upon the Alaap group tape from the 80’s.  Listening to it, I was amazed to hear truly Punjabi lyrical base and hints of Punjabi musical taste, nonetheless, having a techno feel to the song.  Especially, the sound of the synthesizer that would add distortions to the breaking sequences in the song. 
   
Then there was an interesting progression with the coming of the early 90’s, the mixing of older recording of clearly folk songs with hip-hop beats and techno beats.  In my opinion took away from the lyrical content of the song, and degraded the value of the song; nevertheless, in a club scene was something new and fresh that would give a new prospective and sound to the older songs.  This was very popular well into the mid 90’s.  This also launched a mix DJ scene that became popular with many South Asians.  Spawned from the DJ scene came the South Asian MC scene, where many South Asians began to rap and assimilate rap sequences into meshed Punjabi folk.
   
As the 90’s came to an end, Bhangra came to another level where the DJ’s and MC’s, especially in the United States, began to get live musicians and make music that mixed R&B and hip-hop into Punjabi lyrics. For example, an up and coming artist, Bikram Singh singer from New York City, has taken house beats and added his own original lyrics.  This progression has brought the music through myriad of changes: From more lyrically and melodically based song style to just DJ tricks that give a new sound to the song, to a new wave where the songs are going back to a lyrical tradition but with a fresh and new sound that is easily mistaken for hip-hop, house or R&B; only in Punjabi. 

Paralleling Progression of Merengue and Bhangra in the United States
  
Both Merengue and Bhangra started off with traditional lyrical and instrumentation, however, as both music’s began to gain exposure they changed.  They began to assimilate forms of western music to them.  Either through cross-over Merengue/Rock piece like mentioned before, or by new forms of Punjabi music that were based on techno and synthesizers.  Furthermore, both Merengue and Bhangra went through a phase where they were no longer had cultural significance.   They began to adapt a feel of dance music in the early to mid 90’s in the United State.  Ultimately allowing the music to be exposed to an even bigger crowd of people, because it no longer spoke to a certain people it was just music.  Further allowing the people of the music, the younger South Asian and Dominican generations, to adjust and find their place in the jumble of American society and giving the younger generation a sense of identity.
   
This was even more prevalent in the later 90’s when ironically both forms of music went under another formal change.  Where the lyrical bases and creativity was brought back, still having the same dance feel that exposed it to a global prospective, but having a lyrical and contextual significance once again.  Fascinatingly, there is almost an uncanny resemblance to how migration of both people correlated to the development of music in similar, if not, identical patterns.  Thus proving the idea that migration of people and the need of the children of these migrant families to find their place in land that is theirs by birth causes something new to be generated and allows us of this generation to exist in duality.

Musical Analysis

Merengue Piece from late 90’s: “Tu Eres Ajena”by Heddy Herrera
   
This song does not open like many of the older Meringues where there was a European style opening that signaled to the crowd that a Merengue was coming on.  This piece rather has a jazz like flare to it, it’s smooth and driving right from the beginning of the song, where it introduces the melody.  After the introducing phrases by the horns, the singer goes into some quick improved words to engage the crowd.
   
The singer progresses into the lyrics which discuss how he was betrayed by a woman that he loved. She is a foreigner and someone else’s girl.  Then there is a break where there an almost jazz like mambo section, not having the swing of Jazz, but rather a mixture of choppy typical saxophone phrases with exciting trumpet parts that give a syncopating feeling. There are two mambo sections that have distinct sounds, one choppy and the other having a smoother, jazz like feel to it.  This piece is an example of the later 90’s progression of Merengue that came about as a result of the movement away from sole use of instruments and reintroduction of lyrical content.  Even though this song has been done as a Bachata and is not a new invention, but an older song redone, it still stands as an example of how Merengue music came to United States went back to Dominican Republic and came back to the United States as something new.

Bhangra Piece from 2005: “Insomnia” by Bikram Singh Feat. The1Shanti
   
This song opens up with Bikram Singh singing opening phrases that says “Don’t come to town…[translation from Punjabi]”  It breaks into a hip-hop beat, distinctly east coast in its groove, with the other artist The1Shanti rapping.  The rapping can be compared to freestyle rap competitions, one rapper against another.  Then it leads to the chorus in Punjabi which says: “Your days have come, you have angered lions… I’m not going to let you to sleep.”  Then it progresses like a typical rap song, leading back to a rap part.
   
There is an original base line that clearly hip-hop oriented, with an added Punjabi chorus and a hip-hop beat box adding to the sound.  This otherwise would not be considered Punjabi if the chorus was not in Punjabi.  This is a prime example of how the later 90’s brought a new bread of Bhangra artist into view.  This artist takes a Punjabi lyrical idea and adds hip-hop and a South Asian MC rapping to make something that is new and distinct in sound.  This is something that would not be fathomable by an older Bhangra artist, especially artists of traditional Log Geet.  This song is clearly comparable to gangster rap that discusses how “big and bad” an artist is.  It asserts the idea that if you were to cross this person you would be in trouble. 

Conclusion
   
Migration evokes many emotions in the migrant’s minds, nostalgia, sadness, even a sense of loss.  When people migrant from different countries they always piece of their country with them, either through art or through memories. These nostalgic devises manifest themselves in an out reach to people of their community through celebrations and cultural expressions.  But more importantly this need to stay connected to their history is something that is impressed on the next generation that unknowingly carries a torch of preservation of culture; along with their own individuality. 
   
This responsibility is difficult one to fulfill.  In my eyes this is fulfilled by the ones that progress culture through what is the narrator of life, music.  These bearers of the cultural torch progress through time reinventing the music of their people, and preserving their history at the same time, as well as creating a new history for themselves.  The fusion of what they are now and what they are inadvertently are connected with the creed of ethnicity.  These forms of Modern Merengue and Bhangra are how people of my generation define what migration has given them, besides a home.  We take music of our past, music of our bloodlines and combine it with music that is our environment, therefore making music that is different from others; music that is ours as well as our ancestors.  

Bibliography

1.    Austerlitz, Paul. “Dominican Music and Merengue Dominican Identity.” Temple University Press.  1997.
2.    Bennett, Andy. “Cultures of Popular Music” Open University Press. 2001.
3.    Lipsitz, George. “Dangerous Crossroads. Popular Music, Postmodernism and the Poetics of Place.” Verso. 1994.
4.    Meredith, Paul. “Hybridity in the Third Space Rethinking Bi-cultural in Aotearoa/ New Zealand.”  Paper presentation to Te Oru Rangahau Maori Research and Development Conference. 7-9 July, 1998.  Massey University,
5.    Interview: Retired Professor of Economics Iqbal Akhter, PhD.
6.    Interview: Program Coordinator for “Center for Latino Arts and Culture,” Silismar Suriel.